Cho: No More Zeroing?: The United States Changes its Antidumping Policy to Comply with the WTO

Sungjoon Cho (Chicago-Kent College of Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on No More Zeroing?: The United States Changes its Antidumping Policy to Comply with the WTO.

Benvenisti: The International Law of Occupation (Second Edition)

Eyal Benvenisti (Tel Aviv Univ. - Law) has published the second edition of The International Law of Occupation (Oxford Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

The law of occupation imposes two types of obligations on an army that seizes control of enemy land during armed conflict: obligations to respect and protect the inhabitants and their rights, and an obligation to respect the sovereign rights of the ousted government. In theory, the occupant is expected to establish an effective and impartial administration, to carefully balance its own interests against those of the inhabitants and their government, and to negotiate the occupation's early termination in a peace treaty. Although these expectations have been proven to be too high for most occupants, they nevertheless serve as yardsticks that measure the level of compliance of the occupants with international law.

This thoroughly revised edition of the 1993 book traces the evolution of the law of occupation from its inception during the 18th century until today. It offers an assessment of the law by focusing on state practice of the various occupants and reactions thereto, and on the governing legal texts and judicial decisions. The underlying thought that informs and structures the book suggests that this body of laws has been shaped by changing conceptions about war and sovereignty, by the growing attention to human rights and the right to self-determination, as well as by changes in the balance of power among states. Because the law of occupation indirectly protects the sovereign, occupation law can be seen as the mirror-image of the law on sovereignty. Shifting perceptions on sovereign authority are therefore bound to be reflected also in the law of occupation, and vice-versa.

Jackson & Summers: The Internationalisation of Criminal Evidence: Beyond the Common Law and Civil Law Traditions

John D. Jackson (Univ. College Dublin - Law) & Sarah J. Summers (Universität Zürich - Rechtswissenschaftliches Institut) have published The Internationalisation of Criminal Evidence: Beyond the Common Law and Civil Law Traditions (Cambridge Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

Although there are many texts on the law of evidence, surprisingly few are devoted specifically to the comparative and international aspects of the subject. The traditional view that the law of evidence belongs within the common law tradition has obscured the reality that a genuinely cosmopolitan law of evidence is being developed in criminal cases across the common law and civil law traditions. By considering the extent to which a coherent body of common evidentiary standards is being developed in both domestic and international jurisprudence, John Jackson and Sarah Summers chart this development with particular reference to the jurisprudence on the right to a fair trial that has emerged from the European Court of Human Rights and to the attempts in the new international criminal tribunals to fashion agreed approaches towards the regulation of evidence.

Grotius Centre: International Criminal Justice and the Contours of the Judicial Function: Lectures in Honour of Antonio Cassese

This spring, the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, in association with the TMC Asser Institute and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, will host a lecture series on "International Criminal Justice and the Contours of the Judicial Function: Lectures in Honour of Antonio Cassese." Here's the schedule:

• March 13, 2012: Diane Marie Amann (Univ. of Georgia - Law), John Dugard (Leiden Univ. - Law), & Guido Acquiviva (Special Tribunal for Lebanon), "On the Eve of the Lubanga Judgment: The Judicial Function and the Politics of International Criminal Justice"
• March 21, 2012: William Schabas (Middlesex Univ.) & Howard Morrison (Judge, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), "The Principle of Legality: Fictional Adherence or Judicial Straitkjacket?"
• April 4, 2012: Christine Van den Wyngaert (Judge, International Criminal Court) & Joseph Powderly (Leiden Univ. - Law), "Judicial Creativity and the Progressive Development of the Law: Aspects of Current ICC Practice"
• April 17, 2012: Fred Harhoff (Judge, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) & Guenael Mettraux (Doughty Street Chambers) - "Philosophies of Judgment"
• April 25, 2012: Guido Acquiviva (Special Tribunal for Lebanon) & Robert Roth (Judge, Special Tribunal for Lebanon), "The Judicial Function and Legal Pluralism"
• May 2, 2012: Gilbert Bitti (International Criminal Court), Jerome de Hemptinne (Special Tribunal for Lebanon), & Gabrielle McIntyre (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), "Dispensing with Myths: The Role and Responsibilities of Senior Legal Advisors"
• May 9, 2012: Goran Sluiter (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) with discussants - "Adjudicating Asylum: The International Criminal Court and the Netherlands"
• May 23, 2012: Round Table Discussion (participants TBC) - "Conceptions of the Judicial Function: Prosecution, Defence, Victims, Civil Society and State Perspectives"

