Stephan: Abbott v. Abbott: A New Take on Treaty Interpretation by the Supreme Court

Paul B. Stephan (Univ. of Virginia - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on Abbott v. Abbott: A New Take on Treaty Interpretation by the Supreme Court.

New Issue: Netherlands International Law Review

The latest issue of the Netherlands International Law Review (Vol. 57, no. 2, August 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Arthur Eyffinger, ‘A Caravan Passes By…’ The Centenary of the Netherlands Society of International Law
• P. Vlas, On the Development of Private International Law in the Netherlands: From Asser's Days to the Codification of Dutch Private International Law (1910–2010)
• Th.M. de Boer, Living Apart Together: The Relationship Between Public and Private International Law
• Nico J. Schrijver, A Missionary Burden or Enlighthened Self-Interest?
• Joseph Fleuren, International Law in Dutch Foreign Policy: The Application of Public International Law by Dutch Courts
• Thomas Henquet, International Organisations in the Netherlands: Immunity from the Jurisdiction of the Dutch Courts
• Larissa van den Herik, The Dutch Engagement with the Project of International Criminal Justice
• Ellen Hey, The Netherlands and a Century of International Environmental Law

New Issue: International Journal of Refugee Law

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (Vol. 22, no. 3, October 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Jane Herlihy, Kate Gleeson, & Stuart Turner, What Assumptions about Human Behaviour Underlie Asylum Judgments?
• Katia Bianchini, The Mandate Refugee Program: a Critical Discussion
• Andrea Bradley, Beyond Borders: Cosmopolitanism and Family Reunification for Refugees in Canada
• Kelley Loper, Human Rights, Non-refoulement and the Protection of Refugees in Hong Kong

New Issue: International & Comparative Law Quarterly

The latest issue of the International & Comparative Law Quarterly (Vol. 59, no. 3, July 2010) is out. Contents include:

• James Spigelman, The Forgotten Freedom: Freedom from Fear
• Anne Sanders, Private Autonomy and Marital Property Agreements
• László Blutman, In the Trap of a Legal Metaphor: International Soft Law
• Tania Voon, Eliminating Trade Remedies from the WTO: Lessons from Regional Trade Agreements
• Nicholas Aroney, The Influence of German State-Theory on the Design of the Australian Constitution
• Harry Mcvea, Credit Rating Agencies, the Subprime Mortgage Debacle and Global Governance: The EU Strikes Back
• Halvard Haukeland Fredriksen, The EFTA Court 15 Years On
• Adrian D Saunders, A Commentary on the Early Decisions of the Caribbean Court of Justice in Its Original Jurisdiction
• Patrick Dumberry, Incoherent and Ineffective: The Concept of Persistent Objector Revisited

Giorgetti: The Yukos Interim Awards on Jurisdiction and Admissibility Confirms Provisional Application of Energy Charter Treaty

Chiara Giorgetti (White & Case LLP) has posted an ASIL Insight on The Yukos Interim Awards on Jurisdiction and Admissibility Confirms Provisional Application of Energy Charter Treaty.

Føllesdal: The Legitimacy of International Human Rights Review: The Case of the European Court of Human Rights

Andreas Føllesdal (Univ. of Oslo - Norwegian Centre for Human Rights) has posted The Legitimacy of International Human Rights Review: The Case of the European Court of Human Rights (Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 595-607, Winter 2009). Here's the abstract:

