In 2012, Hong Kong marked the fifteenth anniversary of the handover of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China. In this Essay, Martin S. Flaherty gives an overview of the handover process, discusses its impact on … Continue reading
The summer of 2012 marked the fifteenth anniversary of the handover of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China. Under the “one country, two systems” principle established in the handover agreements, Hong Kong … Continue reading
The bilateral treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation was for centuries a staple of international diplomacy. These treaties were famous for addressing a wide range of issues–including human rights, trade and investment protection– in a single document. In recent years, … Continue reading
This Article explores how unilateral action to regulate international corporate bribery can serve as a partial substitute for multilateral action. The standard account generally assumes that domestic efforts to combat international corporate bribery disadvantage domestic corporations and create a structural … Continue reading
This Article challenges the emerging consensus that arbitrators who adjudicate investor-state disputes should strive for greater consistency. It submits that consistent adjudication can only be realized by sacrificing accuracy, sincerity and transparency. For many national and supranational legal systems, this … Continue reading
A multi-billion dollar e-commerce industry is testing the limits of international tax systems. While general forms of e-commerce have posed challenges to international tax regimes before, the sale of virtual property is uniquely difficult to tax. If a German player … Continue reading
In recent decades, developing countries and indigenous communities have increasingly asserted the necessity of protecting so-called “traditional cultural expression”–the array of creative expressions integral to the cultural and social identities of indigenous and local communities–from improper exploitation. Among the more … Continue reading
The 2012 Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award, given annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of international law, was presented to M. Cherif Bassiouni on April 3, 2012 in New York City. The award is given … Continue reading
Modern international criminal law was born out of the Holocaust–the systematic extermination of millions of people. It was the gravity of those crimes that provided the theoretical and political justifications for the first international criminal trials at Nuremberg. Yet today, … Continue reading
A bit more than fifty years ago the Israeli government put Adolph Eichmann on trial in Jerusalem. The way was opened for this trial by the International Military Tribunal convened in Nuremberg, Germany, in late 1945. However, what the prosecutors … Continue reading
Throughout the past quarter-century, China has recorded remarkable levels of economic growth. China’s development, however, has left an unexpected mark on the global financial system: Chinese companies listed on other countries’ exchanges are increasingly facing serious allegations of securities fraud … Continue reading
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) governs suits against foreign governments in the federal and state courts. The contempt power is a core judicial competency for maintaining efficiency and enforcing orders. As currently enacted, the FSIA does not prohibit use … Continue reading
The interactions between international human rights law and investor-State arbitration have attracted much attention in the last two decades. In particular, investors have sought to bolster their position in investor-State arbitration by invoking international human rights law. Some have argued … Continue reading
The Conference opened on Friday, April 13, 2012 with welcoming remarks from Dean David M. Schizer, Provost John H. Coatsworth, A. Michael Hoffman and Reynold Levy.
The first panel of the Conference began at 11:00 AM on Friday, April 13, 2012 at Columbia Law School. The panel included the Honorable Xue Hanqin, Professor Sean D. Murphy, Professor Ian Johnstone, Timothy M. Reif and Ambassador Gudmundur Eirikson. … Continue reading
The first keynote address was delivered by Zbigniew Brzezinski at 1:00 PM on April 13, 2012, in the Columbia Law School Faculty House Presidential Ballroom. Reynold Levy provided introductory remarks. The address, published in full, was followed by a question … Continue reading
The second panel took place between 3:00 and 5:00 PM on Friday, April 13, 2012. President Lee C. Bollinger introduced the panel and Professor Gardner, who also served as the moderator. Panelists included Peter D. Ehrenhaft, Michael B. Bradfield, Girogio … Continue reading
The second keynote address was delivered by Stephen M. Schwebel at 6:00 PM on April 13, 2012, in the Columbia Law School Faculty House Presidential Ballroom. Lori Fisler Damrosch provided introductory remarks. The address was followed by a question and … Continue reading
The third panel of the Conference took place at 10:00 AM on Saturday, April 14, 2012. Panelists included Antony J. Blinken, Andrew J. Shapiro, James P. Rubin, Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, Ambassador Miguel A. Navarro and Andrew J. Pierre. The moderator … Continue reading
The third keynote address was delivered by Paul A. Volcker at 12:30 PM on Saturday, April 14, 2012, in the Columbia Law School Faculty House Presidential Ballroom. A. Michael Hoffman provided introductory remarks. The address, published in full, was followed … Continue reading
The fourth panel of the Conference took place at 2:30 PM on Saturday, April 14, 2012. Panelists included Edward C. Luck, Kenneth Berlin, Brad L. Smith, Robert A. Kushen, Gordon M. Goldstein and Susan D. Maples. The moderator was Nina … Continue reading
Professor Richard Gardner provided the closing remarks of the conference at 4:30 PM on Saturday, April 14, 2012.