New Volume: Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional

The latest volume of the Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional (Vol. 12, 2012) is out. Contents include:

• Artículos
• Najman Alexander Aizenstatd Leistenschneider, La responsabilidad internacional de los Estados por actos ilícitos, crímenes internacionales y daños transfronterizos
• Ingrid Brena, La fecundación asistida. ¿Historia de un debate interminable? El Informe de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos
• Yadira Castillo, The Appeal to Human Rigths in Arbitration and International Investment Agreements
• David Enríquez, El G20 y la remodelación financiera más allá de 2009. Legitimación y retos del nuevo diseño institucional para el desarrollo
• Rosmerlín Estupiñán Silva, Principios que rigen la responsabilidad internacional penal por crímenes internacionales
• J. Nicolás Guerrero Peniche, La opinión consultiva del Tribunal Internacional del Derecho del Mar a la luz del principio de trato especial y diferenciado para Estados en desarrollo
• Pía Moscoso Restovic, Lugar del hecho dañoso: foro de competencia internacional por daño ambiental. Experiencia europea
• Luciano Pezzano, La adopción de medidas coercitivas por los organismos regionales: un análisis del artículo 53 de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas a la luz de la práctica de la OEA
• María Ángela Sasaki Otani, El sistema de sanciones por incumplimiento en el ámbito de la Comunidad Andina
• Francesco Seatzu, Sull’interpretazione del patto delle nazioni unite sui diritti economici, sociali e culturali: regole, criteri ermeneutici e comparazioni
• Soledad Torrecuadrada García-Lozano, La expansión de las funciones del Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas: problemas y posibles soluciones
• Comentarios
• Hidemberg Alves da Frota, Os limites à quebra do sigilo da(s) fonte(s) jornalística(s), à luz da jurisprudência do Tribunal Europeu dos Direitos Humanos
• María Cecilia Añaños Meza, El título de "sociedad y comunicación natural" de Francisco de Vitoria. Tras las huellas de su concepto a la luz de la teoría del dominio
• Luis Jardón, The Myth, the Truth, and What Security Council Resolution 1973 Changed: The Use of Force for the Protection of Human Rights
• Monica Yamel Naime S. Henkel, El final de la espiral del caos: la regulación de los actos jurídicos unilaterales de los Estados
• Sergio Peña-Neira, International Law and its Application: Biodiversity and International Obligations Derived from Natural Genetic Resources in Costa Rica
• Elena F. Pérez Carrillo, Financiación, gobernanza y derecho del I+D+i de la Unión Europea: estrategias para la recuperación económica
• Manuel Rocha Pino, La política exterior de la Unión Europea en Asia central: de la condicionalidad política al pragmatismo
• Cécile Vandewoude, The Democratic Entitlement and Pro-Democratic Interventions: Twenty Years After Haiti?

Pauwelyn: Public International Law and the Conflicts-Law Approach

Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies - Law) has posted Public International Law and the Conflicts-Law Approach. Here's the abstract:

What are the challenges when thinking about public international law through the three dimensional prism of the conflicts-law approach? This contribution describes how international law is based on a “thin consent” paradigm. It then explores challenges that come with this paradigm under each of the conflicts-law three dimensions: law as system (how to open up a specific treaty regime to other legal orders?); law as regulation (how to open up law to non-legal expertise?); and law as governance (how to open up law to informal or para-legal regimes?). In conclusion, a shift is pointed at from “thin consent” to “thick consensus”. This shift affects in particular the parallel universe of transnational standard-setting. Yet, it also finds early reflections in formal international law adjudication.