The literature concerning judicial review reveals a long list of misgivings of such constraints on domestic democratic decision making. Of concern here are some of the principled objections against the practice of international judicial review of human rights, using the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as a suitable case. This court monitors the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and is among the most powerful treaty-based courts. Still, the ECtHR respects States’ discretion in the form of a "Margin of Appreciation." And it exercises what is sometimes referred to as "weak" review. That is: the ECtHR can find a law or its application to be incompatible with the ECHR, but this does not directly affect the validity of that law in the domestic legal system. Nor does the ECtHR replace such laws with one of its own making, as some forms of "strong" judicial review would.When we ask about the normative legitimacy of such laws, treaties, and bodies, different theories will approach the matter quite differently. The presentation of objections to such international review and responses to them show the implications of different ways to bring normative requirements to bear on institutions. To bring this out, the focus is on two main concerns. Such review seems to violate the commitment to political equality expressed by majority rule, and it is thought to rely on a problematic, predatory conception of human nature. Jeremy Waldron, Richard Bellamy, and others have argued these concerns, often from quite plausible normative premises concerning an individual’s sense of justice and the need to avoid domination. Section 1 presents these criticisms. Section 2 then sketches an alternative way to bring normative requirements to bear on institutional design - Liberal Contractualism - which stands in some contrast especially to that of Waldron. Three main features are laid out, to bring out weaknesses in how Waldron and Bellamy use their normative premises to assess a practice or an institution. Central to this liberal contractualism is a particular institutionalist approach, and a concern for trust-building institutions among individuals who are “contingent compliers” with a sense of justice. This account is somewhat more kindly disposed toward international judicial review of human rights, at least in principle. Section 3 then goes back to the criticisms presented in section 1, and considers the merits of each. Section 4 concludes by identifying some of the weak spots in the case for international human rights review as hitherto made.

Stephan: Morrison v. Nat’l Australia Bank Ltd.: The Supreme Court Rejects Extraterritoriality

Paul B. Stephan (Univ. of Virginia - Law) has posted an ASIL Insight on Morrison v. Nat’l Australia Bank Ltd.: The Supreme Court Rejects Extraterritoriality.

New Issue: Leiden Journal of International Law

The latest issue of the Leiden Journal of International Law (Vol. 23, no. 3, September 2010) is out. Contents include:

• William E. Conklin, The Myth of Primordialism in Cicero's Theory of Jus Gentium
• Daniel Joyce, Human Rights and the Mediatization of International Law
• Christine E.J. Schwöbel, Organic Global Constitutionalism
• Hague International Tribunals: Permanent Court of Arbitration
• Markus Böckenförde, The Abyei Award: Fitting a Diplomatic Square Peg into a Legal Round Hole
• Hague International Tribunals: International Court of Justice
• Gentian Zyberi, Provisional Measures of the International Court of Justice in Armed Conflict Situations
• Hague International Tribunals: Special Court for Sierra Leone
• Wayne Jordash & Scott Martin, Due Process and Fair Trial Rights at the Special Court: How the Desire for Accountability Outweighed the Demands of Justice at the Special Court for Sierra Leone
• Hague International Tribunals: International Criminal Court
• Xabier Agirre Aranburu, Sexual Violence Beyond Reasonable Doubt: Using Pattern Evidence and Analysis for International Cases
• Jo-Anne Wemmers, Victims' Rights and the International Criminal Court: Perceptions Within the Court Regarding the Victims’ Right to Participate
• Current Legal Developments
• Yaël Ronen, Incitement to Terrorist Acts and International Law
• Review Essay
• Umut Özsu, The Question of Form: Methodological Notes on Dialectics and International Law

New Issue: Journal of Conflict Resolution

The latest issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution (Vol. 54, no. 4, August 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Douglas M. Gibler, Outside-In: The Effects of External Threat on State Centralization
• Sally Anderson & Mark Souva, The Accountability Effects of Political Institutions and Capitalism on Interstate Conflict
• Tobias Böhmelt, The Impact of Trade on International Mediation
• Matthew Moore, Arming the Embargoed: A Supply-Side Understanding of Arms Embargo Violations
• Steven D. Roper & Lilian A. Barria, Burden Sharing in the Funding of the UNHCR: Refugee Protection as an Impure Public Good
• Ronen Bar-El, Kobi Kagan, & Asher Tishler, Forward-Looking versus Shortsighted Defense Budget Allocation

Parish: An Essay on the Accountability of International Organizations

Matthew Parish (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) has posted An Essay on the Accountability of International Organizations (International Organizations Law Review, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

International organizations sometimes suffer from acute agency problems. Three exogenous methods of addressing those problems are considered: economic incentives, political accountability and legal accountability. For international organizations, the first is undesirable and the second inevitably weak. There is therefore an argument for heightened legal scrutiny of their actions. Yet international organizations have an unenviable track record of acting without regard to the most fundamental international standards of rule of law, and this article offers an unsightly catalogue of their legal aberrations. Moreover, the internal legal mechanisms international organizations have created ostensibly to hold themselves to account prove wanting at best. There may also be structural reasons why international courts and tribunals will never be able to conduct an adequate review of the important decisions international organizations routinely take. This makes those organizations’ assertions of blanket legal immunity from jurisdiction of domestic courts appear increasingly inexplicable, as it removes all possibility of legal accountability. The supposed rationales for legal immunities of international organizations are reviewed and proved wanting. The conclusion drawn is that international organizations should be subjected to radically improved regimes of international judicial oversight, or their immunities should be abrogated in certain areas so that they may be rendered subject to the jurisdiction of the domestic courts of the countries in which they operate, or both. Measures of this kind may dramatically improve the quality of decision-making and accountability of international organizations.

