International Arbitration and the Republic of Colombia: Commercial, Comparative and Constitutional Concerns From a U.S. Perspective

This article undertakes the first comparative analysis of Colombian arbitration law in English, setting Colombian statutory and case law side by side with international and U.S. law to provide U.S. parties with the information they need to (1) evaluate the risks and benefits associated with entering into an arbitration agreement with a Colombian party and (2) establish the kinds of procedures needed to provide optimal protection of the arbitral process and any resulting award. Not only does this research discuss important comparative and commercial matters, it also considers how a unique type of constitutional challenge - the acción de tutela - affects arbitration law in Colombia

Propagation of cosmic rays: nuclear physics in cosmic-ray studies

The nuclei fraction in cosmic rays (CR) far exceeds the fraction of other CR species, such as antiprotons, electrons, and positrons. Thus the majority of information obtained from CR studies is based on interpretation of isotopic abundances using CR propagation models where the nuclear data and isotopic production cross sections in p- and alpha-induced reactions are the key elements. This paper presents an introduction to the astrophysics of CR and diffuse gamma rays and discusses some of the puzzles that have emerged recently due to more precise data and improved propagation models. Merging with cosmology and particle physics, astrophysics of CR has become a very dynamic field with a large potential of breakthrough and discoveries in the near future. Exploiting the data collected by the CR experiments to the fullest requires accurate nuclear cross sections.Comment: 6 pages, 13 figures, aip style files. Invited review talk at the Int. Conf. on Nuclear Data-2004 (Santa Fe, Sep. 26 - Oct. 1, 2004). To appear in AIP Conf. Pro

Book Review: The Business of Judging

Lord Bingham of Cornhill is no stranger to the business of judging. Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, former Lord Chief Justice of England, former Master of the Rolls, he has been sitting on the bench in one capacity or another for the last twenty years - twenty-five if one counts his tenure as a recorder. Although he began his career at the bar in 1959 as a commercial and civil lawyer, his appointment in 1996 as Lord Chief Justice placed him at the apex of the criminal justice system. In becoming senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham has expanded his purview yet again, thus enabling him to write about all aspects of the law from a unique position of knowledge and experience

Book Review: We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court

Never one to shirk a challenge, Michael Perry has taken on the difficult task of investigating whether, as charged by a number of prominent social and legal commentators, the modern Supreme Court, in the name of the Fourteenth Amendment [to the US Constitution], [has] usurped prerogatives and made choices that properly belong to the electorally accountable representatives of the American people, and if so, to what extent (p. 8). Perry makes no attempt to address every facet of Fourteenth Amendment doctrine, but instead focuses his discussion on some of the most controversial topics: racial segregation, affirmative action, discrimination on the basis of sex and sexuality, abortion and physician-assisted suicide

Can International Law Trump Trump\u27s Immigration Agenda: Protecting Individual Rights through Procedural Jus Cogens

Donald Trump\u27s approach to immigration has been revolutionary, to say the least. In his short tenure in office, his policies banning travel of individuals from certain Muslim countries have been taken to the United States Supreme Court on two separate occasions, and his most recent technique of separating children from their parents at the border has already spawned litigation. His boldest proposal yet, however, involves the widespread denial of procedural rights to immigrants.In his words, [w]hen somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came [sic]. This Essay considers the applicability of certain peremptory norms commonly referred to as jus cogens to the Administration\u27s recent calls to eliminate immigration hearings. The norms are considered peremptory in the sense that they are mandatory, do not admit derogation, and can be modified only by general international norms of equivalent authority. Because [j]us cogens norms are often thought to be equivalent to constitutional principles of international law ... , they are often referred to as an international bill of rights, or . .. are said to constitute the highest in a norms hierarchy. The discussion begins in Section II by defining traditional and procedural elements of jus cogens, followed by an analysis in Section III of the content of procedural jus cogens. Next, Section IV considers how these principles might operate with respect to the Administration\u27s proposals to eliminate immigration hearings. Notably, the recommendations outlined herein may apply equally to other violations of procedural law, both in the immigration context and beyond. Section V then concludes the discussion with certain forward-looking observations

Cross-Border Collective Redress in the European Union: Constitutional Rights in the Face of the Brussels I Regulation

This article considers the various issues associated with the creation of a system of collective relief in a region that has traditionally been hostile to the provision of large-scale private litigation. In so doing, the discussion focuses on the clash between certain constitutional rights relating to the ability of the plaintiff to choose the time, place and manner of bringing suit and the European Union’s primary form of legislation concerning cross-border procedure, Council Regulation 44/2001 on jurisdiction and on recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments, commonly known as the Brussels I Regulation