New Issue: Chicago Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Chicago Journal of International Law (Vol. 12, no. 2, Winter 2012) is out. Contents include:

• Anu Bradford & Omri Ben-Shahar, Efficient Enforcement in International Law
• Thomas K. Cheng, Convergence and Its Discontents: A Reconsideration of the Merits of Convergence of Global Competition Law
• Sungjoon Cho & Claire Kelly, Promise and Perils of New Global Governance: A Case of the G20
• Rafael Domingo, The New Global Human Community
• Samuel Estreicher, Privileging Asymmetric Warfare (Part III)?: The International Killing of Civilians under International Humanitarian Law
• Joy Gordon, The Sword of Damocles: Revisiting the Question of Whether the United Nations Security Council is Bound by International Law
• Nienke Grossman, Sex on the Bench: Do Women Judges Matter to the Legitimacy of International Courts?
• Eric Talbot Jensen, Applying a Sovereign Agency Theory of the Law of Armed Conflict
• Julian G. Ku, The Limits of Corporate Rights Under International Law

Bunn: The Right to Development and International Economic Law: Legal and Moral Dimensions

Isabella D. Bunn has published The Right to Development and International Economic Law: Legal and Moral Dimensions (Hart Publishing 2012). Here's the abstract:

The United Nations is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development, which proclaimed the right to be: 'an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be realized'. The UN now aims to mainstream the right into its policies and operational activities, and is reviewing prospects for an internationally-binding legal instrument. The evolution of the right to development, however, has been dominated by debates about its conceptual validity and practical ramifications. It has been hailed as the cornerstone of the entire human rights system and criticized as a distracting ideological initiative. Questions also persist about the role of the right in reforming the international economic order.

This book examines the legal and moral foundations of the right to development, addressing the major issues. It then considers the right to development in the global economy, noting the challenges of globalization and identifying key principles such as differential treatment of developing countries, participation and accountability. It relates the right to broad objectives such as the Millennium Development Goals, the human rights-based approach to development, and environmental sustainability. Implications for international economic law and policy in the areas of trade, development finance and corporate responsibility are assessed. The conclusion looks to the legal and ethical contributions - and limitations - of the right to development in this new context. With an academic and professional background in international law, human rights and moral theology, the author brings a unique interdisciplinary focus to this timely project.

Smith: Negotiating Environment and Science: An Insider's View of International Agreements, from Driftnets to the Space Station

Richard J. Smith (formerly, U.S. Department of State) has published Negotiating Environment and Science: An Insider's View of International Agreements, from Driftnets to the Space Station (Routledge 2012). Here's the abstract:

In this thought-provoking new book, career U.S. State Department negotiator Richard J. Smith offers readers unprecedented access to the details about some of the most complex and politically charged international agreements of the late and immediate post Cold War era. During his nine years as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Smith led U.S. negotiations on many significant international agreements. In Negotiating Environment and Science, Smith presents first-hand, in-depth accounts of eight of the most high-profile negotiations in which he was directly involved. The negotiations Smith covers are wide-ranging and include the London agreement to amend the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the international space station agreement, the U.S.-Soviet (eventually, U.S.-Russian) agreement on scientific cooperation, the U.S.-Canada acid rain agreement, the negotiations in Sofia, Bulgaria that established a first link between human rights and the environment, and a contentious confrontation with Japan over driftnet fishing. Smith chronicles the development of these negotiations, the challenges that emerged (as much within the U.S. delegations as with the foreign partners), and the strategies that led to substantive treaties. Smith infuses his narrative with unique historical insight as well as astute observations that can guide U.S. strategies toward productive international agreements in the future. His book also highlights the shift in diplomatic focus over the past 25 years from arms control and other security-related agreements to international and trans-boundary agreements that address global environmental threats and promote cooperative approaches in science and technology. Written for an audience with a general interest in environmental issues as well as international relations, Negotiating Environment and Science will also be an important resource for historians, political scientists, and students in international law and diplomacy.

Trujillo: The Tuna-Dolphin Encore - WTO Rules on Environmental Labeling

Elizabeth Trujillo (Suffolk Univ. - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on The Tuna-Dolphin Encore - WTO Rules on Environmental Labeling.

Etienne: Loyalty Towards International Law as a Constitutional Principle of EU Law?

