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sexta-feira, 30 de maio de 2014

Questões de Direito Internacional Privado

Olá!
Seguem algumas questões de Direito Internacional Privado aplicadas em provas anteriores.
Espero que seja de proveito.
Abraços,
Rodrigo.

Questão 1 - Assinale certo (C) ou errado (E):
a) Segundo o Direito Internacional Privado Brasileiro o situação do regime de bens no matrimônio é definido pelo atual domicílio dos cônjuges (    ).
b) Segundo o Direito Internacional Privado Brasileiro a qualificação e regulação das obrigações é definida pelo domicílio dos contratantes (    ).
c) Segundo o Direito Internacional Privado Brasileiro as formalidades de celebração e impedimentos do casamento são definidos pela nacionalidade dos nubentes (    ).
d) Segundo o Direito Internacional Privado Brasileiro as questões relativas a personalidade e capacidade são definidas pelo domicílio da pessoa (    ).
e) O direito estrangeiro, ao ser aplicado pelo juiz do foro, deve ser interpretado de maneira a tornar-se compatível com o sistema jurídico do foro (    ).
f) No Brasil, o direito estrangeiro é considerado como lei e não como fato, podendo ser aplicado de ofício pelo magistrado (    ).
g) As regras de conexão indicam a lei aplicável para resolver um caso concreto no qual estão presentes elementos de contato com vários sistemas jurídicos (    ).
h) Territorialidade é o regime conflitual que determina a aplicação irrestrita da lei local, desconsiderando elementos de contato tais como nacionalidade e domicílio (    ).
i) Qualificação é o processo subjetivo pelo qual o magistrado pode afastar a aplicação do direito estrangeiro que ofende os bons costumes do foro (    ).
j) A nacionalidade como critério determinador do estatuto pessoal foi adotada no Brasil até a publicação da Lei de Introdução ao Código Civil, em 1942 (    ).

Questão 2:
Luigi, italiano residente na Suíça, declarou na Itália, em 2002, a adoção de Maria, de nacionalidade brasileira, também residente na Suíça. Contudo, o ato, celebrado em conformidade com o direito suíço, é nulo em face da lei italiana. O direito internacional privado italiano considera competente a lei pessoal do adotante, ao passo que o direito suíço indica a aplicação da lei do domicílio. Maria pretende que sua adoção seja reconhecida no Brasil. Você é o juiz, como decidiria?

Questão 3:
Luigi, suíço residente na Itália, declarou na Suíça, em 2002, a adoção de Maria, de nacionalidade brasileira, também residente na Itália. Contudo, o ato, celebrado em conformidade com o direito suíço, é nulo em face da lei italiana. O direito internacional privado italiano considera competente a lei pessoal do adotante, ao passo que o direito suíço indica a aplicação da lei do domicílio. Maria pretende que sua adoção seja reconhecida no Brasil. Você é o juiz, como decidiria?

Questão 4:
Em que consiste a característica da instabilidade da ordem pública?

Questão 5:
Ramin e Laleh, nacionais iranianos domiciliados no Brasil, contraíram matrimônio no Irã, em outubro de 2005, sem que nenhum deles tenha se dirigido àquele país.
O Código Civil iraniano, que regula a celebração do casamento nos artigos 1071 a 1074, prevê, no art. 1071, que “cada nubente pode encarregar um terceiro da celebração do casamento”, o que significa, naquele sistema jurídico, a admissibilidade da celebração do casamento na presença de procuradores de cada um dos nubentes.
O Código Civil brasileiro, em seu artigo 1542, diz: “O casamento pode celebrar-se mediante procuração, por instrumento público, com poderes especiais”. O direito brasileiro não prevê que a escolha do outro nubente possa caber ao próprio procurador.
No caso, as procurações foram outorgadas por Ramin e Laleh quando cada um deles ainda se encontrava no Irã, e com a expressa atribuição de poderes aos respectivos procuradores para que escolhessem com quem o seu representado iria casar, sendo que Ramin e Laleh, à época, sequer se conheciam.
O casamento de Ramin e Laleh é válido perante o direito iraniano. Hoje, eles pretendem que seu matrimônio seja reconhecido no Brasil. Você é o juiz, como decidiria?