Conference: New Uses of the Sea: International Shipping in the Twenty-First Century

On September 9-10, 2010, the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law at Swansea University will host its Sixth Annual Colloquium. The theme is "New Uses of the Sea: International Shipping in the Twenty-First Century." Information regarding the program and registration can be found here. Here's the idea:

Four key topics will be explored within the Colloquium. The first topic addresses contemporary issues in navigation, exploring the effects of reduced sea-ice coverage on shipping infrastructure, as well as the increasingly significant role that environmental considerations will play in future navigational planning. The ecological theme is continued in the second topic, which analyses the impact of shipping upon the marine environment, examining issues such as invasive species and biodiversity concerns. The third topic questions the impacts of climate change mitigation strategies upon international shipping, examining themes such as the regulation of wind turbines and other sources of alternative energy. Finally, the Colloquium will close with an appraisal of new uses of the sea and their impact upon marine resources, including an examination of contemporary pipeline law and LNG issues.

New Issue: Criminal Law Forum

The latest issue of Criminal Law Forum (Vol. 21, no. 2, June 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: Bangladesh and the Prosecution of International Crimes from the 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan
• Suzannah Linton, Bangladesh and the Prosecution of International Crimes from the 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan
• Suzannah Linton, Completing the Circle: Accountability for the Crimes of the 1971 Bangladesh War of Liberation
• Gideon Boas, War Crimes Prosecutions in Australia and Other Common Law Countries: Some Observations
• Bina D’Costa & Sara Hossain, Redress for Sexual Violence Before the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh: Lessons from History, and Hopes for the Future

New Volume: Indian Yearbook of International Law and Policy

The inaugural volume of the Indian Yearbook of International Law and Policy (2009) is now available. The publisher is Satyam Law International. Contents include:

• Yearbook Focus - Climate Change
• Deepa Badrinanarayana, Trade, Energy, and Climate Change Policies of Basic Nations: One Step Closer to an Economic Interest based International Law?
• Stefan Lorenzmeier, International Law of Water Allocation and Related Problems
• Tarek Majzoub & Fabienne Quillere-Majzoub, “Dairy Polar Icebergs” Reflections on the Rules Governing Future Exploitation of Freshwater Locked Up in Icebergs
• V. Umakanth, A Dose of Sunlight Therapy: Using Corporate and Securities Laws to Treat Climate Change
• Articles
• Franz G. Von der Dunk, The International Law of Outer Space and Consequences at the National Level for India: Towards an Indian National Space Law?
• Ben Saul, The Emerging International Law of Terrorism
• Sascha-Dominik Bachmann, Human Rights and Global Business: The Evolving Notion of Corporate Civil Responsibility
• Prabhakar Singh, Constitutionalism in International Law During the Times of Globalisation: A Sociological Appraisal
• Gianluca Sgueo, Decentralization, Integration and Transposition: Three Models of Consultation in the Global Legal Order
• R. Rajesh Babu, Understanding the Role of International Law in WTO Law
• Comments
• Hans Kochler, Depoliticizing International Criminal Justice
• Michael Bohlander, No Country For Old Men? – Age Limits for Judges at International Criminal Tribunals
• Zakia Afrin, The International War Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973 of Bangladesh
• Martin Hunter & Gregory Travaini, Anti-Suit Injunctions and EU Regulations
• Anil Xavier, Mediation Is Here to Stay!