Judicaël Etienne (Univ. of Louvain - Law) has posted Loyalty Towards International Law as a Constitutional Principle of EU Law? Here's the abstract:

Over the past decade, the relationship between European and international law has largely been commented through the prism of the autonomy, recent decisions issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union having emphasized the integrity of the EU legal system. Yet by committing the EU to contribute "to the strict observance and the development of international law", the Lisbon Treaty provides for a slightly different approach in primary law. Article 3 (5) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) traduces a deferent attitude that can be designated as one of loyalty towards international law. Beyond a general objective of the EU, the notion of loyalty may be viewed as a concept, explaining that EU law and international law interact in a subtle equilibrium between loyalty and autonomy. In addition to a conceptual interest, loyalty could be acknowledged as a metaconstitutional principle of EU law that would allow reconsidering the effects of international law in the European legal system.

Inaugural Issue: Global Constitutionalism

The inaugural issue of Global Constitutionalism (Vol. 1, no. 1, March 2012) is out. Contents include:

• Peter Zumbansen, Comparative, global and transnational constitutionalism: The emergence of a transnational legal-pluralist order
• Alec Stone Sweet, A cosmopolitan legal order: Constitutional pluralism and rights adjudication in Europe
• Anna Leander, What do codes of conduct do? Hybrid constitutionalization and militarization in military markets
• Jonathan Havercroft, Was Westphalia ‘all that’? Hobbes, Bellarmine, and the norm of non-intervention
• Richard Bellamy, The liberty of the moderns: Market freedom and democracy within the EU
• Andrew Arato, Conventions, Constituent Assemblies, and Round Tables: Models, principles and elements of democratic constitution-making

Recent Book Reviews at Global Law Books

Global Law Books has recently posted the following book reviews:

• Trapp, Kimberley N., "State Responsibility for International Terrorism" - Reviewer: Aust, Helmut Philipp
• Parlett, Kate, "The Individual in the International Legal System. Continuity and Change in International Law" - Reviewer: Müller, Andreas Th.
• Joyner, Daniel H., "Interpreting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty" - Reviewer: Fleck, Dieter
• Alvarez, Jose E. and Sauvant, Karl P., "The Evolving International Investment Regime. Expectations, Realities, Options" - Reviewer: Topal, Julien
• Zacklin, Ralph, "The United Nations Secretariat and the Use of Force in a Unipolar World; Power v. Principle" - Reviewer: Auth, Günther
• Orford, Anne, "International Authority and the Responsibility to Protect" - Reviewer: Thakur, Ramesh

Bhatia, Candlin, & Gotti: Discourse and Practice in International Commercial Arbitration: Issues, Challenges and Prospects

Vijay K. Bhatia (City Univ. of Hong Kong - English), Christopher N. Candlin (Macquarie Univ. - Linguistics), & Maurizio Gotti (Univ. of Bergamo - English) have published Discourse and Practice in International Commercial Arbitration: Issues, Challenges and Prospects (Ashgate 2012). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

It is increasingly held that international commercial arbitration is becoming colonized by litigation. This book addresses, in a range of ways and from various locations and sites, those aspects of arbitration practice that are considered crucial for its integrity as an institution and its independence as a professional practice. The chapters offer multiple perspectives on the major issues in play, highlighting challenges facing the institution of arbitration, and identifying opportunities available for its development as an institution. The evidence of arbitration practice presented is set against the background of practitioner perceptions and experience from more than 20 countries. The volume will serve as a useful resource for all scholars and practitioners interested in the institution of arbitration and its professional practices.

