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Showing posts from November, 2007

Privilege and Power

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There's an interesting apocryphal story told by journalist Bob Costas in Ken Burns' excellent documentary, Baseball . An Englishman and an American are having a conversation, and at some point it becomes an argument. The two resort to insults. The American says "screw the Queen". The Englishman says "Oh yeah, screw Babe Ruth". The American thinks he can insult the Englishman by insulting a person who has done nothing to achieve her position other than the luck of birth. As Costas says, it has nothing to do with any personal qualities good, bad or otherwise. Who does the Englishman think embodies America? Some scruffy kid who came from the humblest of beginnings, hung out as a toddler behind his father's bar in Baltimore, a big badly flawed individual, who strides with great spirit and possibility. I thought of that on reading a troubling story regarding the South Carolina State Supreme Court's decision to eliminate the results from one bar exam ques

New Convention on International Child Support Signed Today

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“This Convention establishes a comprehensive system of cooperation among child support authorities, which we believe will result in more children receiving more support more quickly.” (USA delegation) A new global Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and other Forms of Family Maintenance has just been finalised under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private International Law . Just after the adoption of the Final Act, the United Stated of America become the first signatory of the new Convention. The Convention aims to resolve the problems of unpaid or uncollectible child support. I posted a brief report about the work in progress on this Convention just a couple of weeks ago. I had the opportunity to follow the negotiations since I worked as a recording secretary at the Diplomatic Session. I have the pleasure to report that the role played by Professor Beaumont gives the School of Law at the University of Aberdeen much to be proud of. Professor Beaumont w

Milkshakes and Hybrid Cars

Today’s NY Times has an interesting story on the perks and benefits many US law firms offer their employees in an attempt to keep them from leaving for other firms. Some of the perks include milkshakes (benevolently served by the happiness committee) and cold cash when you buy a hybrid car. Other firms offer money towards mortgages whereas others give their associates the choice of having a personal concierge to run errands for you. You can read the article here and figure out for yourself what the motives behind the largesse may be.

Private International Law in Africa to the Fore

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Conflictoflaws.net reports upon the following article written by Richard Oppong: “Private International Law in Africa: Past, Present and Future” (2007) 55 AJCL 677-719. The abstract can be found here . I had the pleasure to listen to a presentation by Mr Oppong at the Journal of Private International Law Conference held in Birmingham in June. I must say that the development of Private International Law in Africa, and the necessity of a private international law revival for economic development, is a truly fascinating subject. Mr Oppong's article is published at a time when the Hague Conference on Private International Law is doing sterling work to promote the development of the legal discipline in Africa. Amongst several other initiatives, the Hague Conference recently organised a seminar for francophone African Judges, reported here . I hope to find the time to comment upon the importance of these developments more in future. Till then, I would strongly recommend Mr Oppong's

Is Europe Turning Right?

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Following recent elections in Denmark and Switzerland one would perhaps not be deemed far off the mark for thinking so. In Denmark, last week’s election meant that the centre-right government of Anders Fogh Rasmussen remains in power, although with a slightly smaller majority than before. In spite of his party loosing six seats in the Danish parliament, Fogh Rasmussen remains in power thanks to support from a strengthened Danish People’s Party – a populist far right anti-immigration party. In Switzerland, the far right Swiss People’s Party gained a record number of seats in the Swiss federal parliament and strengthened its position as the single biggest party in last month’s election. The Swiss People’s Party’s campaign, among other things, included a proposal prohibiting the building of minarets on mosques and a poster portraying three white sheep standing on the Swiss flag while kicking a black sheep off the flag. The results in Denmark and Switzerland follow general elections in Swe

