International Law - Blogs
- Bringing Law to Refugee Camps
Though I focus much of my scholarly energy on due process failures in the U.S. immigration system, the "Wild West" policies and procedures of American immigration courts pale in comparison to the legal vacuum found in refugee camps throughout the world. More than 7 million of today's refugees have lived in camps for at least ten years (sometimes for generations), yet there exists no formal legal infrastructure to protect even the most basic human security needs in these camps. Given the dire...
(April 23, 2009) - On the value of choice of forum and choice of law clauses in Spain
A contract was held between two companies: a Spanish company and a foreign one. They agreed to refer any dispute concerning the contract to the courts of Barcelona (Spain), and chose Spanish law as applicable law. Later, the Spanish company decided to sue its counterparty in the United States. The foreign company believed that this behaviour amounts to a breach of contract, and that it results in extra costs (such as fees for local lawyers hired to raise the plea) that should be repaired. The...
(April 23, 2009) - On April 24
On this day in ... ... 1954 (55 years ago today), in Britain's East Africa colony of Kenya, more than 10,000 men were arrested and detained in "Operation Anvil," which the BBC called "the biggest anti-Mau Mau operation since a state of emergency was declared in Kenya 18 months ago." The detention camps would remain for years; at the height of the crackdown, 80,000 persons were held, and many were subjected to cruelty. In 2005, in Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya,...
(April 23, 2009) - Kevin John Heller: Legal Background for Torture Lawyer Prosecutions
Opinio Juris Want to Prosecute the Lawyers? Cite Ministries - Not the Justice Case. Not an area of law that I have studied, but Heller is an expert.
(April 22, 2009) - On How To Handle The Accidental China Business
Interesting post by Andrew Hupert over at China Solved, entitled, "Selling China to the Accidental Expats." The post is intended to instruct China consultants on how they should handle calls from American companies that have now decided they must take advantage of China's growing market. But it also makes some very good points for those American companies as well. Andrew starts out by defining "Accidental Expats": I call them Accidental Expats. They are the American business owners and senior...
(April 22, 2009) - Bailouts and International Investment Law
From Anne van Aaken and Jürgen Kurtz, a brief paper entitled "THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS: WILL STATE EMERGENCY MEASURES TRIGGER INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT DISPUTES?" From the conclusion: We draw two tentative conclusions, implicated in our analysis of potential liability under international investment treaties. First, there is clear evidence of widespread discrimination directed at foreign actors in the laws we have surveyed despite the public commitment of state parties to free market...
(April 22, 2009) - NYT: Drugs in the FAST Lane
Another example of a shipment of illegal drugs from Mexico coming through via the Free And Secure Trade channels. These are important examples of two things. First, CBP being alert and doing its job by finding these attempts at smuggling. Second, the fact that ultimately C-TPAT, FAST, and other trusted shipper programs depend upon people. That means there will always be risk.
(April 22, 2009) - 'Nuff said
(Taking context-optional note of thought-provoking quotes) 'What is punishment for a person who is capable to do such horror, such horrible things to living people? I cannot imagine that that person has a soul or conscience or heart. ... He simply wouldn't feel it. ... What kind of punishment could you give to a person like that?' -- Los Angeles-based, octogenarian artist Elisabeth Mann, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and other Nazi camps, on why, as CNN reported, "she's uncomfortable with...
(April 22, 2009) - Sunday Leader and Psiphon win Freedom of Expression awards, but in UAE you can’t access one
After reporting that it was shortlisted in late March, I'm happy to see that the Sunday Leader has won the journalism award in the 2009 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award. The Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression awards honour those who have made outstanding contributions to the promoting of free expression. As I [...]
(April 22, 2009) - First Monday features academic paper on Internet and Democracy
Perhaps it's Obama's Presidential campaign and interest in e-government that's fuelling a number of academic studies and articles on the impact of the Internet on democracy. I wrote about Evgeny Morozov's Texting Toward Utopia: Does the Internet spread democracy? yesterday. Morozov's article ended thus, The problem with building public spheres from above, online or offline, is much [...]
(April 22, 2009) - No New NAFTA Negotiations
I think I already tweeted this (www.twitter.com/customslawblog). I'm finding it difficult to figure out what to blog and what to just tweet. Tweets are more toss-off little items that don't merit a blog post. On the other hand, sometimes a simple link to some news item is important and should get a blog post. We'll muddle through. Just be glad I am not yet podcasting or vlogging, although I do have a nice web cam . . . . Anyway, several press outlets have reported that the Obama administration...