Questão 6:
Comente a aplicação do Direito Internacional Privado na Ementa abaixo reproduzida:
SENTENÇA ESTRANGEIRA CONTESTADA. BIGAMIA. CASAMENTO CELEBRADO NO BRASIL E ANULADO PELA JUSTIÇA JAPONESA. HOMOLOGAÇÃO NEGADA.
1. A bigamia constitui causa de nulidade do ato matrimonial, tanto pela legislação japonesa, como pela brasileira, mas, uma vez realizado o casamento no Brasil, não pode ele ser desfeito por Tribunal de outro país, consoante dispõe o § 1º do art. 7º da Lei de Introdução ao Código Civil.
2. Precedente do STF - SEC 2085.
3. Pedido de homologação negado.
(SEC 1303/JP, Rel. Ministro FERNANDO GONÇALVES, CORTE ESPECIAL, julgado em 05/12/2007, DJ 11/02/2008, p. 51)

Questão 7 - Assinale certo (C) ou errado (E):
a) As regras de conexão servem para definir as cortes competentes para julgar as causas que contenham elemento de estraneidade (    ).
b) Segundo o Direito Internacional Privado Brasileiro o regime de bens no matrimônio é definido pelo primeiro domicílio dos cônjuges (    ).
c) O direito brasileiro estabelece que as obrigações sejam reguladas pela lei do local onde as mesmas são constituídas (    ).
d) No direito brasileiro, as formalidades e procedimentos para adoção são definidos pelas leis do local em que o ato for praticado (    ).
e) No direito brasileiro, a idade em que a pessoa atinge a maioridade civil é determinada pelo direito do país em que a pessoa está domiciliada (    ).
f) Na prática jurídica brasileira, o direito estrangeiro só pode ser aplicado mediante solicitação das partes, que deverão prová-lo como se fato fosse (    ).
g) O princípio da ordem pública pode excepcionar a aplicação do direito estrangeiro, quando este violar os princípios básicos do direito de cada Estado (    ).
h) A qualificação pela lex causae determina a aplicação irrestrita da lei local, desconsiderando elementos de contato tais como nacionalidade e domicílio (    ).
i) O uso da exceção de ordem pública para impedir a aplicação do direito estrangeiro envolve sempre apreciação subjetiva por parte do magistrado (    ).
j) O principal critério para resolução de conflitos de leis referentes a obrigações no Direito Internacional Privado Brasileiro é a nacionalidade das partes (    ).

Questão 8:
Com que intensidade opera a exceção de ordem pública com relação aos direitos adquiridos no exterior?

Questão 9:
Identifique e comente o equívoco na aplicação do Direito Internacional Privado presente na Ementa abaixo reproduzida:
PROCESSUAL CIVIL. SENTENÇA ESTRANGEIRA CONTESTADA. AÇÃO PROPOSTA NO ESTRANGEIRO PARA CONVERTER EM DIVÓRCIO A SEPARAÇÃO JUDICIAL CONSENSUAL OCORRIDA NO BRASIL.[...]
1. A competência do juízo decorre, geralmente, do domicílio das partes ou de sua submissão ao foro eleito. [...]
4. A competência para conversão da separação judicial é exclusiva do juiz brasileiro, conforme inteligência do art. 7º da LICC, segundo o qual a lei do país em que for domiciliada a pessoa determina as regras sobre os direitos de família.
5. Homologação indeferida.
(SEC 1763/PT, Rel. Ministro ARNALDO ESTEVES LIMA, CORTE ESPECIAL, julgado em 28/05/2009, DJe 25/06/2009)

Questão 10:
O que é um contrato internacional?

Questão 11:
Qual a diferença entre os critérios da lei do local da execução e da lei do local da celebração quanto ao direito aplicável a um contrato?

Questão 12:
Diferencie cláusula de eleição de foro, cláusula arbitral e cláusula de escolha do direito aplicável. Posicione-se quanto a aceitação de cada uma delas no direito brasileiro.


Article: The Solange Argument as a Justification for Disobeying the Security Council in the Kadi Judgments

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

November 7, 2013

KADI ON TRIAL: A MULTIFACETED ANALYSIS OF THE KADI JUDGMENT, pp. 121-134, Matej Avbelj, Filippo Fontanelli and Giuseppe Martinico, eds, Routledge, 2014 

Abstract:

The Kadi judgments of the courts of the EU have received enormous scholarly attention and have had significant practical impact. And reasonably so: they are landmark decisions, with numerous implications for several crucial issues, from the relationship between different legal orders to the primacy of Security Council decisions, from the required level of protection of fundamental human rights in the application of coer-cive measures against individuals to the competence of the EU, and so forth. This brief study focuses on one particular aspect of the Kadi decisions: their employment of the Solange argument as a justification for disobeying the Security Council by not implementing its binding decisions.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 12

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2364764>. Acesso em 23 mar. 2014.

quarta-feira, 28 de maio de 2014

Article: Investment Treaty Arbitration and the World Trade Organization: What Role for Systemic Values in the Resolution of International Economic Disputes?

