The Legal Research Society

Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno-Ocampo has today released the ICC's first two indictments arising out of its investigation of war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan. That evidence is showing that Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Minister of State for the Interior of the Government of the Sudan, and Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Militia/Janjaweed, jointly committed crimes against the civilian population in Darfur. Indictments allege that Harun and Kushayb bear criminal responsibility in relation to 51 counts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes and it also suggests shows they acted together, and with others, with the common purpose of carrying out attacks against the civilian population. You may read press release here .

It appears from the schedule that we have no events planned for the next couple of weeks. Would anyone be interested in showing another movie or conducting another discussion? If you have any ideas, please post them in the comments section.

The Legal Research Society is proud to present the following two research seminars. Derek Fincham Wednesday, February 28 Taylor Building A15, 17:00 A Legal and Ethical Evaluation of the dispute between Italy and the Getty Museum over the bronze "Statue of a Victorious Youth", The bronze statue, known as "the Statue of a Victorious Youth" was purchased by the Getty in 1977 for close to $4 million. It has been attributed to the Greek sculptor Lysippos, the 4th century BC sculptor for Alexander the Great. Today, the nearly life-size statue is one of the excellent pieces of the Getty's Greek and Roman collection. It was found in 1964 by fisherman from Fano, somewhere in the Adriatic Sea. The Italian Culture Ministry has made repeated demands for its return, while The Getty maintains the purchase was legitimate. Jernej Letnar Cernic Monday, March 19 Taylor Building A19, 17:00 Corporate responsibility for Serious Breaches of Human Rights Obligations Deriving from

The Supreme Court issued two 5-4 decisions this Tuesday. They indicate that new Chief Justice John Roberts may not be as adept at compromise as many had thought. When Roberts was nominated for the court, many praised his diplomatic and well-reasoned answers at his Congressional confirmation hearing. The cigarette damages case is particularly interesting, and creates a difficult and contradictory due process analysis. The Ruling in Phillip Morris USA v. Williams will hardly be praised by subsequent scholars for its clarity. It sets up a confusing analysis for evaluating punitive damages. The original lawsuit was brought by a smoker's widow. Her husband, Jesse Williams smoked 2 packs a day for 45 years. He died of lung cancer 9 years ago. In Oregon State court, a jury awarded the widow a record $79.5 million in punitive damages. The Oregon State Supreme Court upheld the verdict. Williams argued the cigarette industry committed "massive market-directed fraud" which m

4 th Annual College of Arts & Social Sciences Postgraduate Conference, at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland Law Section Call For Papers The Law Section of the Organising Committee of College of Arts & Social Sciences Postgraduate Conference, at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland invites graduate students undertaking legal research to submit abstracts for consideration. The Conference will take place over two days (13-14 June) in the beautiful surroundings of King's College, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. The aim of the Conference is to give graduate students in law from across Scotland, the United Kingdom, Europe and the world the opportunity to present papers reflecting excellence in legal research. This event aims to bring together PhD students with an interest in all aspects of legal research, but particularly those interested in Comparative, European, International, Intellectual Property or Art Law. Our goal is to encourage all areas of legal resea

On Tuesday 20th February at 5pm we will screen Hotel Rwanda in Taylor Building Room A19. This will be followed by a short discussion about the issues raised in the film. Further information, including a trailer, can be found by clicking here . Discussion should spill over here so be sure to check back.

Basque people of Aberdeen are organising public discussion with speakers from the Basque Country. Discussion will take place on Thursday, 15 February at 7pm in the New Kings Building 11, King's campus, University of Aberdeen, Scotland . You are all invited to take part in the discussion on the social and political situation in the Basque county. More information: basquesolidaritycampaign@hotmail.com

The italian project of a civil union law is provoking extreme reactions in the country, as it was sadly predictable. The Vatican is trying to insist on the inviolability of the family understood as the union between a man and a woman. The Church is unable to understand that discrimination vis-a-vis homosexuals is comparable to any other type of discrimination based on race, or religion. For a more balanced religious view, listen to Michael J Perry, a Catholic Law Professor at Emory, in his recent book Toward a Theory of Human Rights: "I expect that within the next generation or two -within the lifetime of our children's children-- the understanding will come to be widely shared, in the world's liberal democracies, that refusing to recognize same-sex unions, if not morally akin to outlawing interracial unions, is nonetheless bereft of any non demeaning rationale.'

