Russian Federation's Law No. 87- Ф3: Political Machination or Procedural Reform?
By: Kirill Ershov
Law 87- Ф3 was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin six months prior to the December 2007 presidential election. Law 87- Ф3 rearranged the division of functions between the investigator and the procurator during the preliminary investigation. It also saw the creation of the investigative committee within the procuracy, which would have exclusive supervision of all investigations within that branch. Because of the Committee’s personal jurisdiction over investigations involving individuals with official immunity and agents of Russia’s power structures, both Russian media and Western academia saw the law as being politically motivated by the upcoming transfer of power.
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FISA Amendments Act 2008:
Protecting Americans by Monitoring International
Communications--Is It Reasonable?
By Jessica LoConte, Pace University School of Law
On July 10, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Acts of 2008 (FAA) into law. Days later, from the Rose Garden at the White House, he stated that the new law “will allow our intelligence professionals to quickly and effectively monitor the communications of terrorists abroad, while respecting the liberties of Americans here at home." If only it were that simple, there would surely be less controversy surrounding the federal government’s current surveillance practices. Undeniably, the government has a responsibility to prevent terrorist attacks, but the problem posed by FAA is that it allows for far greater governmental intrusion into the private communications of law-abiding Americans rather than effectively monitoring the communications among terrorists.
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The New Adventures of the Common Law
By Damien P. Horigan, American University in Dubai (AUD)
One
of the arguably unexpected legal developments during the first decade
of this century has been the emergence of new common law jurisdictions
in a region with a very different legal heritage – the Arabian
Peninsula. These young jurisdictions have been created specifically to
foster the growth of new hubs for banking and finance. This article
will examine these new adventures of the common law.
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Banding with Brothers: Authorizing Force Through a Concert of Democracies
By Alexander Benard, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
The
United Nations Security Council (U.N.S.C.) is the sole international
body explicitly empowered to authorize the use of force. The United
Nations Charter U.N. Charter) gives the U.N.S.C. the responsibility to
“determine the existence of any threat to the peace” and to “decide
what measures shall be taken” to address that threat.
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