The Legal Research Society

The UN Security Council yesterday agreed to set up a tribunal to try suspects in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The decision follows requests from the Lebanese authorities after Hariri, an outspoken citric of Syria, and 22 other people were killed by a truck bomb in February 2005. It is still not clear who was behind the bombing in 2005 but a UN investigation last year indicated that Syria played a strong role in the political unrest leading up to the assassination as well as labeling the investigation into the bombing by the Lebanese security forces as seriously flawed. The bombing sparked mass demonstrations in Beirut which subsequently led to withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. The Security Council voted for the tribunal in a 10 to zero decision with five abstentions (Russia, China, South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar). The tribunal will be set up under chapter VII of the UN charter, which deals with threats to international peace. The decision was cr

One of the world’s leading scholars in African and African American Studies will give a keynote lecture in Aberdeen today on the legacies of the Atlantic slave trade. Between 1600 and 1800, around 12 million men, women and children were transported from Africa to produce crops on plantations in America and the Caribbean. Millions suffered and died under conditions of unimaginable humiliation and brutality. But following the work of anti-slavery campaigners in the UK – including Aberdeen philosopher James Beattie and Fraserburgh-born clergyman James Ramsay – the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed on March 25, 1807. A series of events have already been held in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire this year to mark the 200 th anniversary of the Act, which saw the beginning of the end of legal slavery of Africans in British colonies. Now, on Monday, May 28 Emmanuel Akyeampong, Professor of History of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, will reflect on the legacy

In the weekend it was announced that a Libyan court dismissed defamation cases brought against the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who are being held in a Libyan prison after being accused and sentenced for deliberately having infected more than 400 children with HIV virus while working in a hospital in Benghazi, Libya. The six were arrested in 1999 and sentenced to death in 2004 for the alleged crimes and are now awaiting the outcome of their final appeal. The current case stems from comments made by the six medics claiming that their confessions had been obtained through the use of torture. The six say that they had been mistreated by several officials and named one police officer and a doctor among their torturers. The police officer and doctor later sued the six medicals for libel but the case was thrown out by the court. Although Libya has in the last couple of years shown intentions to “normalise” its policies and approached the West, the shameful treatment of the

With the forthcoming G8 summit (to be held from 6th to 8th June) getting closer, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, chairing the summit, is vehemently trying to broker consensus around an international deal on climate change to replace the current Kyoto regime when it runs out in 2012. Not surprisingly perhaps the Bush administration is proving difficult to persuade. The US administration roundly rejected the Kyoto Protocol on the grounds that it would cost American jobs and excludes developing countries. So far, the stance in the US to climate change, with the exception of the likes of California and in spite of strong interest form American businesses to adopt some form of regulation that can provide certainty, has been one of adapting rather than regulating. This is in spite of the US being responsible for roughly a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gasses. A draft agreement sketched by the German government, aiming at lowering emission of greenhouse gasses 50 per cent by 2050, ha

Following to what Derek wrote on Central African Republic in his last post, the Prosecutor of International Criminal Court just today announced the decision to open an investigation concerning crimes committed in the Central African Republic. This is what he had to say earlier today: “My Office has carefully reviewed information from a range of sources. We believe that grave crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Court were committed in the Central African Republic . We will conduct our own independent investigation, gather evidence, and prosecute the individuals who are most responsible.” The opening of investigation is primarily based on alleged crimes against humanity committed against women, which occurred in the context of an armed conflict between the government and rebel forces in the Central African Republic. According to the ICC Prosecutor, the alleged sexual crimes against civilians first timed far outnumber alleged killings of civilians. »The Office has an

Last week the Wall Street Journal($) ran an interesting article by David Gauthier-Villars on French involvement in Africa via its secretive African Cell. French paratroopers ambushed rebels, but the French people and press weren't told about it until weeks after the fact. Here's the relevant excerpt: On the evening of March 4, 10 French paratroopers reached Birao, Central African Republic, and dropped near an airstrip captured by rebel militia. The paratroopers ambushed the rebels, killing several and reclaiming the airport for the government. In France, neither the public nor parliament was informed of the attack for three weeks. Coordinating the mission was the "Cellule Africaine," a three-person office nestled behind the Elysée, France's presidential palace. This wasn't the first time the office has been involved in the Central African Republic's internal affairs: In 1979, France toppled the former colony's self-proclaimed emperor and reinstalle

How well did the events and presentations go this year? I suspect we may want to limit ourselves to just conducting research presentations and maybe a discussion or two per term. Social events or other activities may be more than people are interested in or want to take on. Please comment on what you liked or didn't like about the society in the comments section.

