\u3cem\u3eMcCall v. Marine Insurance Company\u3c/em\u3e

Marine insurance contracts were one of the most important categories of federal litigation in the early nineteenth century. The increase in international conflict resulted in a corresponding increase in the risk associated with maritime activity and the number of claims insurance companies litigated in an effort to minimize losses. Accordingly, a rich body of commercial law was developed by the federal courts in which the cases were tried. One such case was McCall v. Marine Insurance Company, in which the Supreme Court determined the impact of the addition of a single unusual word in the clause that set forth the risks protected against, employing principles of the law of nations as well as principles of contractual construction

Constitutional Review by the Executive in Foreign Affairs and War Powers: A Consequence of Rational Choice in the Separation of Powers

A model of institutional rational choice is presented to describe the actual practice of the separation of powers, and the model is illuminated by examining the accommodation in the foreign policy and war powers area and the manner in which it reflects the balance of interests among the branches

Mass scale of vectorlike matter and superpartners from IR fixed point predictions of gauge and top Yukawa couplings

We use the IR fixed point predictions for gauge couplings and the top Yukawa coupling in the MSSM extended with vectorlike families to infer the scale of vectorlike matter and superpartners. We quote results for several extensions of the MSSM and present results in detail for the MSSM extended with one complete vectorlike family. We find that for a unified gauge coupling $\alpha_G > 0.3$ vectorlike matter or superpartners are expected within 1.7 TeV (2.5 TeV) based on all three gauge couplings being simultaneously within 1.5\% (5\%) from observed values. This range extends to about 4 TeV for $\alpha_G > 0.2$. We also find that in the scenario with two additional large Yukawa couplings of vectorlike quarks the IR fixed point value of the top Yukawa coupling independently points to a multi-TeV range for vectorlike matter and superpartners. Assuming a universal value for all large Yukawa couplings at the GUT scale, the measured top quark mass can be obtained from the IR fixed point for $\tan \beta \simeq 4$. The range expands to any $\tan \beta > 3$ for significant departures from the universality assumption. Considering that the Higgs boson mass also points to a multi-TeV range for superpartners in the MSSM, adding a complete vectorlike family at the same scale provides a compelling scenario where the values of gauge couplings and the top quark mass are understood as a consequence of the particle content of the model.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, typos corrected, matches the published version. v4: Appendix correcte

Little hierarchy in the minimally specified MSSM

We study constrained versions of the minimal supersymmetric model and investigate the hierarchy between the electroweak scale and the scale of superpartners that can be achieved without relying on specifying model parameters by more than one digit. This approach automatically avoids scenarios in which a large hierarchy is obtained by special choices of parameters and yet keeps scenarios that would be otherwise disfavored by various sensitivity measures. We consider models with universal gaugino and scalar masses, models with non-universal Higgs masses or non-universal gaugino masses and focus on scenarios in which all the model parameters are either of the same order or zero at the grand unification scale. We find that the maximal hierarchy between the electroweak scale and stop masses, requiring that model parameters are not specified beyond one digit, ranges from a factor of $\sim 10-30$ for the CMSSM up to $\sim 300$ for models with non-universal Higgs or gaugino masses.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, discussion expanded, matches published versio

Top-bottom-tau Yukawa coupling unification in the MSSM+1VF and fermion masses as IR fixed points

In the MSSM extended by a complete vectorlike family, precise top, bottom and tau Yukawa coupling unification can be achieved assuming SUSY threshold corrections which are typical for comparable superpartner masses. Furthermore, the unification is possible with a large unified coupling, implying that all three fermion masses can be simultaneously close to their IR fixed points. Assuming unified Yukawa couplings of order one or larger, the preferred common scale of new physics (superpartners and vectorlike matter) is in the 3 TeV to 30 TeV range, with larger couplings favoring smaller scales. Splitting superpartner masses from masses of vectorlike fields, the preferred scales extend in both directions. The multi-TeV scale for superpartners is compatible with and independently suggested by the Higgs boson mass.Comment: v2: matches published versio

Ocean governance: the New Zealand dimension

  The Oceans Governance project was funded by the Emerging Issues Programme, overseen by the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. Its primary goal is to provide interested members of the public and policymakers with a general overview and a description of the types of principles, planning tools and policy instruments that can be used to strengthen and improve marine governance in New Zealand. The major findings of this study are that the existing marine governance framework in New Zealand emphasises a traditional sector-by-sector approach to management and planning and that this fragmented governance framework contributes to a number of institutional challenges. In addition, the study identifies a number of factors that influence marine planning and decision-making in the country, including but not limited to; the relationships between economic use of marine resources and the maintenance of marine ecosystem services and goods; Māori interests, perspectives and treaty obligations; the role of international treaties and conventions; the synergistic and cumulative impacts of multiple use and climate disturbance on marine ecosystems, and the role of scientists and science in marine planning and decision-making.The report makes two general recommendations.  First, with respect to the territorial sea (which includes the marine area out to 12 nautical miles) the report recommends that regional councils develop integrative marine plans where conflict between users and users-ecosystems is likely to develop in the future.  Second, the report recommends the adoption of new role for central government to support an ecosystem-based approach to integrative marine planning and decision-making