As the international approach to controlling climate change has shifted from conservation to innovation, the United States has struggled to develop a regime for electricity generation that will encourage a transition from fossil fuels to renewable resources. The primary barriers … Continue reading
This Note challenges the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) acceptance of its member states’ common practice of allowing the burden to prove truth or good faith to be placed on the defendant in criminal defamation cases. The ECtHR is … Continue reading
International public health emergencies can pose incredible dangers to any city throughout the world. Growth in international travel has only served to increase these dangers, allowing infectious diseases to spread quickly across long distances. Yet, we are not without a … Continue reading
In July 2011, two former vice mayors of prominent Chinese cities were executed for accepting vast amounts of bribes and abusing their powers. Stories of officials abusing power for private gain are found the world over, but China faces a … Continue reading
Under the international legal prohibition on torture, states must refrain from deporting persons to countries where there is a substantial risk that they would be tortured. But why and to what extent should the otherwise lawful immigration powers of a … Continue reading
Bangladesh and Myanmar became the first states to submit a maritime boundary disputeto the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS or the Tribunal) in December 2009. Previously, such disputes had been adjudicated by the International Court of … Continue reading
Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act authorized the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) to promulgate a rule creating a uniform fiduciary standard for all financial intermediaries. This rule would harmonize regulatory standards for … Continue reading
Sovereign wealth funds (“SWFs”) have received a great deal of attention since they appeared as critical investors during the global financial crisis. Reactions have ranged from fears of state intervention and mercantilism to hopes that SWFs will emerge as model … Continue reading
One of the most polarizing debates in international law is how the goal of peace should figure into the work of international criminal tribunals. The freshly minted crime ofaggression lands the judges of the International Criminal Court in the middle … Continue reading
Informal Value Transfer Systems (“IVTS”) are types of remittance mechanisms that allow funds to change hands and cross borders without necessarily passing through the conventional banking sector. While many IVTS transfers serve legitimate purposes, in a post-9/11 world, IVTS have … Continue reading
Since the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act (“FTAIA”) amended the Sherman Act in 1982, the FTAIA has been a source of confusion and debate about Americanantitrust law’s applicability to anticompetitive conduct implicating foreign nations. The FTAIA states that the Sherman … Continue reading
Space has become an invaluable resource to mankind. GPS technology, satellite television, weather forecasting and a national defense network are examples of the many modern technologies made possible by orbiting satellites and space technology. Unfortunately, the international treaty regime which … Continue reading
This speech was presented by Jerome A. Cohen upon receiving the 2010 Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the field of international law, in conjunction with the Friedmann Conference Series on China and Chinese Law, on March 25, … Continue reading
For many years, Louis Henkin played an invaluable role for the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, first as a member of the Board of Directors and more recently as a member of the Board of Advisors. As a professor, mentor … Continue reading
Delegates recently convened in Kampala, Uganda to lay the groundwork for the International Criminal Court’s eventual prosecution of the crime of aggression. This achievement caps decades of negotiations that began in the post-World War II period. From virtually the beginning … Continue reading
Moving forward into a post-Kyoto world, policymakers struggle to find effective and equitable solutions, not only for the most basic challenges climate change presents, but also for the secondary problems to which climate change gives rise. After more than twenty … Continue reading
Linkages between investment law and other areas of international law remain largely obscure. In particular, investment arbitral tribunals tend to separate investment issues from human rights issues despite the increasing number of disputes that implicate both areas. In part, this … Continue reading
From the time of its enactment until today, the Republic of Korea’s Labor Standards Act (LSA), which outlines the minimum standards governing full-time employment relationships, has been plagued by controversy due to its statutory ambiguity, structural deficiencies and the social … Continue reading
In 2005, Newsweek published an article alleging that American interrogators at the detention facility in Guantánamo Bay had flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet. Continue reading
Investment treaty arbitration is a relatively recent innovation designed to allow foreign investors to bring claims against host States without having to seek redress in the host State’s own courts. Yet a trend has emerged that some have characterized as inconsistent … Continue reading