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

February 1, 2014


Abstract:

The World Trade Organization (“WTO”) Dispute Settlement System and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) are two of the most widely used methods of international dispute settlement. An important reason for this popularity is that States have consented in advance to compulsory dispute settlement by the WTO and also, but to a lesser extent, by ICSID arbitration. In the case of the WTO it is the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding that confers compulsory jurisdiction on the WTO Dispute Settlement System; while in the case of ICSID a large number of States have consented in advance to ICSID jurisdiction over their disputes with investors by means of express provisions in Bilateral Investment Treaties. Moreover, an important additional reason for the widespread use of ICSID as a forum for international dispute settlement is that investors – who are in effect the substantive rights holders under Bilateral Investment Treaties – are often given the right to institute ICSID arbitration directly against the host State. But the WTO, unlike ICSID, is much more than just a dispute settlement system: the WTO possesses an important institutional element that has the capacity to formulate and apply systemic values, and it is this feature which represents a fundamental difference between the WTO Dispute Settlement System and ICSID arbitration. This element of WTO dispute settlement provides this article with an analytical perspective that is used to evaluate and compare a number of key elements of WTO and ICSID dispute settlement in order to gauge the extent to which broader values can, or indeed should, play a role in these two leading fora for the settlement of international economic disputes.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 20

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2398553>. Acesso em 23 mar. 2014.

segunda-feira, 26 de maio de 2014

Article: Four Challenges Confronting the Concept of Universal Human Rights

Suffolk University Law School

February 15, 2014


Abstract:

This essay identifies four claims that together underpin the idea of universal human rights and elucidates the most serious challenges confronting them. Consistent with its appellation, all human rights purport to be (1) universal, in that they apply everywhere, binding every society regardless of its laws and mores; (2) human, in that they belong equally to every human being regardless of her character, social standing, or other individual attributes; (3) rights, in that they assert the priority of certain individual interests over the majority’s wishes or welfare; (4) to a specified liberty or entitlement that serves to safeguard such a fundamental interest. The aim of this essay is to render these four human rights claims and the challenges asserted against them as precisely as they can be, so that the positions of all sides are made as explicit and transparent as possible. In a book to follow, I address these critiques in detail.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 25

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2394917>. Acesso em 5 mar. 2014.


sexta-feira, 23 de maio de 2014

Book Review - Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters eds., The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (2012)

University of Cincinnati - College of Law

December 1, 2013

American Journal of International Law, Vol. 108, No. 2, April 2014, Forthcoming 

Abstract:

This is a brief review of The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law, edited by Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters (2012). In this volume, the editors explicitly seek to map a path "towards a global history of international law." By any measure, the book is a substantial achievement, and it will be widely and rewardingly consulted for many years to come. Yet even with all the knowledge assembled in its thousand-plus pages, the Handbook is unable to accomplish in full what it set out to achieve.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 13

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2385085>. Acesso em 5 mar. 2014.


quarta-feira, 21 de maio de 2014

Article: Energy and Climate Change: A Climate Prediction Market

Vanderbilt University - Law School


Vanderbilt University - Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment


Vanderbilt University - Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

December 20, 2013


Abstract:

Much of energy policy is driven by concerns about climate change. Views about the importance of carbon emissions affect debates on topics ranging from the regulation of electricity generation and transmission to the need for incentives to develop and promote emerging technologies. Government efforts to fund and communicate climate science have been extraordinary, but recent polling suggests that roughly half of the American population is unsure or does not believe that anthropogenic climate change is occurring. Among some populations belief in climate change is declining even as the climate science becomes more certain. Much of the doubt occurs among individuals who support free markets, and the doubt is fueled by the argument that governments and government-funded climate scientists are not accounting for information that is inconsistent with the climate consensus. This Article explores a private governance response: the creation of a prediction market to assess and communicate the implications of climate science. Markets not only allow the buying and selling of goods, they provide information about the likelihood of future events. Research suggests that markets are often able to account for information that is outside of the conventional wisdom. In addition, individuals who are likely to doubt climate science may find markets to be credible sources of information. A climate market could take the form of an academic initiative along the lines of the Iowa presidential prediction market or could operate as a more traditional options market. Trading could occur over the types of predictions that matter for global climate change, such as the global average temperature or sea level in 2020 or 2100, with the current market value of the prediction signaling the likelihood of the outcome. The market will be subject to manipulation concerns, but experience with other prediction markets suggests that a climate prediction market has the potential to provide an accurate, credible and widely-disseminated signal about the status of the climate science.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 38

