The Legal Research Society

We have previously blogged about how depicting the Prophet Muhammad can get you into trouble, but today’s Independent has a story on how Russian cartoonists producing satirical drawings of president Putin are not at all liked by the Russian authorities. According to the Independent, papers and publishers attempting to print satirical portrayals of Putin risk facing inspections by the “fire inspectors” or the “tax police” laying bureaucratic hindrances in their way or a call from their paper supplier kindly informing them that the price of paper has risen tenfold overnight. In the meantime, drawings depicting Putin in a favourable light are much welcomed. The one to the right is produced by KAL for the Economist .

Denise Naicker’s presentation that was previously scheduled to take place tomorrow has been postponed to Monday 5th May at 4pm. The LRS programme is now as follows: Friday 02 May, 3pm, Old Senate Room Hon FDJ Brand, 'South African Contract Law and the Constitution' Judge Brand of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa will visit the University of Aberdeen on Friday 02 May. Judge Brand holds a BA, an LL.B and an LL.M. from the University of Stellenbosch, and a Drs Juris from Leiden University. He was a practising advocate for fourteen years, before being appointed a Judge in 1992 and a Judge of appeal in 2001. We are thankful to Prof David Carey Miller who made this event possible. Monday 05 May, 4pm, Taylor C28 Denise Naicker, 'The Attempts of the UN General Assembly’s Non-Proliferation Treaty to construct a rational Nuclear Order' Abstract: The United Nations General Assembly (the “GA”) may consider general principles of co-operation in the maintenance of interna

Crofters – people living the traditional rural life in the Scottish Highland and Islands – are now exploring the possibility of being recognised as an ‘indigenous’ group in an attempt to protect and preserve their traditional way of life according to the Independent . Traditionally, crofters reside on a small plot of tenured land on which they farm and although crofting was once widespread, it is today found mainly in the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland where it remains a vital part of rural communities. The entire system of crofting and tenureship of land in these areas is a topic attracting great passion and emotions as images of the Highland clearances are frequently invoked in discussions on rights to land. In a recent report the Scottish Crofting Foundation (SCF) argues in favour of applying the label ‘indigenous’ to the crofting communities asserting that it will improve their legal status and recognition. The Report highlights the success that the Sami people of Norwa

The following is a very loose translation of a blog post by Maltese author, poet and playwright Immanuel Mifsud . Apologies in advance – the translation does not do justice to the poetry of Immanuel’s words. Immanuel draws his readers’ attention to a video produced by Amnesty International which depicts a re-enactment of water boarding. He describes the video as shocking and encourages readers to join Amnesty’s campaign against human rights abuse in the war on terror: ‘The shock multiplies when you remember that not only does this torture take place in an era of liberty and human rights, but that it is occurring with the blessing of a man who, in the privacy of his office, prayed with the Pope for the needs of the family . Water, in the past, was a symbol of life. It was used by various religions, various poets, various artists. The lack of it gave rise to conflicts and great battles; it awakened consciences too. Whichever angle you choose to look at it from, we have a

On BBC’s website there is a rather enjoyable link to a compilation containing some of Donald Rumfeld’s best and/or worst gaffes from his time as Secretary of Defence. Judge for yourself whether they are words of wisdom or closer to the last words of a desperate man. It is well worth the three minutes it takes.

A forthcoming article by Ole W. Pedersen , our blog administrator, is now available on SSRN (Ole W. Pedersen, 'European Environmental Human Rights and Environmental Rights: A Long Time Coming?' (2008) Georgetown International Environmental Law Review , Forthcoming). In his paper Ole argues that the development of procedural and substantive environmental rights in Europe may signal the elevation of these rights at an international human rights law level. Abstract: This paper deals with the area of rights and environmental law focusing on procedural environmental rights and substantive human rights to the environment in a European context. The paper asserts that while international developments in this area have generally ceased, two strong trends are emerging in Europe. First, a strong focus on procedural environmental rights (a right to access to environmental information, a right to public participation and a right to access to justice) is in place in Europe. This part of the

In a time when most countries, bar the likes of South Africa, join PM Gordon Brown in criticism of President Mugabe and the political quandary that Zimbabwe has turned into, it appears that China is instead stepping up its engagement in what is rapidly turning into a failed state. Today’s Independent has the story on Chinese weapon shipments to Zimbabwe and eyewitness sightings of Chinese soldiers in Mutare.

The EU Observer reports that FIFA President Sepp Blatter is set to push through an agreement that will cap the number of foreign nationals that are allowed to play for football clubs. Blatter’s initiative flies in the face of the ECJ’s Bosman ruling in which the Luxembourg Court declared that Article 39 of the EC Treaty, concerning the free movement of workers in the Community, ‘precludes the application of rules laid down by sporting associations under which, in matches in competitions which they organize, football clubs may field only a limited number of professional players who are nationals of other Member States.’ UEFA, the European football association, has proposed an alternative approach, namely that there will be quotas for locally trained players without discrimination on the basis of nationality. Blatter’s response is that this would expose young foreign players to exploitation. So does Blatter have a leg to stand on or is his proposal doomed to failure? And, more importa

