Drones and the International Rule of Law

This essay will proceed in four parts. First, it will briefly discuss the concept of the international rule of law. Second, it will offer a short factual background on US drone strikes (to the extent that it is possible to provide factual background on a practice so shrouded in secrecy). Third, it will highlight some of the key ways in which post 9/11 US legal theories relating to the use of force challenge previously accepted concepts and seek to redefine previously well-understood terms. Fourth, it will offer brief concluding thoughts on the future of the international rule of law in light of this challenge

A Note on the History of European Law and Economics: Wertheim's Dissertation

In 1930 a young Dutch scholar named W.F. Wertheim published his J.D.-dissertation Aansprakelijkheid voor schade buiten overeenkomst (Extra-contractual liability for damage). This dissertation did not attract much attention, and the author himself hardly did any further research on its topic. Taking in mind the development of law-and-economics some decades later, however, the book is highly remarkable. Long before the modern economic analysis of law was to be developed in the United States, attention was paid to the preventive effects of liability law and its influence on the welfare of society. In the first paragraph of this paper, Wertheims theory will be explained. The second paragraph is devoted to the reception of the book by the legal community and to the second thoughts the author himself had about it. In the third paragraph a comparison is made between method and application of Wertheim's theory and contemporary law-and-economics. The fourth paragraph offers a conclusion.

Critical for Pure Judgment: The \u27Socratic Method\u27 on Relativism

The following essay is an attempt to justify philosophically the possibility of a \u27natural law\u27 or prescriptive cross-experiential judgment. To accomplish this task, an examination of contemporary relativism and indication of what is wrong with that position is necessary at first. Why argue against something if its sound? The second stage is a survey of certain key thinkers on law, justice and judgment. Their thoughts will yield clues or suggestions about what is needed for a natural law. The third section lays out this author\u27s thoughts on how to solve the problem. The final section is objections and replies

Fortress Europe and its metaphors: immigration and the law. CES Working Paper, vol. 3, no.1, 1999

It is in that context that I would like to listen, obliquely, to two types of discourse that tend to ignore each other: first I want to listen to the legal discourse that manifests itself in this new immigration law, then I also want to listen to a simultaneous layer of discourse, a popular discourse made of images, metaphors, and quotable quotes that constitute a vast reservoir of seemingly spontaneous thoughts on immigrants and their presence in France. I would like to position myself at the intersection between those seemingly incompatible discourses. I would especially like to check to which extent the second type of discourse (those popular images that are so often devalued as a language) do not constitute a second type of law, a law that is sometimes even more rigid that the official one. So, instead of examining the official legal discourse as if it were a self-contained universe, a text that can be read as a finished product, I would like to concentrate on what happens before and after that drafting of the bill. I would like to focus on the ways in which such texts are written, prepared, argued (what happens upstream if you will), but also how the text is read and interpreted. Let’s see if a law on immigration is part of everyday life, if it finally turns into everyday life or if as I will suggest, it reflects what already exists in everyday life and in our culture

Over Under or Through: Physicians, Law, and Health Care Reform

My purpose in this commentary is twofold. First, I want to offer a few thoughts on why the American medical profession sometimes has a hard time accepting law on its own terms. Second, I want to suggest that even “good law” from the perspective of the medical profession—should it overcome its habits of resistance—may still be bad health policy for the United States

A Note on the History of European Law and Economics: Wertheim's Dissertation

In 1930 a young Dutch scholar namend W.F. Wertheim publlished his J.D.-dissertation Aansprakelijkheid voor schade buiten overeenkomst (Extra-contractual liability for damage). This dissertation dis not attract much attention, and rge author himself hardly did any further research on its topic. Taking in mind the development of law-and-economics some decades later, however, the book is highly remarkable. Long before the modern economic analysis of law was to be developed in the United States, attention was paid to the preventive effects of liability law and its influence on the welfare of society. In the first paragraph of this paper Wertheims theory will be explained. The second paragraph is devoted to the reception of the book by the legal community and to the second thoughts the author himself had bout it. In the third paragraph a comparison is made between method and application of Wertheim's theory and contemporary law-and-economics. The fourth paragraph offers a conclusion

To Compare or Not to Compare? Reading Justice Breyer

Justice Breyer\u27s new book The Court and the World presents a number of productive challenges. First, it provides an opportunity to reflect generally on extra-judicial scholarly activities. Second, it is a major and important - but also troubling - contribution to debates about comparative law broadly, and the opening of domestic constitutional regimes to external law and legal phenomena more specifically. I begin by suggesting a critique of the first of these points. These are merely some thoughts on the implications of extra-judicial scholarship. The greater portion of this essay, however, is devoted to a reading of Justice Breyer\u27s book, which is a compelling manifesto supporting comparative law and, at the same time, a frustrating example of the problems plaguing our project

Creating a Tribal Law Practice Clinic in Kansas: Carving the Peg to Fit the Hole

This article will focus on three main challenges in creating a tribal court practice clinic. The first part will address creating a tribal court focus within an existing clinic curriculum. The second part will address the process of designing a curriculum for the TCPC that includes incorporating the basic doctrinal foundations of federal Indian law, as well as the clinical skills necessary to practice in a tribal court setting. The third part will offer some concluding thoughts on my long-term plans and dreams for TCPC