Real Politicians, Fake Photos

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Real Politicians, Fake Photos I have heard that appearances are deceptive but images can be deceptive too! I just came to know that Photoshop is quite popular with politicians now-a-days to create audience for their large public rally? I have to say it was a revelation for me that politicians can ridicule themselves in such a ludicrous manner. A couple of days ago I received an article written by Murtaza Shibli (Editor, Kashmir Affairs, London http://www.kashmiraffairs.org/ ) about this subject. I was interested in this topic because he mentioned among others Chief Minister of the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir; Ghulam Nabi Azad uses photo-editing software to manipulate crowds to show the world community how much public support he enjoys. (Photo attached) In Kashmir from last 60 years people are claiming self-determination and are victimised by the State terrorism. The surrogate local government in Kashmir has to survive on political spin and therefore unethical methods of staying i

Giving a Good Paper

Tenured Radical has some excellent advice on how to give a good paper presentation that I strongly recommend folks take a look at if they are going to be presenting any time soon. Linda Kerber has more good advice, and the Legal History Blog talks about how to incorporate all this into a legal presentation. Here are some excerpts. First, Kerber observes: Dorothy Kenyon, a great feminist and civil rights activist, who spent much of her time speaking in public, once observed that a public talk must “always seem to be improvised, but it must never be improvised.” If you want to hold your audience you must plan ahead, and plan very carefully. Observe time limits scrupulously. The usual rule of thumb is that a typewritten page [old fashioned courier, 12 point type] holds 250 words. It should take a minimum of 2 minutes to say 250 words out loud. If you have 20 minutes to speak your paper, it can be no longer than 10-12 pages. Do not think you can cheat by fixing the font. Begin with a

A New Convention on International Child Support

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Approximately 100 States have gathered in the Hague to conclude a new Convention on the international recovery of maintenance obligations. The following are some extracts from the press release that was issued at the beginning of the Diplomatic Session: "A new Convention…designed to respond to the needs of children and other dependents by providing international procedures which are simple, swift, cost-effective, accessible, and fair." Unpaid child support – as well as support of other dependent family members – amounts to billions of Euros worldwide. When the person liable for support lives abroad, the difficulties of recovery are often insurmountable. At present, international procedures are typically slow, complicated, costly, and under-utilized. They are simply not serving the needs of the children and other family dependents who, in a mobile world in which multinational families are no longer exceptional, are increasing in number exponentially. The new Hague Convention

Lest We Forget

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Collective memory is a curious thing. Just weeks after rampant abuses of human rights were screened worldwide from Burma, it seems that the plight of the Burmese people has slipped out of the world's collective conscience. Le Monde reports today on the visit of the UN emissary on human rights to Burma. Perhaps it would be over optimistic to hope that this visit will have any immediate impact or ascertain the facts of the extent of abuse with any degree of certainty. However, it is commendable that the UN is using its good offices to ensure that the world does not forget the human toll of contemporary breaches of international law.

State Funerals and Mince Pies

The BBC News website today has a story on the most ludicrous laws in the UK. The story refers to laws supposedly prohibiting dying in the House of Parliament, the right for a pregnant woman to relieve herself anywhere she sees fit, and (my favourite) the prohibition of eating mince pies on Christmas Day. I can see the prohibiting of eating mince pies on Christmas Day causing a few problems in terms of enforcement. The story notes that many of the laws referred to may now be obsolete although they have never been repealed. Although these are just a few examples of strange UK laws, it would be surprising if even stranger ones would not exist elsewhere in the world.

Upcoming Presentations

Thursday November 8, at 17.00 in C28 "The Lex Situs Rule: A Poor Tool for Combating the Illicit Antiquities Trade" - Derek Fincham, in anticipation of the upcoming conference Location, Location, Location: the Role of Lex Situs in Modern Claims for the Return of Cultural Objects. Application of the lex situs rule is nearly unanimous in multi-jurisdictional cases involving movables. It has the dual advantage of simplicity and certainty. If an object has been acquired in good faith, the acquisition will be protected even if the location of the object changes in the future. Courts have been hesitant to bypass the lex situs rule in the past. However the singular nature of art and antiquities compel a more careful analysis on the part of courts. A convincing and compelling policy argument can be made that the general lex situs rule governing title to movable objects across national boundaries should be limited in some situations involving cultural objects. Before we can con