This Article discusses the normative trajectory of international obligations assumed by Southeast Asian countries (particularly the Organizational Purposes that mandate compliance with international treaties, human rights and democratic freedoms), and the inevitable emergence of a body of discrete “ASEAN Law” … Continue reading
On July 22, 2010, the International Court of Justice (the court or the ICJ) rendered an Advisory Opinion, Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo (Kosovo Advisory Opinion or Opinion), considering whether the … Continue reading
Foreign bribery represents a serious impediment to global prosperity and development. For decades, the United States remained one of the few industrialized nations to combat this threat, criminalizing the payment of bribes abroad under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In … Continue reading
The dramatic expansion of technology and globalization over the last thirty years has not only facilitated transnational terrorist operations, but also has transformed the countermeasures utilized by law enforcement and amplified the need for counterterrorism coordination between foreign and domestic … Continue reading
This Article revisits the topic of non-participation of states in proceedings before the International Court of Justice and challenges the notion that the Nicaragua case from the mid-1980s was the last instance of non-participation in the ICJ. In particular, there … Continue reading
This Article calls for the re-introduction of probability tests—such as the abandoned American “clear and present danger” or the Israeli “near certainty” test—and for their integration into contemporary models of rights adjudication in global constitutionalism. This stance is supported, inter … Continue reading
From the time of its enactment until the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) was interpreted under the assumption that covered entities—foreign sovereign nations and their agencies and instrumentalities—should be afforded the typical constitutional protections … Continue reading
Historically, the deceased and their relatives have been understood to have certain rights and legal protections. The right of conscience and the right of sepulchre, or the right of the next of kin to properly dispose of his or her … Continue reading
Current efforts to harmonize the laws of secured credit and bankruptcy, and to centralize bankruptcy case administration are predicated on the belief that regularizing debtor’s rights and creditor’s remedies will cause global business to flourish and will benefit both developed … Continue reading
Sunset clauses are a common feature of post 9/11 counterterrorism legislation in western democracies. In this article, I consider the functions and efficacy of these provisions by concentrating on their use in a few notable cases, mainly the United States, … Continue reading
Professor Janger’s proposal of universal proceduralism seeks a middle ground between territorialism and universalism in international insolvency cases by placing administration of the case in one main proceeding while dividing the debtor’s assets into local pools, each governed by local … Continue reading
This Report is submitted to the Executive Committee of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York (New York City Bar Association), to the Association’s Council on International Affairs and to its committees on Asian Affairs and … Continue reading
According to the United States Supreme Court in Medellín v. Texas, decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have no direct domestic effect in U.S. courts and are confined entirely to the international political arena. The Medellín majority found … Continue reading
This Note examines the legal aspects of an important but inadequately scrutinized development: the Sino-Congolese minerals-for-infrastructure investment deal. While the Sino-Congolese deal is somewhat sui generis, it bears the hallmarks of a breed of investment agreements used increasingly by China … Continue reading
As the need to raise revenue becomes more pressing and public opposition to tax avoidance increases, the European Court of Justice has made it more difficult for the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union to prevent tax avoidance and … Continue reading
Because of China’s enormous and fast-growing economy and its increasing role in shaping global governance, the evolving rule of law system in the People’s Republic poses some of the most critical challenges and opportunities for peace and prosperity in our … Continue reading
Dorsey & Whitney Student Writing Prize in Comparative and International Law Outstanding Note Award Winner The cross-border trafficking of human beings is a massive criminal enterprise, which has devastating effects on its victims. Even after they manage to escape their … Continue reading
The Western Climate Initiative is an extraordinary effort among U.S. states and Canadian provinces to address climate change. Officials in six U.S. states and four Canadian provinces have agreed to cap carbon emissions even though the federal governments of the … Continue reading
While transitional justice scholarship has begun to recognize that engaging with the economic forces driving particular conflicts is a crucial part of dealing with the legacy of those conflicts, the international community has been slow to implement mechanisms to address … Continue reading