Symposium: L'anthropologie des organisations internationales

The latest issue of Critique internationale (Vol. 54, Janvier-Mars 2012) contains a symposium on "L'anthropologie des organisations internationales." Contents include:

• Birgit Müller, Comment rendre le monde gouvernable sans le gouverner : les organisations internationales analysées par les anthropologues
• Regina Bendix, Une salle, plusieurs sites : les négociations internationales comme terrain de recherche anthropologique
• Marion Fresia, La fabrique des normes internationales sur la protection des réfugiés au sein du comité éxecutif du HCR
• Irène Bellier, Les peuples autochtones aux Nations unies : un nouvel acteur dans la fabrique des normes internationales
• Shalini Randeria & Ciara Grunder, Comment l'État et la Banque mondiale gèrent les déplacements de populations à Mumbai

Pavkovic & Radan: The Ashgate Research Companion to Secession

Aleksandar Pavkovic (Macquarie Univ. - Politics and International Relations) & Peter Radan (Macquarie Univ. - Law) have published The Ashgate Research Companion to Secession (Ashgate 2012). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Secession is a detachment of a territory from an existing state with the aim of creating a new state on the detached territory. Secession is usually an outcome of the political mobilization of a population on the territory to be detached and, as a political phenomenon, is a subject of study in the social sciences. Its impact on inter-state relations is a subject of study in international relations. But secession is also subject to regulation both in the constitutional law of sovereign states and in international law. Following a spate of secessions in the early 1990s, legal scholars have proposed a variety of ways to regulate the international responses to attempts at secessions. Moreover, since the 1980s normative justification of secession has been subject to an intense debate among political theorists and moral philosophers.

This research companion has the following three complementary aims. First, to offer an overview of the current theoretical approaches to secession in the social sciences, international relations, legal theory, political theory and applied ethics. Second, to outline the current practice of international recognition of secession and current domestic and international laws which regulate secession. Third, to offer an account of major secessionist movements - past and present - from a comparative perspective.

In their accounts of past secessions and current secessionist movements, the contributors to this volume focus on the following four components: the nature and source of secessionist grievances, the ideologies and techniques of secessionist mobilization, the responses of the host state or majority parties in the host state, and the international response to attempts at secession. This provides a basis for identification of at least some common patterns in the otherwise highly varied processes of secession.

Vidmar: Conceptualizing Declarations of Independence in International Law

Jure Vidmar (Univ. of Oxford - Law) has published Conceptualizing Declarations of Independence in International Law (Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 32, no. 1, p. 153, Spring 2012). Here's the abstract:

In the context of the Kosovo Advisory Opinion, some governments and scholars advanced the view that declarations of independence do not fall within the purview of international law. Declarations of independence may be regulated by domestic law, while they are no more than ink on paper internationally. This article rejects such interpretations and argues that the question of whether or not a certain declaration of independence falls within the ambit of international law depends on the identity of the authors of the declaration. Thus, declarations of independence are not always issued in an international legal vacuum. Referring to the practice of states and UN organs, the article considers in which circumstances a declaration of independence itself, and not only its acceptance, may be illegal under general international law. In so doing, the article also shows that the illegality of a declaration is not determined by its unilateral character. It is concluded that international law neither endorses nor prohibits unilateral declarations of independence, but this is not to say that international law does not regulate declarations of independence at all.

Finkelstein, Ohlin, & Altman: Targeted Killings: Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World

Claire Finkelstein (Univ. of Pennsylvania - Law and Philosophy), Jens David Ohlin (Cornell Univ. - Law), & Andrew Altman (Georgia State Univ. - Philosophy) have published Targeted Killings: Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World (Oxford Univ. Press 2012). Contents include:

• Andrew Altman, Introduction
• Mark "Max" Maxwell, Allowing the State to Rebut the Civilian Presumption: Playing Whack-A-Mole Without a Mallet?
• Jens David Ohlin, Targeting Co-belligerents
• Daniel Statman, Can Just War Theory Justify Targeted Killing? Three Possible Models
• Jeremy Waldron, Justifying Targeted Killing With a Neutral Principle?
• Jeff McMahan, The Ethics of Targeted Killing on a Moral Continuum
• Claire Finkelstein, Targeted Killing as Preemptive Action
• Richard V. Meyer, The Privilege of Belligerency and Formal Declarations of War
• Craig Martin, Going Medieval: Targeted Killing, Self-Defense, and the Jus ad Bellum Regime
• Russell Christopher, Imminence in Justified Targeted Killing
• Phil Montague, Defending Defensive Targeted Killings
• Amos N. Guiora, The Importance of Criteria-Based Reasoning in Targeted Killing Decisions
• Gregory S. McNeal, Are Targeted Killings Unlawful? A Case Study in Empirical Claims without Empirical Evidence
• Kevin H. Govern, Operation Neptune Spear: Was Killing Bin Laden a Legitimate Military Objective?
• Kenneth Anderson, Efficiency in Bello and ad Bellum: Making the Use of Force Too Easy?
• Fernando R. Tesón, Targeted Killing and the Logic of Double Effect
• Michael S. Moore, Targeted Killings and the Morality of Hard Choices
• Leo Katz, Targeted Killing and the Strategic Use of Self-Defense