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2372321>. Acesso em 5 mar. 2014.


segunda-feira, 19 de maio de 2014

Article: Separation Anxiety? Rethinking the Role of Morality in International Human Rights Lawmaking

Vanderbilt University - Law School

January 23, 2014


Abstract:

The role of the moral obligation of States, or how States ought to behave, in international law is a source of significant controversy. The dominant 20th Century positivist paradigm of international lawmaking gave short shrift to moral obligation. This account of international lawmaking holds that there is a separation between law and morality (“Separation Thesis”), with the latter outside the bounds of international law. Such an approach is defended as necessary to overcome disagreement on conceptions of justice and respect pluralism, given the heterogeneity of the international community. A separation of law and morality is also thought to foster greater predictability regarding the content of law, critical to avoiding fragmentation in a legal regime without an organized settlement system. While many non-positivist international scholars have challenged this understanding of law, positivists have largely adhered to a strict view of the Separation Thesis.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 82

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2384179>. Acesso em 5 mar. 2014.


sexta-feira, 16 de maio de 2014

Article: A Special Relationship Gone Normal? Argentina and the Inter-American Human Rights System, 1979-2013

Institute of the Americas, University College London

November 2013

Pensamiento Propio, Vol. 38, June-December (2013) 

Abstract:

This article examines the relationship between Argentina and the Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS) as it has developed over time. It proceeds in two main parts. The first unpacks the ways in which Argentina’s relationship has been shaped by domestic political changes, i.e. democratization. Three overlapping, yet distinct, human rights arenas, are examined: civil society mobilisation, constitutional and judicial politics, and state institutions. The second part reverses the analytical focus and highlights what the specific case of Argentina can tell us about the development of the IAHRS, and, in particular, emphasises the extent to which Argentina has found itself at the vanguard of human rights struggles within and around the IAHRS. Yet, as this article demonstrates, Argentina’s relationship with the IAHRS has become increasingly strained in recent years, which demonstrates once more that human rights progress tends to be uneven and prone to reversals.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 28

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2397846>. Acesso em 5 mar. 2014.


quarta-feira, 14 de maio de 2014

Article: International Law in U.S. State Courts: Extraterritoriality and 'False Conflicts' of Law

Southern Methodist University - Dedman School of Law

February 25, 2014

American Society of International Law Proceedings, Forthcoming 2014 

Abstract:

With the U.S. Supreme Court recently cutting back the reach of federal jurisdiction over causes of action arising abroad for violations of international law, questions have arisen about the ability of state law to provide the vessel through which plaintiffs may bring suits alleging such violations. Here litigants and courts must address two key questions: First, to what extent may state law implement or incorporate international law as a rule of decision? And second, to what extent may state law incorporating international law authorize suits for causes of action arising abroad? The second question is both especially urgent because it involves a potential alternative avenue for litigating foreign human rights abuses in U.S. courts, and especially vexing because it juxtaposes different doctrinal and jurisprudential conceptualizations of the ability of forum law to reach inside foreign territory. 

Against this backdrop, I want to make a few points. First, there is nothing wrong as a general matter with state law incorporating international law. Second, the idea of state law having broader extraterritorial reach than federal law is nonetheless in tension with federal foreign affairs preemption. And third, this tension basically disappears when the state law incorporating international law presents what’s called a “false conflict” of laws among the relevant jurisdictions’ laws. Here the fields of private international law and conflict of laws gain salience and supply a doctrinally and historically grounded mechanism for entertaining claims arising abroad in U.S. courts. More concretely, if state law incorporating international law is fundamentally the same law as that operative in the foreign jurisdiction, there is no conflict of laws and the sole applicable law applies. 