The Columbia Journal of Transnational Law recently lost a great friend, a wonderful colleague and an ardent supporter. He was the longest-serving member of the Board of Directors. Philippe Stephen Eric Schreiber of Nantucket, Massachusetts, formerly of New York City, … Continue reading
Courts across many common law democracies have been wrestling with a shared predicament: proving cases against suspected terrorists in detention hearings requires governments to protect sensitive classified information about intelligence sources and methods, but withholding evidence from suspects threatens fairness … Continue reading
In recent times, the issue of odious debts has received a lot of political and academic attention, particularly in the context of Iraq and the unilateral decision of the Norwegian government to cancel certain debts of developing countries because of … Continue reading
Foreign cubed class action securities litigations (foreign plaintiff participation in U.S. securities class actions against foreign defendants for transactions on foreign exchanges) are on the rise. This new tide of litigation brings with it a host of questions ranging from … Continue reading
In recent years, transfer pricing has become a crucial aspect of international taxation. Various methods are used to determine the appropriate prices of goods and services in intercompany transactions, but those methods that are based on profits rather than sales … Continue reading
Whether judges are motivated to make good law or maximize policy goals, they need to develop and maintain a good reputation with some audience. We distinguish internal and external audiences for individual judicial decision-making: internal audiences are those within the … Continue reading
In this article, we posit that when arbitral tribunals decide international disputes, they typically fail to fully compensate claimants for the loss of the use of their money. This failure occurs because they do not acknowledge that businesses typically invest … Continue reading
The following luncheon address was given during International Law Weekend in New York on October 28, 2006. The speech addresses the growth of international legal jurisprudence and refutes claims that U.S. law remains unaffected by it.
Secondary boycotts, strikes, and picketing are increasingly common in global industries. When conducted domestically by U.S. workers, such activity has historically been enjoined by courts pursuant to the National Labor Relations Act, which governs collective bargaining agreements in most private … Continue reading
This Note imagines a purely academic international law institute and responds to anticipated questions surrounding such a body. First, it argues that civil law and common law scholars can work together on proposals effecting each other’s regimes; second, that concerns … Continue reading
This work contends that Latin America has launched a true revolution on collective rights: moving beyond the paradigm of group entitlements, which concern a determinate—though potentially enormous—collectivity, to that of comprehensive entitlements, which generally pertain to society as a whole. … Continue reading
This article explores the international humanitarian law governing the use of human shields, a tragically prevalent tactic in contemporary warfare. It begins by setting forth the express prohibitions on the use of human shields. These prohibitions are uncontroversial and generally … Continue reading
An earlier version of this Statement was submitted to Restoring the Rule of Law: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, 110th Congress (Sept. 16, 2008). The version of the Statement published here was … Continue reading
Prior to the Uruguay Round and the creation of the WTO in 1994, countries would often settle international trade disputes informally by agreeing to have the exporting country voluntarily limit exports to set levels. These voluntary export restraint agreements (VRAs) … Continue reading
India’s economic reforms and growth over the past two decades have catapulted it into the international spotlight, where its successes have been as loudly celebrated as its failures condemned. The earliest of those reforms opened up India’s power sector to foreign … Continue reading
India has the potential to become a prime target for international investors in areas such as power production, infrastructure and real estate development—all of which utilize project finance structures. As a growing segment of investors follow Shari’ah-compliant financial practices, known … Continue reading
There are many, many reasons to honor Justice Sandra Day O’Connor–and during the course of her brief but rich stay with us here at Columbia Law School, we have touched on only some of those many reasons. There remains this … Continue reading
This speech was presented by Sandra Day O’Connor upon receiving the Fall 2007 Wolfgang Friedmann Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of International Law in conjunction with the Harold Leventhal Memorial Lecture Series on November 12, 2007.
This speech was presented by Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade upon receiving the Spring 2008 Wolfgang Friedmann Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of International Law at the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law Friedmann Award Dinner on April 8, 2008.