May 29th at 17.00 in room C11 Taylor Building, Justin Borg Barthet will present his research in a presentation titled "Theories of the Firm and connecting factors". Here is an abstract. Theories regarding the determination of the governing law of corporations can broadly be traced to two schools of thought. On the one hand, the incorporation theory is based on the contractual paradigm. In this construct, the principal feature that should determine the governing law is the freely expressed will of the shareholders. The real seat theory, on the other hand, takes the view that the corporation, as a fiction of national law, is inextricably linked to the State of its management centre, and that it is only this State that could determine the existence and scope of its legal personality. Corporate law theorists have long debated the nature and purpose of the firm. The fundamental question of the extent to which the will of shareholders should be curtailed by the

Today’s New York Times holds a short but very interesting article, by Jules Witcover, on the comparison between Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. Although the correspondent notes he is not in a position to assess whether Bush is a candidate for the worst president in time, he has a number of good points on the comparison between Nixon, widely thought of as a strong contester for the worst president in recent times, and the incumbent Bush. He notes, for instance, “Like Nixon in 1972 winning re-election by feeding off unrest and violence in the streets, Bush in 2004 tapped into post-9/11 fears and appeals to patriotism to gain a second term. Although there is not yet any domestic scandal of Watergate dimensions hanging over him, an odor of incompetence in the management of the war, in the care provided to returning wounded, and in the disarray of his Justice Department stifles the atmosphere for his remaining time in the White House.” The article concludes that while Nixon’s f

Following last week’s debate on McCain’s proposal for a “League of Democracies”, the UN, and as earlier argued its member states, are doing a good job inviting criticism. This week it was confirmed that Zimbabwe has been elected to chair the UN’s Commission for Sustainable Development. The decision followed a vote granting the go-ahead to Zimbabwe’s chairmanship with the slightest of margins - 26 to 21 (with three abstentions). The chair of the Commission usually rotates between the world’s regions and the decision was supported mainly by the African nations. The decision was swiftly greeted with criticism from both European and US diplomats. Although the decisions to award the chair to Zimbabwe followed all procedures and was perfectly democratic, it raises a number of issues. First and foremost, the blatant human rights violations taking place in Zimbabwe ought to deter any support for Zimbabwe from other member states. This is regardless of the chair being for the Commission for su

We have witnessed the recent elections, and the troublesome consequences that a closely divided electorate can produce in a voting system. Fortunately the upcoming workshop on Scottish independence organized by PhD candidate Jernej Letnar Cernic and Professor Carty should shed some light on the debates on independence and devolution which are likely to ensue. Here is a summary of the workshop: On 12 May 2007 the University of Aberdeen School of Law, Scotland will hold a workshop on the legal impact of a referendum on Scottish Independence. The issues discussed will be both a matter of comparative constitutional law and international law. We want to keep the questions for debate as open as possible, but they should at least cover the following issues. Is it, as a matter of public law , enough to justify a regional Parliament negotiating with the National Government for independence, that there is a majority of pro-independence members in the regional Parliament, or does the regiona

Over at Opinio Juris , Julian Ku points out a very interesting idea John McCain discussed yesterday about a "League of Democracies": We should go further and start bringing democratic peoples and nations from around the world into one common organization, a worldwide League of Democracies. This would not be like the universal-membership and failed League of Nations' of Woodrow Wilson but much more like what Theodore Roosevelt envisioned: like-minded nations working together in the cause of peace. The new League of Democracies would form the core of an international order of peace based on freedom. It could act where the UN fails to act, to relieve human suffering in places like Darfur. It could join to fight the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa and fashion better policies to confront the crisis of our environment. It could provide unimpeded market access to t hose who share the values of economic and political freedom, an advantage no state-based system could attain.

The Honourable Bertha Wilson, formerly a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, passed away in Ottawa on April 28, 2007 after a prolonged illness. Justice Wilson attended the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and graduated with an M.A. in 1944. She continued her education at the Training College for Teachers in Aberdeen, obtaining her diploma in 1945. She married the Reverend John Wilson in December 1945 and they emigrated to Canada in 1949. In 1955, Bertha Wilson enrolled at Dalhousie University to study law, and in 1957 she completed her LL.B. and was called to the bar of Nova Scotia. In 1959 she was called to the bar of Ontario. She practised law in Toronto with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt for 17 years. For a full report, read here