In sum, ever-tightening constraints on federal extraterritoriality have generated multilayered tensions with traditional and contemporary fields of conflict of laws and private international law. At present, the flashpoint for these tensions promises to be claims alleging international human rights violations abroad in state court. The concept of “false conflicts” of law can remove the flashpoint’s ignition source. False conflicts hold immense jurisprudential, doctrinal, and practical potential to handle these multilayered tensions with an equally multilayered concept capable of capturing principles not only of conflict of laws but also of federal extraterritoriality, foreign affairs, and due process. False conflicts should be the starting point for any evaluation of international human rights claims in state court under state law.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 15

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2400760>. Acesso em 5 mar. 2014.


segunda-feira, 12 de maio de 2014

Article: Pringle and Use of EU Institutions Outside the EU Legal Framework: Foundations, Procedure and Substance

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

September 9, 2013

9 EuConst 263 (2013) 

Abstract:

The decision in Pringle was primarily concerned with whether the European Stability Mechanism was compatible with various substantive provisions of the Treaty, most notably the prohibition on bailouts in Article 125 TFEU. The judgement is nonetheless important for other reasons, including the legitimacy of the use of EU institutions outside the EU legal framework. It will be seen that the CJEU endorsed their use and reaffirmed earlier case law. These conclusions were analysed by Steve Peers in a helpful article, in which he was largely sympathetic to the test used by the CJEU to determine the legality of such involvement. I take a different view in the present article, which is principally concerned with the EU political institutions. 

It will be argued that while the CJEU’s decision may have been defensible on the facts, it raises several issues of constitutional principle which have not been explored. There is analysis of the case law, which provides the setting for the discussion thereafter. This begins with the foundations of the rule in Pringle, connoting in this respect its legal provenance and the values that underpin it. The focus then shifts to procedural concerns, given that the current legal formulation accords a broad substantive discretionary power to EU institutions to participate in such agreements, without procedural obligations to condition how or whether the power should be exercised. The final section addresses substantive concerns with the legal status quo, in which it is argued that the CJEU’s conditions for the legality of such EU institutional involvement do not provide sufficient constraints on the discretion accorded to the institution that wishes to participate in such an agreement.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 30

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2328385>. Acesso em 20 fev. 2014.


sexta-feira, 9 de maio de 2014

Article: EU Accession to the ECHR: Competence, Procedure and Substance

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

November 12, 2013


Abstract:

The issues raised by EU Accession to the ECHR have already generated a valuable and growing literature. This article seeks to contribute to this literature. The discussion begins with an overview of the European Union’s competence to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights, and the process by which the Accession Agreement was negotiated. The focus then shifts to analysis of whether the EU needs its own Charter of Rights in addition to membership of the ECHR. 

This is followed by examination of a range of procedural issues raised by EU accession to the ECHR. This includes the choices open to claimants when pursuing rights-based claims and the constraints placed on those choices resulting from EU accession to the ECHR. It will be seen that accession raises difficult issues concerning who should be the respondent and co-respondent in any particular case, and the manner in which a case concerning Convention rights is routed to the European Court of Human Rights. The new schema will moreover generate problems of delay.

The final section of the article addresses some of the prominent substantive issue raised by EU accession to the ECHR. This includes a re-assessment of the case law defining the relationship between the EU and the ECHR prior to accession and evaluation of the extent to which it is relevant post accession; discussion of the impact of accession on the autonomy of EU law; and consideration of the way in which the ECHR rights and Charter rights will interact in the future.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 38

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2354975>. Acesso em 20 fev. 2014.


quarta-feira, 7 de maio de 2014

Article: The United Kingdom, the European Union and Sovereignty

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

December 10, 2013

R Rawlings, A Young and P Leyland (eds), Sovereignty and the Law, Domestic, European and International Perspectives, Chapter 10, (Oxford University Press, 2013) 

Abstract:

This chapter explores the relationship between the UK, the EU and sovereignty. It is not however the standard legal account much beloved or hated by first year law students asked to consider how far the traditional Diceyan conception of Parliamentary sovereignty has or has not been affected by UK membership of the EU. The chapter is built instead around three principal legislative and political initiatives of the Coalition Government that have had, or will have, a marked impact on the relationship with the EU, and reflects on what they have to tell us about UK sovereignty. This focus has the virtue of chiming with real world events that affect the relationship between the UK and the EU. 

