A Path Not Taken: Hans Kelsen\u27s Pure Theory of Law in the Land of Legal Realists

This Essay is a contribution to a volume on the influence of Hans Kelsen’s legal theory in over a dozen countries. The Essay offers four explanations for the failure of Kelsen’s pure theory of law to take hold in the United States. Part I covers the argument that Kelsen’s approach failed in the United States because it is inferior to H. L. A. Hart’s brand of legal positivism. Part II discusses the historical context in which Kelsen taught and published in the United States and explores both philosophical and sociological reasons why the legal academy in the United States rejected Kelsen’s approach. Part III addresses the pedagogical obstacles to bringing Kelsen’s Pure Theory into classrooms in the United States. The final section addresses the U.S. legal academy’s continuing resistance to the pure theory of law. The vehemence with which legal scholars within the United States rejected Kelsen’s philosophy of law is best understood as a product of numerous factors, some philosophical, some political and some having to do with professional developments within the legal academy itself. Because the causal significance of philosophical and political opposition to Kelsen’s legal philosophy has been overstated, this Essay supplements those explanatory models with a sociological account of the U.S. legal academy’s rejection of Kelsen’s pure theory of law

Natural Gas Fracking Addresses All of Our Major Problems

Politicians and regulators all over the world are debating the merits and demerits of horizontal drilling and fracturing of shale formations to produce natural gas (fracking) and the many legal issues that are raised by fracking. Professor Pierce provides context for those debates by describing the economic, environmental, and geopolitical advantages of fracking

Natural Gas Fracking Addresses All of Our Major Problems

Politicians and regulators all over the world are debating the merits and demerits of horizontal drilling and fracturing of shale formations to produce natural gas (fracking) and the many legal issues that are raised by fracking. Professor Pierce provides context for those debates by describing the economic, environmental, and geopolitical advantages of fracking

Natural Gas: A Long Bridge to a Promising Destination

In this essay, Professor Pierce argues that the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing of shale formations that has nearly doubled US gas supplies over the last six years has the potential to yield a century of enormous environmental and economic benefits to the US and to the world

Natural Gas: A Long Bridge to a Promising Destination

In this essay, Professor Pierce argues that the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing of shale formations that has nearly doubled US gas supplies over the last six years has the potential to yield a century of enormous environmental and economic benefits to the US and to the world

Using Statistical Techniques to Predict Non-Pecuniary Damage Awards in Personal Injury Cases

The real issue in personal injury cases is often damages. Our concepts and law relating to negligence and other aspects of personal injury are sufficiently developed that parties can often agree upon who is at fault. Yet damages law, for all the cases and principles which have been decided, remains the least intelligible and thus the least predictable for parties and their counsel. When parties have to go to trial in a personal injury case, it is often primarily to decide who should pay what

Combating Transnational Organized Crime in Thailand

Globalization is described as the removal of barriers to facilitate the movement of goods and funds across national borders. However, this phenomenon has also benefited transnational organized crime networks by providing them opportunities to create new markets for illicit goods and services or infiltrate businesses or governments. In addition, the nature of criminal activities has changed due to the actions of organized criminal groups that commit crimes in one state but carry out the majority of their preparation, planning, direction, and participation in another state. As a result, transnational organized crime activities have an effect on the criminalization and collection of evidence in various countries based on their respective criminal law systems. Thailand, in particular, has experienced a disproportionate share of the direct effects of transnational organized crime due to its location as a source, destination, and receiving country for transnational criminal organizations. This puts Thailand at risk for offenses, such as human trafficking and drug trafficking, that are committed by transnational criminal groups. Combating transnational organized crime is one of the international community’s most significant challenges. On the one hand, this is because international laws require an explicit definition of transnational organized crime. On the other hand, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) has aimed to make transnational organized crime as broad and adaptable as possible in order to combat future instances of organized crime. Thus, measures to combat transnational organized crime must consider the concepts governed by international laws, especially transnational criminal law. The purpose of this study was to seek and examine the adoption of applicable international laws, related international and regional conventions, model treaties, and agreements for combating transnational organized crime in Thailand. As a result, the success of prosecuting transnational organized crime at all levels has increased the interest in cooperating with other countries and international, regional, and national organizations to fight against it. However, this study contended that although Thailand has domestic laws in place to combat transnational organized crime, there are challenges to prosecuting crimes, such as corruption, money laundering, participation in organized criminal groups, obstruction of justice, and other related offenses. Hence, this study demonstrated that Thailand needs to improve its operations in cooperative efforts, legal framework, administrative measures, political issues, and corruption. Therefore, this study calls on international and regional organizations and the Thai government to address the highlighted challenges and suppress and prevent them through international cooperation and following international standards. Finally, the study suggests several recommendations for improving the fight against transnational organized crime at all levels

At the Intersection of Tangible and Intangible : Constructing a Framework for the Protection of Indigenous Sacred Sites in the Pursuit of Natural Resource Development Projects