(April 22, 2009) - ECJ: Judgments on Brussels I Regulation
Today, the ECJ delivered two judgments on the interpretation of the Brussels I Regulation. 1. Falco Privatstiftung and Rabitsch (C-533/07) The first case, which had been referred to the ECJ by the Austrian Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH), concerns the interpretation of Art. 5 Brussels I Regulation (see with regard to the background of the case our previous post on the opinion of Advocate General Trstenjak which can be found here). With the first question referred to the ECJ, the OGH basically aims...
(April 22, 2009) - Workshops: Knahr, Ziegler
Christina Knahr (Univ. of Vienna - Law) will give a talk today at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law's Friday Lunchtime Lecture Series on "Reform of the Administration of Justice System within the United Nations: Strengths and Weakness of the New System." Katja S. Ziegler (Univ. of Oxford - Law) will give a talk today at the University of Nottingham Seminar Series on "Strengthening the Rule of Law or Undermining International Law? Indirect Judicial Review of U.N. Anti-Terrorism...
(April 22, 2009) - Botox Bioterror?
The Washington Times published an editorial today advocating that a French pharmaceutical company be denied access to the U.S. market because it allegedly sold "raw botulinum toxin" to Iran. The company, Ipsen, is seeking to market two Botox-alike cosmetic drugs, including Dysport, in the United States that are pending FDA approval, and the newspaper is arguing that the FDA-approval should be withheld because of these sales. In that regard, the editorial endorses legislation introduced this...
(April 22, 2009) - Wanna Get Sued In China? Your Ex-Employees Can Help.
China Daily (h/t to my friend Brian over at China Challenges) just came out with an article headlined, "Cases soar as workers seek redress." The article gives facts behind what many of us already knew: "the number of labor disputes heard by courts has skyrocketed this year." I knew it because my firm's handling of such matters has probably just about doubled in just the last three months. According to the numbers, employee cases have increased by 59 percent over last year. The article rightly...
(April 22, 2009) - Mena, Norma Cristina c. CW Comunicaciones
CNTrab., sala I, 17/09/08, Mena, Norma Cristina y otros c. CW Comunicaciones S.A. y otros s. despido. Sociedad matriz constituida en el extranjero (EUA). Sociedad subsidiaria constituida en el extranjero (EUA). Sociedad constituida en Argentina controlada por la sociedad extranjera. Demanda laboral. Extensión de responsabilidad. Conjunto económico. Ley de sociedades: 54. Ley de contrato de trabajo: 31. En la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, a los 17 dÃ૚s del mes de septiembre de 2008,...
(April 22, 2009) - Conference: Realistic Idealism in International Law (Reminder)
As previously noted, tomorrow Yale Law School will host a conference in honor of W. Michael Reisman. The topic is "Realistic Idealism in International Law." The program is here. We are very excited about the conference and hope that you will be able to attend. If you can't make it, you will be able to read a number of the conference papers in the next issue of the Yale Journal of International Law.
(April 22, 2009) - A Joke for Benjamin
This Centipede joke is for Benjamin.
(April 22, 2009) - even southern firms are jumping into china
There was a time when I had a slowdown of these sort of postings about a new law firm opening shop in Beijing and/or Shanghai. Last time it was Loeb & Loeb, which I noted was interesting from a smaller U.S. firm. Well, now we have a U.S. regional firm based out of Atlanta-the South-opening up shop in Beijing. Morris Manning & Martin, which I had never heard of being (being based in the Bay Area, CA), recently announced its Beijing office launch. (they also have a presence in Taibei,...
(April 22, 2009) - Economic Crisis: Springtime for Hitler?
Mel Brooks musical "The Producers" will be performed in Berlin in May, writes Der Spiegel (in English). It's not that much of a controversy. Just the usual "Should one be allowed to laugh about Hitler?" newspaper articles. A bit more shocking is the comment by the heads of the Federation of German Trade Unions Michael Sommer, who suggested that Nazis might rise outside the cinemas as well. DW World: In an interview with Germany's ARD television, Sommer warned of social unrest comparable to that...
(April 22, 2009)