Natural Law and the United States Constitution: Still Vital Connections
Abstract: Ideas of Natural Law were crucial in drafting the US Constitution. These seminal ideas were made known to document “framers” largely by way of William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England. The Commentaries represent the truest philosophic origins of America’s legal system. In these dissembling times of recurrent political manipulation, Blackstone’s work warrants [...]
How Belarus’ Migrant Controversy Reveals a Weakness in International Law
At the end of May, Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, announced that his government would no longer prevent migrants from illegally entering Lithuania through Belarus. Throughout July, evidence emerged that Belarus had even taken active measures to encourage the flow of migrants, such as using government vehicles to escort migrants over the border. From [...]
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world….” -William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming Plus, ca’ change. “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” In world politics, anarchy is an old and continuing story. Chaos is not. But what are the precise differences? And why do [...]
Israel versus Hamas: Proportionality, Perfidy and the Law of War
“It must not be forgotten that it is perhaps more dangerous for a nation to allow itself to be conquered intellectually than by arms.” -Guillaume Apollinaire, The New Spirit and the Poets (1917) Whenever Israel finds itself in the midst of major conflict with Hamas, each side seeks to defend itself in military and legal [...]
Analyzing the Sufficiency of Iran's Child and Adolescent Protection Law
Iran recently passed a law criminalizing abandonment, physical or emotional abuse of children, taking a major leap in terms of rights provided to children and juveniles. The Child and Adolescent Protection Bill was approved by the Guardian Council, the body which determines if a legislation passed by the Parliament is in consonance with Sharia and [...]
June 26 is a day designated by the United Nations as International Day in support of victims of torture. The General Assembly resolution creating the date imagined this as a day stakeholders – member states and their citizens – would unite in support of those that have endured torture and cruelty and recommit to ending [...]
When considering the comments in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, with the perspective of thirteen years since their landfall, I’ll paraphrase Mark Twain’s comment about an erroneously pre-mature 1897 obituary: “the reports of death are greatly exaggerated.” The perspective of time and the restoration of many services to the Hurricane Katrina and Rita-stricken Gulf Coast reveal that matters [...]
Canada filed a 32-page complaint against the US at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday concerning certain laws, regulations and other measures in relation to US anti-dumping or countervailing duty investigations, reviews or other proceedings....
Newtown Families' Suit Against Gunmakers Will Likely End in Dismissal
JURIST Guest Columnist Nicholas Johnson of the Fordham University School of Law discusses the recent suit filed by the families of the Newtown victims...Some of the families who survived the horror of the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting are suing the manufacturer...
JURIST Guest Columnist Daniel J. Wright of The Law Office of Daniel Wright discusses the need to revisit life without parole sentencing in the US justice system..."No one truly knows a nation," Nelson Mandela wrote, "until one has been inside...
