On June 27th, in the case of Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., the Supreme Court narrowly upheld the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s corporate registration statute with a five-justice majority. The statute requires out-of-state corporations registering to conduct business in the State to consent to all-purpose (general) personal jurisdiction. The ruling has significant implications for personal jurisdiction doctrine and potentially, as reported by Transnational Litigation Blog, “re-opens the door to suing...
International Law in Brief
International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
During a press conference on Monday, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the first U.N. Independent Investigator to visit Guantanamo Bay, reported that the 30 remaining prisoners held in the facility are subjected to “ongoing cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law.” In her report released on June 14th, she recognized the U.S. Government's “substantial efforts to live up to its international human rights law obligations” but also urged the U.S. to ensure accountability for all violations of international law,...
The U.N.'s 193 member states have adopted the Agreement under UNCLOS on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. Referred to as the ‘high seas’ treaty, it is a landmark legally binding marine biodiversity agreement. The high seas treaty's impact is comparable to that of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, implemented three decades ago. This treaty establishes a comprehensive framework for "Marine Protected Areas" and requires member states to...
On June 18th, Israel’s government approved the construction of thousands of new buildings on the West Bank, expanding its settlement. It remained steadfast in its decision to expand despite pressure from the United States to halt. This move raised concerns about achieving a peaceful resolution between Palestine and Israel. Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein Al-Sheikh stated, “We decided to boycott the meeting of the Higher Economic Committee between the two parties, which was scheduled to be held tomorrow.” On Monday, the EU expressed...
On June 6th, reports suggested a massive series of explosions broke the Kakhovka dam and freed catastrophic levels of water that have flooded Southern Ukraine. According to the United Nations Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, The destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant may constitute the "most significant incident of damage to civilian infrastructure since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine." Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) claims to have intercepted a call in which two Russian soldiers...
On June 6th, 2023, the Trial Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, also known as “The Mechanism Trial Chamber,” ruled that Félicien Kabuga, accused of bankrolling the Rwandan Genocide, is unfit to continue standing trial due to “progressive and irreversible” dementia. As a result, the Chamber will adopt a substitute for the traditional trial procedure, but “without the possibility of a conviction.” However, the Chamber found that substituting the traditional trial for a “finding of facts” would deny Mr. Kabuga significant lines of defense and opportunities...
On June 5th, 2023, The Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) ruled (at the time of writing, the judgment was not available in English) that the Polish Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Chamber violated EU laws on “effective judicial protection, judicial independence, and the rule of law.” The Court of Justice found that specific provisions of Poland’s court reform law, including the creation of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, infringed upon the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and did not satisfy “the requirement of independence and impartiality.”...
On May 30, 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a report alleging that Afghanistan, Lithuania, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the US participated in human rights violations against Abd al-Rahim Hussein al-Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian citizen accused of involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. Al-Nashiri is currently held in Guantanamo Bay Prison, where the report details that he was subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the US Central...
On May 12, 2023, Canada officially joined the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, often referred to as the 1961 Apostille Convention. With the addition of Canada, a Member of the HCCH since 1968, this convention has made the legalisation process of 125 states uniform by replacing a “long and costly legalisation process” with the issuance of a certificate by a “competent authority in the place where the document originates.Canada’s ascension adds to their...
On June 3rd 2023, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command issued a report detailing a near collision between Chinese navy warship LY 132 and USS Chung-Hoon as the US and Canada conducted a joint sailing through the Taiwan Strait. The report attributes the hazardous nature of the encounter to “unsafe maneuvers” performed by the Chinese Warship, violating maritime ‘Rules of the Road’ of safe passage in international waters. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which China has ratified and the US respects, international ships maintain the right to innocent passage...