Sixty-five years ago, after a catastrophic world depression and a devastating war, the leaders of the United States and Great Britain achieved a “political miracle, ” creating a liberal international system for cooperation in trade, finance and development. Despite some … Continue reading
Over the past fifty years, proportionality balancing–an analytical procedure akin to “strict scrutiny” in the United States–has become a dominant technique of rights adjudication in the world. From German origins, proportionality analysis spread across Europe, into Commonwealth systems (Canada, New … Continue reading
Over the past few decades, the European Union has emerged as a powerful economic and political force, the remarkable result of decades of effort spent in the hopes of creating a united Europe. However, the success of those efforts is … Continue reading
The Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the principal federal legislation criminalizing drug trafficking, was traditionally employed to combat the illegal drug trade, but prescription narcotics also fall within the law’s purview. The CSA permits physicians to prescribe narcotics when acting in … Continue reading
This article develops a model of the enforcement of human rights that accounts for financial globalization. First, I argue that, in practical terms, the traditional approach to protecting human rights by documenting violations of human rights to embarrass states into … Continue reading
This article posits that the creation and development of international regulatory regimes has so far required a choice between rulemaking and adjudication. Regulators that wish to make policy broadly and prospectively have done so informally and through rules. More elaborate … Continue reading
Bankruptcy law is regarded as an important mechanism for protecting creditor rights. Much of the current debate about bankruptcy law focuses exclusively on private creditors, ignoring the role of tax authorities as creditor in insolvent firms. Based on data from … Continue reading
This Essay explains how the political theorists Hobbes, Kant, and Locke interpret the decision to go to war (jus ad bellum) and the manner in which the war is conducted (just in bello). It also considers the implications of the … Continue reading
This Note undertakes a critical analysis of the European Court of Human Rights’ (“ECHR”) growing case law under Article 9(2). As a limitations clause, Article 9(2) sets out the necessary conditions for a state party’s legitimate interference with or restriction … Continue reading
The Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) is a new World Bank initiative designed to combat the illicit diversion of Bank funds. Under the VDP, contractors that confess corruption in connection with prior Bank projects, name their co-conspirators, and implement an internal … Continue reading
This Note contends that the European Court of Human Rights and British Courts should review certain editorial decisions of defendants in media defamation cases in order to resolve conflicts between the freedoms of expression and reputation. The Note discusses the … Continue reading
This article takes as its subject the growth of “governance beyond the state.” It highlights the problems resulting from the large number of organizations, networks and practices which are making authoritative rules and policies outside the state, and which lie … Continue reading
International criminal tribunals are often criticized for having minimal influence on the states over which they exercise jurisdiction. This article argues that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has had a far more positive impact on domestic governance … Continue reading
A sustained reflection upon remedial obligations and possibilities is particularly necessary at this juncture in the development of international law, where important mechanisms with reparative functions have recently sprung up around the world: the International Criminal Court, the African Court … Continue reading
On October 9, 2006 North Korea conducted a nuclear test. Shortly after, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1718 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The resolution demanded, inter alia, that North Korea re-sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, … Continue reading
In the wake of the federalism retrenchment brought about by Supreme Court precedents of the past two decades, some scholars have challenged the vitality of Missouri v. Holland, the Court’s canonical explication of the treaty power. Examining this retrenchment and … Continue reading
This Speech was presented by Antonio Cassese upon receiving the Wolfgang Friedmann Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of International Law. The Speech was given at the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law Friedmann Award Dinner on March 22, 2007.
This article examines a form of securities class action that is growing increasingly popular in U.S. courts: the “foreign-cubed” action, brought against a foreign issuer on behalf of a class that includes foreign investors who purchased securities on a foreign … Continue reading
This Article argues that by applying a highly formalistic methodology to decide tax cases, the European Court of Justice avoids the challenge of weighing the harms of tax discrimination against the benefits to Member States in retaining autonomy over their … Continue reading
Dorsey & Whitney Student Writing Prize In Comparative And International Law Outstanding Note Award Winner This Note argues that state statutory and common law causes of action are viable alternatives to the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). After discussing the challenges … Continue reading