Assessing the Reality of the Deep Seabed Regime

This Article argues that, in order to be effective, international law must stand in some direct relation to state practice and that the gap between legal prescription and state practice must not be too large or the law will be ineffective. The author examines this gap in relation to the deep seabed provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and suggests that, if the gap is not narrowed, the treaty may never enter into force

Post World War II Multilateral Treaty-Making: The Task of the Third United Nations Law of the Sea Conference in Perspective

This Article examines the potential obstacles that must be overcome before the creation of a global law of the sea treaty. The author argues that, even if the Conference proceeds quickly to approve a text, the treaty may never enter into force, because it will be very difficult and time-consuming for the new treaty to be accepted by a majority of the States in the world. The author reviews the various problems likely to be encountered, including signatures not followed by required ratifications, crippling reservations, and States\u27 reluctance to be party to treaties containing dispute settlement clauses. The author examines the precursors to the UNCLOS III treaty and what post-signature barrier might exist to the prompt entry into force of a global law of the sea treaty, and concludes that, given the patterns of the past thirty years, it is likely that a new treaty will never enter into force

The 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea: A Midstream Assessment of the Effectiveness of Article 309

This Article examines the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the stand that it takes on reservations. The author argues that article 309 prohibits all reservations, while article 310 permits declarations and statements, provided these do not purport to exclude or modify the legal effect of the Convention. The author examines all declarations to determine if the letter and spirit of articles 309 and 310 are being met. The author further offers some observations about the effects of article 309 on participation levels in the treaty

International Law In The Reagan Years: How Much Of An Outlier

But is there reason to believe that the attitude and behavior of the Reagan administration towards international law have been unusually hostile? That fundamental question will be addressed in several ways. First, one component of President Reagan\u27s foreign policy, aid for the Nicaraguan Contras, will be discussed in some detail. That particular policy has produced perhaps the most sharply drawn, sustained conflict with international law. Second, a much briefer account will be provided about two other Reagan administration encounters with international law. Finally, an attempt will be made to provide some historical perspective to the 1981- 1988 period

The 1982 Convention and Customary Law of the Sea: Observations, a Framework, and a Warning

This Article examines the relationship between the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention and customary international law of the sea. The authors warn against the simple inquiry of whether the 1982 Convention codifies existing customary law, and propose a three-category approach with which to analyze the Convention\u27s provisions. The authors argue that the relationship between the 1982 Convention and customary international law is an organic, interactive process that will preoccupy legal scholarship for the rest of the decade and that any attempt to arrive at a definitive treatment of this issue would be impossible

The impact of viral mutations on recognition by SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells.

We identify amino acid variants within dominant SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes by interrogating global sequence data. Several variants within nucleocapsid and ORF3a epitopes have arisen independently in multiple lineages and result in loss of recognition by epitope-specific T cells assessed by IFN-γ and cytotoxic killing assays. Complete loss of T cell responsiveness was seen due to Q213K in the A∗01:01-restricted CD8+ ORF3a epitope FTSDYYQLY207-215; due to P13L, P13S, and P13T in the B∗27:05-restricted CD8+ nucleocapsid epitope QRNAPRITF9-17; and due to T362I and P365S in the A∗03:01/A∗11:01-restricted CD8+ nucleocapsid epitope KTFPPTEPK361-369. CD8+ T cell lines unable to recognize variant epitopes have diverse T cell receptor repertoires. These data demonstrate the potential for T cell evasion and highlight the need for ongoing surveillance for variants capable of escaping T cell as well as humoral immunity.This work is supported by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC); Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences(CAMS) Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS), China; National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, and UK Researchand Innovation (UKRI)/NIHR through the UK Coro-navirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC). Sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 samples and collation of data wasundertaken by the COG-UK CONSORTIUM. COG-UK is supported by funding from the Medical ResearchCouncil (MRC) part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI),the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR),and Genome Research Limited, operating as the Wellcome Sanger Institute. T.I.d.S. is supported by a Well-come Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship (110058/Z/15/Z). L.T. is supported by the Wellcome Trust(grant number 205228/Z/16/Z) and by theUniversity of Liverpool Centre for Excellence in Infectious DiseaseResearch (CEIDR). S.D. is funded by an NIHR GlobalResearch Professorship (NIHR300791). L.T. and S.C.M.are also supported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Medical Countermeasures Initiative contract75F40120C00085 and the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) inEmerging and Zoonotic Infections (NIHR200907) at University of Liverpool inpartnership with Public HealthEngland (PHE), in collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Oxford.L.T. is based at the University of Liverpool. M.D.P. is funded by the NIHR Sheffield Biomedical ResearchCentre (BRC – IS-BRC-1215-20017). ISARIC4C is supported by the MRC (grant no MC_PC_19059). J.C.K.is a Wellcome Investigator (WT204969/Z/16/Z) and supported by NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centreand CIFMS. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or MRC