The discussion begins with the major legislative initiative that constrains the giving of new power to the EU, the European Union Act 2011, inquiring as to what we can learn from this about Parliament, referendums and the body politic. It is followed by examination of the government’s initiative to repatriate power in the area of policing and criminal justice by invoking an opt-out contained in the Lisbon Treaty. This then sets the scene for the final section of the chapter, which analyses the more general demands for repatriation of power that are already being pressed by Conservative Party Eurosceptics in advance of the referendum promised by the Prime Minister David Cameron after renegotiation of the UK terms of membership. It will be seen that each of these events reveals interesting insights, normative as well as political, into UK sovereignty and membership of the EU.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 23

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2365860>. Acesso em 20 fev. 2014.


segunda-feira, 5 de maio de 2014

Article: Accountability and Judicial Review in the UK and the EU: Central Precepts

University of Oxford - Faculty of Law

January 14, 2014

N. Bamforth and P. Leyland (eds), Accountability in the Contemporary Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2013) Chapter 8, 2014 

Abstract:

Judicial review is one method of securing accountability in the modern state. It is not the only one, but then accountability is not in this respect a zero sum game. This is so notwithstanding the fact that commentators might legitimately disagree on the ambit of judicial review, or on its relative importance as a mechanism to secure accountability when compared to other methods. The very fact that all developed legal systems have some regime of judicial review is indicative of its perceived importance in securing the values of the liberal state, using that phrase in broad terms for these purposes. This does not mean complacency in this regard. To the contrary, discussion of accountability entails not merely estimation of the relative efficacy of different mechanisms to secure this end, but also evaluation of the credentials underlying any particular accountability mechanism itself, the latter being the objective of this chapter.

This chapter is concerned with judicial review as developed in the UK and in the EU. It does not directly address the impact of the latter on the former. There is literature dealing with the effect of EU law on judicial review, more especially the way in which EU general principles of law have affected domestic judicial review. This chapter does not replicate this discourse. The focus is rather on the cardinal features that define and shape judicial review in a legal system in order to see how the UK and the EU compare in this regard. To this end the subsequent analysis considers the two systems in terms of conceptual foundations, legitimacy, hierarchy of norms and rights. This exercise has not to my knowledge been undertaken in relation to UK and EU models of review. It sheds interesting light on domestic debates in the UK and on the foundations of judicial review in the EU. The discussion will be addressed principally in relation to judicial review of executive action rather than primary legislation, although there will also be consideration of the latter, more especially because the divide between the two has not in the past been either clear or central to the application of judicial review in the EU. For the sake of clarity it should be noted at the outset that the EU principles of judicial review bind not only the EU institutions, but also the Member States when they act in the scope of EU law.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 20

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2379045>. Acesso em 20 fev. 2014.

sexta-feira, 2 de maio de 2014

Article: Three International Courts and Their Constitutional Problems

Northwestern University Law School

January 23, 2014


Abstract:

The United States’ potential participation in the International Criminal Court (ICC) raises serious constitutional questions that have never been subject to judicial examination. However, in two distinct historical episodes, separated by nearly 100 years, the U.S. considered proposals to join such international courts and found them wanting.

In an earlier article, The Constitutionality of International Courts: The Forgotten Precedent of Slave-Trade Tribunals, I examined the first such episode, the early 19th century objections international commissions to try American vessels arrested for slave trading. In a reply article, Prof. Jenny Martinez took issue with my analysis, arguing that the constitutional objections raised by John Quincy Adams and others were motivated by ideological considerations.

In this Article, I respond to those arguments, while also further developing the subject by examining the second relevant historical episode, the constitutional debate over the International Prize Court. Those discussions corroborate the constitutional objections raised in the slave courts episode, and suggest yet further constitutional problems with the ICC. 

This Article first shows how a full examination of the historical record shows that even those in Congress and the executive that did not share the ideological biases Martinez identifies did not dispute the constitutional objections put forth with the Administration. Moreover, constitutional interpretation by the political branches typically dovetails with political views, but this does not neutralize its significance. 

The International Prize Court was a product of the Hague Conference of 1907. The proposed Court would impartially apply the international law of maritime warfare. The Prize Court Treaty was hailed by leading statesmen as a historic development in international law and relations, that would usher in a new era where law, rather than power, ruled international affairs.

Nonetheless, the Senate refused because the treaty would violate Art. III. Because the Prize Court could review for error decisions of the Supreme Court, it would undermine its “Supremacy.” Some scholars argued that Congress’s power to create non-Art. III courts justified the treaty, or in an argument reminiscent of Martinez’s, that the international law subject matter satisfied constitutional concerns. These defenses fell flat. The Senate and the Executive generally recognized the strength of the constitutional objections.

These principles have direct implications for the ICC. While the ICC’s standard of review is extremely deferential, it ultimately can under certain circumstances examine national court decisions for error. This would be unconstitutional based on the Prize Court precedent.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 29

Disponível em: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2384166>. Acesso em 20 fev. 2014.