Wednesday 30 April, 4.30pm, Taylor C16 Denise Naicker, 'The Attempts of the UN General Assembly’s Non-Proliferation Treaty to construct a rational Nuclear Order' Abstract: The United Nations General Assembly (the “GA”) may consider general principles of co-operation in the maintenance of international peace and security, including the principles governing disarmament and the regulation of armaments. In response to this mandate, the GA produced the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (the “NPT”) which sought to construct a rational nuclear order in the post-World War II era. There are conflicting views as to what extent the NPT should be regarded as authoritative by the states to which it is addressed. The current nuclear order centred on the NPT has inherent limitations, including its discriminatory character, lack of agreement on appropriate sanctions for violations and in its foundations in the hypocrisy which prevailed almost without exception among nuclear powers. There is ver

Olsen says, it may be that “Justice” is represented by a woman, but according to the prevailing patriarchal ideology, the Law is masculine, not feminine. As some feministic scholar states, the law is conceived as rational, objective, abstract and based on principles, which is how men describe themselves; and the law cannot be irrational, subjective, contextualized, or personalized, as men say that women are. If it is true that by placing men in the cultural setting, they become the parameter that defines humankind, how to organize the current law, which helps to incorporate the gender perspective into legal text or context? How to reform the curricular setting to be more feminine? Discuss.

Although many people are heatedly discussing Tibetan issue, Tibetan terrorists or criminals, who infringed on the fundamental human rights of many innocent victims, should be punished according to existing law and the rule-of-law principle. Currently, many websites and newspapers maintained by volunteers exposed some lies and distortions in some western media, which always reported how Tibetan protestors were‘protecting their human rights’, but neglected and scarcely reported expression from Chinese common people. Basically, there is expressive freedom in Western countries and some lies and fabricated stories, especially in some prestigious media are not charged with any legal consequence. From the other perspective, some distorted opinions do arise nationalism within most Chinese people, who reflect totally different from the opinions as to 1989 Tian-an-men Affair. If these reports are prejudicial to China and distorting some truths, should the media freely be forum of helping certain

Given that all contributors to and members of the Legal Research Society will at one point in the near future have to start some sort of organised search for legal jobs, and suffer the inevitable despair and frustration this brings with it, comfort may be found in the news that former Attorney General to Pres. George Bush and Harvard graduate Alberto Gonzales is finding legal jobs rather difficult to come by after being forced to resign. Today’s NY Times has the story.

For a succinct yet in-depth non-academic article on the legal quagmire of the US military base in Guantanamo, Cuba, see this week’s Annals of Law in the New Yorker where Jeffrey Toobin has a very good story with a couple of good references toward the end.

Amid tense debate as to whether PM Gordon Brown ought to boycott this summer’s Olympic Games in China or not, little attention seems to be given to the question of what effects such a boycott may or may not have. Traditionally people supporting a boycott of the Games argue that China’s human rights record is so appalling that Western leaders ought to disassociate themselves from China. Such arguments have gained further strength in light of recent Chinese clampdown on Tibetan protestors. For instance, the French President Nicholas Sarkozy has openly threatened to stay away from the opening ceremony in light of the Chinese treatment of Tibetan protestors. Similarly, human rights activists assert that Chinese investment in the oil industry of Sudan ought to lead to Western leaders distancing themselves from China. However, as for the argument about boycotting the Olympic Games, it may be argued that the current level of media attention afforded China and the tour of the Olympic torch as

Although this may sound more like a science fiction title of a novel where the lone superhero, in this case from Hawaii, tries to save the world from destruction, the suit recently filed in a Hawaiian District Court by Louis Sancho and Richard Wagner in an attempt to stop the process of the Large Hadron Collider ( LHC ) operated by CERN , the European Organization for Nuclear Research, seemingly looks a lost cause. The LHC is, in short, an enormous particle accelerator placed 100 metres underground on the border between Switzerland and France. It is a groundbreaking attempt by some of the world’s leading scientists to create an environment where they can study the tiniest particles making up the world as we know it in order to gain an understanding of the fundamental circumstances of the universe. One of the objectives of the project is to gain further knowledge about so-called black holes – areas in space with such a strong gravitational effect that not even light can escape their g

Over on the Volokh Conspiracy George Mason Law Professor Ilya Somin has a very interesting post on the democratic deficit in international human rights law. Somin argues, in a paper co-authored with John McGinnis of Northwestern, available on SSRN , that most international human rights law is created in an undemocratic environment as a result of undemocratic procedures and undue influence of authoritarian states. As an example Somin and McGinnis refer to international law-making relating to the "crime" of hate speech. From reading the abstract, while awaiting the full paper, it is clear that the authors have some valid points. In particular the example of the hate speech as well as the works of the UN human Rights Council, where the influence of authoritarian states is evident in the Council's attempts to undermine norms of freedom of speech, underline the authors' arguments. At the same time, notwithstanding the relative vagueness of terms like "

Founding member of the Legal Research Society Derek Fincham successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled Preventing and Repairing These Losses: The Legal Response in the United States and the United Kingdom to the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property, subject to minor corrections, on Monday March 31, 2008. Although this means that Derek will no longer be a PhD candidate among the rest of us, we would like to sincerely congratulate Derek. Well done, dude! You can follow Derek's work on his own blog here .