Blogging Heads: Liberty vs. Security
Jack Balkin of Yale Law School, blogger at Balkinization, and author of Cybercrime, speaks with Eric Posner of the University of Chicago Law School on the balance between liberty and security. The New York…
International Law
American “Legal Fictions” for 2007
Slate magazine is offering the Bush Administration’s Top 10 “Dumbest Legal Arguements of the Year.” In 2006, they presented the Top 10 “Most Outrageous Civil Liberties Violations.” Here is this year’s list in brief (see…
UK Lawyers join Canadian Critique of Khadr
Law groups in the UK, including the Bar of England and Wales, Criminal Bar Association, Bar of Human Rights Committee and Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association, have joined in the critique of Canada’s handling of the Omar…
How to become a despot in 10 easy steps
Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot, has an interesting premise on how the rule of law is eroded in society. She claims there is a discernable…
ON Landowers May Have to do Hard Labour
Background Owners of land in the UK once belonging to a church in Medieval times, known as rectorial land, considered lay rectors. As such, they are liable for the upkeep of the chancel, an area…
Omar Khadr’s case to go to SCC
Osgoode Hall’s blog, The Court, reported today that the case of Omar Khadr will be taken to the Supreme Court of Canada. Law is Cool has previously done an entry and a podcast on the…
Arguing in the Alternative
Arguing in the alternative is a technique often used in criminal law to pre-emptively address the concerns of the opposing counsel by stating their presumed rationale and demonstrating its flaws. Arguing in the alternative can…
The Role of the ICC Prosecutor
The session on Making Prevention Feasible and the discussion with Luis Moreno Ocampo revealed two different conceptions of the role of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution. Prevention and the Role of Prosecutor Justice Richard Goldstone…
A Legal Obligation to Prevent Genocide
The panel on Making Prevention Feasible, chaired by Prof. Stephen Toope, focused on the proposal for a UN Emergency Peace Service, how to affect the inertia which plagues government action, and how to train negotiating…
Accountability for Genocide: Does Criminal Justice Prevent Future Atrocities?
Chaired by Professor William Schabas (Irish Centre for Human Rights), the panel included Professor Catherine Lu (McGill University), Professor Gary Bass (Princeton University), and Justice Richard Goldstone (Constitutional Court of South Africa, Prosecutor – International…
Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide
On October 11th, the Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide begins in Montreal. The Echenberg Family Conference on Human Rights is organized by the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism and the…
Mexicans invade Canada, Canadians invade the US
The Current Crisis in Windsor Over the past 3 weeks, about 200 Mexicans claimed refugee status at the Canadian border in Windsor. The shelters are full, and the city’s resources are capped. Although most of…