New Issue: Journal of International Criminal Justice

The latest issue of the Journal of International Criminal Justice (Vol. 8, no. 3, July 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Special Issue: Transnational Business and International Criminal Justice
• Florian Jessberger & Julia Geneuss, Introduction
• I. Setting the Framework
• Wolfgang Kaleck & Miriam Saage-Maaß, Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations Amounting to International Crimes: The Status Quo and its Challenges
• Larissa van den Herik & Jernej Letnar Cernic, Regulating Corporations under International Law: From Human Rights to International Criminal Law and Back Again
• Katherine Gallagher, Civil Litigation and Transnational Business: An Alien Tort Statute Primer
• Roland Hefendehl, Addressing White Collar Crime on a Domestic Level: Any Lessons Learned for International Criminal Law?
• II. Case Studies: Historic Precedents and Current Practice
• Florian Jessberger, On the Origins of Individual Criminal Responsibility under International Law for Business Activity: IG Farben on Trial
• Wim Huisman & Elies van Sliedregt, Rogue Traders: Dutch Businessmen, International Crimes and Corporate Complicity
• Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky & Mariana Rulli, Corporate Complicity and Finance as a ‘Killing Agent’: The Relevance of the Chilean Case
• III. Key Issues de lege lata: Definitions of Crimes and Attribution of Responsibility
• Hans Vest, Business Leaders and the Modes of Individual Criminal Responsibility under International Law
• Norman Farrell, Attributing Criminal Liability to Corporate Actors: Some Lessons from the International Tribunals
• Volker Nerlich, Core Crimes and Transnational Business Corporations
• IV. Key Issues de lege ferenda: Corporate Liability, Specific Offences and the Prosecutor's Strategy
• Mordechai Kremnitzer, A Possible Case for Imposing Criminal Liability on Corporations in International Criminal Law
• Christoph Burchard, Ancillary and Neutral Business Contributions to ‘Corporate–Political Core Crime’: Initial Enquiries Concerning the Rome Statute
• Reinhold Gallmetzer, Prosecuting Persons Doing Business with Armed Groups in Conflict Areas: The Strategy of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
• V. Discussion Reports
• Julia Geneuss, Jan Philipp Book, Boris Burghardt, & Oliver Schüttpelz, Core Crimes Inc.: Panel Discussion Reports from the Conference on ‘Transnational Business and International Criminal Law’, held at Humboldt University Berlin, 15–16 May 2009

Call for Papers: ASIL International Organizations Interest Group Works-in-Progress Workshop

The International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for a works-in-progress workshop, to be held on October 29, 2010, at the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington, DC. Here's the call:

Call for Papers

Works-in-Progress Workshop

ASIL International Organizations Interest Group

The International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law will hold a works-in-progress workshop on October 29, 2010, at the headquarters of the Organization of American States, Washington, DC.

If you are interested in presenting a paper at the workshop, please submit an abstract to Kristen Boon (Kristen.Boon[at]shu.edu), Jacob Cogan (jacob.cogan[at]uc.edu), and Lorena Perez (LPerez[at]oas.org) by the end of the day on August 27. Abstracts should be a couple of paragraphs long, but no more than one page. Papers should relate to the subject “international organizations.”

Papers selected for presentation are due no later than October 18. Papers should not yet be in print; ideally, authors will have time to make revisions based on the comments from the workshop.

The workshop’s format will be as follows. Each paper will be introduced by a commentator for about ten minutes. The author will have the opportunity to respond, if he or she wishes to do so. The floor will then be opened up for a little more than an hour of comments, reactions, and discussion from the group as a whole. The workshop is conducted on the assumption that everyone has read all of the papers in advance. After we have selected papers, we will ask for volunteers to serve as commentators. One need not present a paper or comment on a paper to participate.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions at all about the workshop or paper submissions.

Kristen Boon

Jacob Katz Cogan

Lorena Perez

Sporadic Blogging Ahead

For the next two weeks, I will be at an undisclosed location vacationing with the family. There will only be sporadic blogging during this time.

Nettelfield: Courting Democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Hague Tribunal's Impact in a Postwar State

Lara J. Nettelfield (Simon Fraser Univ. - School for International Studies) has published Courting Democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Hague Tribunal's Impact in a Postwar State (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010). Here's the abstract:

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) struggled to apprehend and try high-profile defendants like the Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, and often received more criticism than praise. This volume argues that the underappreciated court has in fact made a substantial contribution to Bosnia and Herzegovina's transition to democracy. Based on more than three years of field research and several hundred interviews, this study brings together multiple research methods, including surveys, ethnography, and archival materials, to show the court's impact on five segments of Bosnian society, emphasizing the role of the social setting in translating international law in domestic contexts. Much of the early rhetoric about the transformative potential of international criminal law helped foster unrealistic expectations that institutions like the ICTY could not meet, but judged by more realistic standards, international law is seen to play a modest yet important role in postwar transitions. The findings of this study have implications for the study of international courts around the world and the role law plays in contributing to social change.