Ku: International Law, International Relations and Global Governance

Charlotte Ku (Univ. of Illinois - Law) has published International Law, International Relations and Global Governance (Routledge 2012). Here's the abstract:

International Relations and International Law have developed in parallel but distinctly throughout the 20th Century. However in recent years there has been recognition that their shared concerns in areas as diverse as the environment, transnational crime and terrorism, human rights and conflict resolution outweigh their disciplinary and methodological divergences.

This concise and accessible volume focuses on collaborative work within the disciplines of international law and international relations, and highlights the need to develop this collaboration further, describing the value for individuals, states, IGOs, and other non-state actors in being able to draw on the cross-pollination of international relations and international legal scholarship.

Symposium: Toward Coherence in International Economic Law: Perspectives at the 50th Anniversary of the OECD

The latest issue of the George Washington International Law Review (Vol. 43, no. 2, 2011) contains a symposium on "Toward Coherence in International Economic Law: Perspectives at the 50th Anniversary of the OECD." Contents include:

• Nicola Bonucci, The OECD at Fifty: Some Observations on the Evolving Nature of an International Organization
• James Salzman, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Role in International Law
• Robert Wolfe, The OECD Contribution to the Evolution of Twenty-First Century Trade Law
• Rainer Geiger, Coherence in Shaping the Rules for International Business: Actors, Instruments, and Implementation
• Gabriela I. Ramos, The OECD in the G20: A Natural Partner in Global Governance
• Jan Wouters & Sven Van Kerckhoven, The OECD and the G20: An Ever Closer Relationship?
• Ashley L. Santner, A Soft Law Mechanism for Corporate Responsibility: How the Updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises Promote Business for the Future

Schloenhardt & Dale: Twelve years on: revisiting the UN Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air

Andreas Schloenhardt (Univ. of Queensland - Law) & Jessica E. Dale (Univ. of Queensland) have published Twelve years on: revisiting the UN Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht, Vol. 67, no. 1, p. 129, March 2012). Here's the abstract:

The United Nations Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air was introduced in 2000 as an international treaty to specifically target the transnational crime of the migrant smuggling. This article explores the content, nature and quality of the provisions of the Protocol over the twelve years of its operation. It assesses the strengths and shortcomings of the international regime, as well as key principles which motivated its implementation. Further, the article draws upon the inadequacies in the Protocol to inform recommendations for consistent regional efforts and efficient criminal justice responses to address the dynamic challenges that this transnational crime continues to present to national legislators.

Ignatieff on Roth's Sovereign Equality and Moral Disagreement

In February 16, 2012 issue of The New Republic, Michael Ignatieff has published a review of Brad R. Roth's Sovereign Equality and Moral Disagreement (Oxford Univ. Press 2011).

Call for Submissions: “Lawfare” & the Instrumentalization of Law

The European Journal of Legal Studies has issued a call for submissions for a special issue on "“Lawfare” & the Instrumentalization of Law." Here's the call:

Call for Papers

“Lawfare” & the Instrumentalization of Law

Law plays an ambivalent role in modern societies. On the one hand, law is an instrument of suppression and violence that excludes and punishes, often helping the most powerful. On the other hand, it serves as an instrument of resistance. This simultaneous role of law, as an instrument of both violence and resistance, has been dubbed ‘lawfare’ in recent debates. From the beginning of the prior decade, scholars have been increasingly using the term lawfare as a means of explaining those situations in which law is used offensively.