La problématique de la protection des sites sacrés autochtones dans le cadre du développement des ressources naturelles est devenue un sujet d’intérêt public suite à la couverture médiatique internationale, au début de 2017, du “Dakota Access Line Protest (DAPL)” du Standing Rock Sioux dans le Nord Dakota. Toutefois, cela fait très longtemps que ces préoccupations existent pour de nombreuses communautés autochtones à travers le monde. Cette thèse aborde ce sujet à partir de trois angles complémentaires : l’anthropologie juridique / la théorie autochtone, le droit international et le droit comparatif. L’anthropologie juridique jumelée à la théorie autochtone, utilisées comme savoirs externes, permet dans cette optique une approche équilibrée, pour comprendre les conceptions du temps, de l’espace et du sacré, dans une posture non-réductrice, non-essentialisée et non-romantique, en comparant quatre juridictions, celles du Canada, des États-Unis, de l’Australie et de l’Aotearoa Nouvelle-Zélande. L’objectif de cette étude comparative est de créer une matrice qui permettra d’évaluer les mécanismes et/ou dispositions juridiques pour la protection des sites sacrés autochtones dans le cadre du développement des ressources naturelles dans les quatre systèmes juridiques comparés. Notre but est d’élaborer un cadre juridique plus efficace, sensible aux contextes particuliers, pour la protection des sites sacrés autochtones dans chacune de ces juridictions. Sensible aux contextes particuliers signifie que ce cadre sera en accord avec la culture juridique du pays, les valeurs, coutumes et identités autochtones du territoire ainsi que les normes internationales potentiellement pertinentes pour ce pays. Cette approche se doit de tenir compte des différents paliers et d’être multidimensionnelle. La perspective internationale est essentielle pour trois raisons. Tout d’abord, dans le monde moderne, on retrouve la globalisation, l’internationalisation et la glocalisation. Ensuite, les nouvelles technologies de communication permettent aux Autochtones d’obtenir des appuis à leurs causes sur la scène internationale. Et, finalement, partout à travers le monde, le principe fondamental de souveraineté des États est hautement conflictuel avec l’autodétermination des Autochtones. Cette étude est nécessairement limitée aux relations entre le droit international et les droits internes de ces quatre systèmes juridiques. Comme il s’agit d’une thèse de doctorat en droit, le droit comparatif en est au cœur. Une méthodologie similaire, en quatre étapes, est utilisée pour analyser chacune des quatre juridictions. En premier lieu, les mécanismes juridiques les plus pertinents pour la protection des sites sacrés sont examinés en détail. Deuxièmement, une étude de cas, abordée dans chaque juridiction, permet de jauger concrètement l’efficacité de ces mécanismes. De plus, la matrice élaborée auparavant sert de toile fond pour évaluer ces mécanismes dans ce contexte concret. Troisièmement, tous les éléments recueillis pour chaque juridiction sont mis en relation, analysés et synthétisés. Finalement, des conclusions sont tirées pour chaque pays et serviront à la construction du cadre proposé dans le dernier chapitre. Dans le dernier chapitre, on retrouve tout d’abord, la formulation d’une solution idéale, voire idéaliste. Ensuite, des propositions pragmatiques y sont formulées pour chaque juridiction dans son contexte actuel. Somme toute, cette thèse conclut que l’approche juridique de l’Aotearoa Nouvelle-Zélande apporte une base de réflexion intéressante. Celle-ci pourrait, en effet, être transposée aux trois autres juridictions, non pas parce que ces juridictions partagent le même héritage du Common Law, mais en raison de la possible compatibilité juridique, dans ces pays, de la méthodologie utilisée par l’Aotearoa Nouvelle-Zélande pour développer les mécanismes permettant l’expression des valeurs culturelles, des traditions et des identités autochtones, à travers les concepts et structures juridiques occidentaux.While the issue of protecting Indigenous sacred sites in the pursuit of natural resource projects only came to public attention with the international press coverage of the Standing Rock Sioux’s Dakota Access Line Protest (DAPL) in North Dakota earlier in 2017, it has long been an issue of considerable concern for Indigenous peoples worldwide. This thesis considers the matter from three angles: legal anthropology/Indigenous theory, international law and comparative law. The twin perspectives of legal anthropology and Indigenous theory are employed as external disciplines in a check-and-balance exercise that aims to clarify the Indigenous conceptions of time, space and the sacred in the four jurisdictions under comparison –Canada, the United States, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand– in a non-reductive, non-essentialized, non-romanticized manner. The objective of this exercise is to create a matrix against which juridical mechanisms and/or legal provisions for the protection of Indigenous sacred sites can be measured in the four jurisdictions studied, with the ultimate aim of crafting an improved, context-sensitive framework for the protection of Indigenous sacred sites in each such jurisdiction. Context-sensitive framework refers to a framework aligned with the country’s legal culture, Indigenous values, customs and identities found within the boundaries of that jurisdiction, and with such international norms as may potentially be pertinent in that state. This demands a multi-faceted, layered approach. The international law perspective is crucial due to three factors: first, the predominance of phenomena such as globalization, internationalization and glocalization in the modern world; second, the telecommunications revolution, which has meant that Indigenous peoples increasingly rally support for their causes on the international stage; and third, the high-profile conflict between State sovereignty and Indigenous self-determination that is ubiquitous on the world stage. The focus of this study is necessarily limited to the relationship between international and domestic law in each of the four jurisdictions. Since this is a thesis for a doctorate in law, there is comparative law at the heart of it. In each of the four jurisdictions a similar methodology is followed. In the first step, the most pertinent legal mechanisms for the protection of sacred sites are considered from up close. The second step is to test the effectiveness of such mechanisms with reference to a concrete case study in that jurisdiction. The case study contemplates the legal mechanism in question in its factual contexts with the aid of the matrix as in the first portion of the thesis. Then a process of analysis and synthesis follows, until finally, some conclusions are drawn for utilization in the construction of the final chapter’s proposed framework. The final chapter proposes both an ideal solution and some pragmatic proposals in the context of each jurisdiction. In sum, the thesis concludes that Aotearoa New Zealand’s legal approach provides an interesting basis for further development. It is deemed to be transposable into the other three jurisdictions not based on the fact that they share a common law heritage, but rather because of the compatibility of the methodology that was followed in developing the said mechanism in a manner that gives expression to Indigenous cultural values, customs and identity through the use of Western legal structures and concepts