Clapham: The Subject of Subjects and the Attribution of Attribution

Andrew Clapham (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies - Law) has posted The Subject of Subjects and the Attribution of Attribution (in International Law and the Quest for its Implementation, Laurence Boisson de Chazournes & Marcelo G. Kohen eds., 2010). Here's the abstract:

This chapter revisits the idea of subjects of international law and suggests that there may be multiple entities that enjoy international personality even if they do not all have the same capacities as states to hold international rights and obligations. The scope of these obligations, however, remains unclear. In cases brought against international organizations the issue has been seen as one of attribution and here it is argued that the same act can be simultaneously attributed to the international organization as well as the relevant member states. The concept of complementarity is used to highlight how we need to be able to consider simultaneous responsibilities and not see the acts of peacekeepers as exclusively attributable to the entity that authorized the operation.

New Issue: International Community Law Review

The latest issue of the International Community Law Review (Vol. 12, no. 3, September 2010) is out. Contents include:

• Attila Tanzi, Reducing the Gap between International Water Law and Human Rights Law: The UNECE Protocol on Water and Health
• Stefania Negri, Waterborne Disease Surveillance: The Case for a Closer Interaction between the UNECE Protocol on Water and Health and the International Health Regulations (2005)
• Olivier De Schutter, The Emerging Human Right to Land
• Fabrizio Marrella, On the Changing Structure of International Investment Law: The Human Right to Water and ICSID Arbitration
• Stephen Stec, Humanitarian Limits to Sovereignty: Common Concern and Common Heritage Approaches to Natural Resources and Environment

Call for Submissions: Indian Journal of International Economic Law

The Indian Journal of International Economic Law has issued a call for submissions for its fourth issue. Here's the call:

We, the editorial board of the Indian Journal of International Economic Law (IJIEL), 2010-2011 invite submissions from academicians, scholars and graduate students for the fourth issue of the Journal. Submissions are invited in the following categories: full length articles (10,000-12,000 words); case reviews, legislative analyses, short comments and short articles by 'qualified graduate and doctoral students (7000-8000 words); Law in Focus and Case Comments by practitioners (3000-5000 words).

IJIEL is an annual journal that is managed, edited and produced by students of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore – India’s premier law school. The Journal’s mandate extends to all academic scholarship relevant to International Economic Law, including international finance and taxation, cross-border regulatory reform, interrelations between trade, human rights and the environment, international competition law, economic aspects of intellectual property rights and TRIPS, etc. We are particularly interested in scholarship that focuses on recognising the staggering impact of international trade and commerce on developing countries.

This double blind refereed journal with peer reviewing has steadily grown since its inception and the three issues we’ve published thus far have been a tremendous success in terms of the breadth and quality of the submissions and the enthusiastic support of stalwarts in the field. We are proud to state that the forwards of our issues have been penned by Professor Jagdish Bhagwati, Mr. Arvind Subramaniam from the Peterson Institute and Dr. Thomas Cottier, Managing Director at WTI, Berne. In addition to the third issue which is currently in the process of publication, as an attempt to tap niche aspects of this dynamic field, we will be publishing a special issue on Space Law and International Economic Law with a forward by Judge Abdul G. Koroma, Member of the International Court of Justice.

We accept only electronic submissions. All submissions may be e-mailed to ijiel@nls.ac.in

For more information on our Editorial Board, circulation policy and submission guidelines kindly refer to www.ijiel.com

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Thanking You,

Sowjhanya Shankaran

Convenor, IJIEL, 2010-2011

Tasneem Deo

Chief Editor, IJIEL, 2010-2011

Indian Journal of International Economic Law (IJIEL),

National Law School of India University (NLSIU),

Nagarbhavi,

Bangalore – 560240

ijiel@nls.ac.in