Commonly, 'lawfare' refers to the employment of law during warfare as a means of constraining and punishing the opponent. Put differently, law becomes another weapon by which actors are restrained and coerced. Thus, there have been some discussions about lawfare concerning the US and its armed actions both in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, this is not the only plausible manner in which lawfare can be conceptualized and circumscribed, and it is also interesting to consider the extent to which lawfare is relevant outwith specific conflict situations, both in discrete legal areas and as a consideration of the nature and function of law more generally; is lawfare intrinsic to the function and nature of law per se? That leads on to a consideration of whether there is a connection between the emergence of lawfare with the increasing juridification of the international sphere and the growing importance of human rights. Even at this early stage in the development of this notion, lawfare can be understood to have divergent conceptualizations in different – and even the same – contexts. As such, there is a multitude of approaches to, and perspectives on, the idea of lawfare, arising from all areas of legal scholarship, including international law, comparative law, legal theory and European law.

The purpose of this Call for Papers is to shed light upon lawfare as an overall underdeveloped category.

Below are some by no means exhaustive indicators of where contributors might wish to focus their efforts, but we welcome papers on all related topics:

Possible legal theoretical issues concern how lawfare should be conceptualized, and its constituent elements, whether the notion is inherent to the concept and nature of law, as well as identification of the different uses of law which can be categorized as lawfare.

The way in which the concept is used might also be compared across different national legal traditions, between different legal orders (i.e. national, European and international), across different functional regimes and between different areas of law (consider, for example, the use of forum shopping in Private International Law). It may be useful in this regard to enquire whether such instrumental use of law is something immanent to particular legal families (for example the common law) or whether it is more widespread.

From an international perspective, the discussion of the notion of lawfare, prima facie, seems to be most within the context of the law of war and international humanitarian law – involving for instance European peacekeeping operations and counter-terrorism undertakings – as well as more general international law, international criminal law and human rights law issues relevant in areas of conflict.

Finally, from a European law perspective, one example of where the concept might be applied is by those at a disadvantage, for example, in respect of European competition law, and whether it can necessarily only be applied by those who are at a disadvantage (consider recent EU activity in relation to trade sanctions regarding Iran).

In bringing together papers examining the international, comparative, European and theoretical perspectives on the issue, the EJLS hopes to help map the topography of this emerging legal landscape. In addition to legal papers, we welcome submissions from other academic legal disciplines, in particular those with political or social science perspectives on law.

Submissions should be addressed to submissions@ejls.eu or as per the instructions on our Website at www.ejls.eu.

The deadline for receipt of submissions 18 May 2012

deGuzman: How Serious are International Crimes? The Gravity Problem in International Criminal Law

Margaret M. deGuzman (Temple Univ. - Law) has posted How Serious are International Crimes? The Gravity Problem in International Criminal Law. Here's the abstract:

International criminal law was born out of the Holocaust – the systematic extermination of millions of people by a government attempting to annihilate a race. It was the gravity of those crimes that provided the theoretical and political justifications for the first international criminal trials at Nuremberg. Yet today, the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor is considering situations involving as few as six killings and an international tribunal has been established to address the assassination of a single political leader. This Article explains how the ambiguity of international criminal law’s foundational concept of gravity has facilitated this expansion. It exposes the consequences of expansion for state sovereignty and individual rights, and suggests a solution that moves beyond ambiguous gravity to interrogate the interests at stake in decisions about international criminal adjudication.

Adyel: Crédit documentaire et connaissement : Théories institutionnelles, problématiques juridiques et solutions jurisprudentielles

Karim Adyel has published Crédit documentaire et connaissement : Théories institutionnelles, problématiques juridiques et solutions jurisprudentielles (Larcier 2012). Here's the abstract:

La mondialisation a modifié le monde des affaires. Plusieurs facteurs poussent à s’intéresser aux outils juridiques qui permettent ce développement économique et offrent la sécurité adéquate aux opérations et aux opérateurs du commerce international.

Le crédit documentaire est sans conteste la technique la plus utilisée à cette fin. La souplesse du procédé réside dans les diverses formes qu’il peut revêtir ainsi que ses divers modes de réalisation, le tout adapté à la nature des transactions qu’il est appelé à couvrir.

Les fonctions qu’il remplit apportent plus de confiance et de sécurité dans les transactions commerciales internationales.