Tuesday 13 Feb 17:00 Michael Kasper: EU regulation of Foodstuffs - Taylor Building Room A19 Tuesday 20 Feb 17:00 Show "Hotel Rwanda" followed by a discussion - Taylor Building Room A19 Wednesday 28 Feb 17:00 Derek Fincham: The Dispute between Italy and the Getty regarding the bronze "Statue of a Victorious Youth" Monday 19 Mar 17:00 Jernej's Presentation (tentative date) Tuesday 15 May 17:00 Fozia Lone: The Right to self-determination in the case of Kashmir - the case of Kashmir Tuesday 5 Jun 17:00 Justin Borg-Barthet: Theories of the Firm and Connecting Factors Wednesday 13 Jun CASS Postgraduate Conference Thursday 14 Jun CASS Postgraduate Conference

Next Tuesday, 13/02 at 5 pm, Michael is going to present his PhD thesis which he will submit at the University of Salzburg (Austria) shortly. As usual, the presentation will be followed by a discussion. Here is a short introduction: Functional foods – The future of nutrition and its impact on European food law Are the EU food regulations coming into force this year part of the EU’s alleged “excessive regulation”? Do we really need special legislation for Becel, Actimel, Red Bull and other functional foods? Or should we maybe simply consider them as ordinary foodstuffs or even a kind of medicine? The European Food and Drink Industry is the largest manufacturing sector in Europe with an annual turnover of over € 815 billion. However, the food market is saturated. So the industry is trying to find new market potential. With changes in lifestyle and a changed perception of nutrition functional foods claiming to affect body functions beneficially (protection from disease, prevention

Dabney Evans , a PhD candidate at the AU Law School, recently wrote this short essay for NPR's "This I Believe" series. Many of the essays are broadcast on National Public Radio in the USA. Dabney adopts a first hand US/Scottish comparative perspective to illustrate her views regarding the right to health: My arm is still a little sore from the flu shot I received earlier this week. I have been getting the flu shot for years and not only because I work in the field of public health and believe in good public health prevention efforts. But also because I am diabetic and fall into one of the high risks categories that entitles me to receive the flu vaccine, even though there has been a shortage of doses for the past few years. This year was different though. This year I got my flu shot in Scotland where I was working for the Fall. I called up the National Health Service and got an appointment. The next morning I walked a total of 5 minutes to my local branch, got my flu

Al Gore raises an important point about the place of science in environmental governance. He reveals that not only has unanimous scientific opinion on global warming been sidelined but that government-commissioned scientific reports have been doctored by inexpert political appointees. Aside from the political fallout, the major legal issue here is the extent to which science should be taken into account to rectify environmental harms perpetrated in the past. There is no doubt that science has some role to play in development planning and environmental impact assessments. However, these legal frameworks do nothing to change the status quo. They are designed to prevent future harm. In the absence of legislative frameworks to rectify the status quo, administrative organs are powerless. In the absence of a public political outcry there is nothing that will bind legislators to heed to scientific fact and subsequently to empower administrators. Gore admits to having lost some faith in

Ole Pederson did an excellent job guiding the discussion after the screening. He summarized the discussion as follows: The first meeting of the Legal Research Society following the Christmas Holidays took place yesterday with the showing of Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth from 2006. The movie, which recently landed Al Gore an Academy Award nomination in the category for best documentary feature, presents the problem of global warming facing mankind in an easy-to-understand tone. The event was extremely well attended and the movie was followed by a short discussion. The discussion raised a number of concerns and issues. These included: the efficiency of the current legal framework of the Kyoto Protocol; the justification for exempting developing states from the Kyoto Protocol; the need for developed states to be at the forefront of a campaign to tackle CO2 emission; the importance of individual and personal action; the juxtaposition between long term effects and sho

This Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 5 pm, the Society will be showing An Inconvenient Truth , followed by a short discussion in Taylor Building room A19. Check back here for discussion and responses by the audience.