Le symbole de son évolution est l’informatisation des RUU de la CCI. La collaboration de la CCI avec la CNUDCI et la CNUCED conforte cette évolution.

Le crédit documentaire fait la plupart du temps appel au connaissement. Ce dernier est le document le plus utilisé dans le cadre d’une opération de transport international de marchandises par mer et le plus demandé par les banques dans une opération de Credoc.

Pouvant revêtir diverses formes et remplissant plusieurs fonctions, il a fait l’objet de plusieurs conventions internationales. Son informatisation récente démontre son importance dans le commerce mondial.

L’interconnexion du connaissement et du Credoc se manifeste à plusieurs niveaux dans le cadre des opérations de vente internationale de marchandises par mer.

Cet ouvrage présente une analyse exhaustive, interactive et actualisée de ces deux institutions au regard de la pratique bancaire internationale et des textes internationaux. L’aspect jurisprudentiel y est également traité au vu des problématiques majeures se rapportant aux deux matières.

Richemond-Barak: The Human Rights Council and the Convergence of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law

Daphné Richemond-Barak (Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya - Radzyner School of Law) has posted The Human Rights Council and the Convergence of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (in Shaping a Global Legal Framework for Counterinsurgency: New Directions in Asymmetric Warfare, William Banks ed., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This Article examines and challenges the assumption that the Human Rights Council can and ought to address violations of international humanitarian law. Though envisaged as the main guardian of human rights within the United Nations system, the Human Rights Council views its mandate as encompassing both human rights and international humanitarian law. This extension of its mandate to humanitarian law is not entirely surprising, given the close relationship between IHL and human rights law. Yet, a comparison with other human rights bodies shows that the Council has gone further and with less caution than any other human right body called upon to interpret or apply IHL. I argue that the Human Rights Council has neither the expertise nor the mandate to address IHL matters – and that the experience of other human rights bodies demonstrates that such a level of encroachment upon IHL is not inevitable. I address the implications of having the Human Rights Council develop, interpret and apply IHL, and advocate that limits be placed on the convergence of human rights law and humanitarian law.

El Sawah: Les immunités des États et des organisations internationales : Immunités et procès équitable

Sally El Sawah has published Les immunités des États et des organisations internationales : Immunités et procès équitable (Larcier 2012). Here's the abstract:

Le débat sur le conflit entre les immunités et le droit au procès équitable a pris toute son ampleur après les décisions décevantes de la CEDH, jugeant que les immunités constituent une limitation légitime et proportionnée au droit d'accès au juge. Or, il résulte de l’étude des fondements, sources et régimes des immunités et du droit au procès équitable que leur conflit dépasse leur antinomie étymologique : les immunités portent atteinte au droit d'accès au juge dans sa substance même.

L’imprécision et l’incohérence du régime des immunités étatiques aussi bien que l’absence de voie de recours alternative aux immunités des organisations internationales portent atteinte au droit d’accès concret et effectif au tribunal. Néanmoins, le conflit entre les immunités étatiques et le droit au procès équitable est moins problématique que le conflit entre ce dernier et les immunités des organisations internationales. Contrairement aux immunités étatiques qui n’ont qu’une source nationale, il existe un véritable conflit de normes de valeur égale entre le droit au procès équitable, droit fondamental en droit interne et international, et les immunités des organisations internationales, régies par des conventions internationales. La résolution du conflit entre le droit des immunités et le droit au procès équitable, qui ne mérite pas de se réaliser par le sacrifice de l’un au profit de l’autre et inversement, requiert l’intervention du législateur, compte tenu de la fonction politique des immunités et des principes de l’état de droit.

Une conciliation qui prend en compte les intérêts légitimes poursuivis par les droits en conflit est possible. Le droit au procès équitable ne doit plus constituer un motif d’exclusion des immunités. Il doit désormais servir à définir le régime des immunités des états et des organisations internationales. Si un déni de justice subsiste, le justiciable ne sera pas pour autant désarmé. Son droit de recours au juge sera préservé ; il pourra agir contre l’état du for pour rupture de l’égalité devant les charges publiques.