Thanks for a great seminar, folks! You should have received a grade explanation sheet as well as our comments on your papers by now. If you have not received them, please contact John. The best papers are now available on the website.. Congratulationsl

Here are the grade distributions for the semester:

Thanks again, and keep in touch.

1. One of the most important abilities an attorney should possess is an attention to detail. In practice, not following the instructions of the court can get you in hot water, going even so far as to be malpractice or contempt of court. Get in good habits now; please follow these directions completely.

2. Papers are due at 5:00 p.m. EST, on Saturday, 20 December 2014. You may always turn it in earlier than that if you want.

3. If you need an extension, contact me PRIOR to that time.

4. Turn in using the Student Drop Box on my.wcl.american.edu. To get to the Student Drop Box, navigate to the my.wcl page for our course, “Intl Courts Sem (738-001)” which should be listed in the middle of your my.wcl home page under “Fall 2013.” Once you are on our course page, look to the left side of the page, under “Quick Links” for “Student Drop Box.” Click on it and a directory listing should appear. To right of the folder “Final Papers” you will find a “Submit Document” link. Click on it, then click on the “Choose File” button that will appear. Navigate your hard disk until you find your paper. Click on it, then click on the “Open” button on the lower right of the file upload dialog box. Make sure it has the proper name, and click on the “Upload File” button on the right side of the page. That should take care of it. If, for any reason, you have trouble with this, just email me at heywood@wcl.american.edu with your paper as an attachment.

5. Format should be a file in one of these appropriate electronic formats:

   • .pdf: Adobe Portable Document Format

   • .odt: Open Document (LibreOffice is one word processor that saves in this format)

   • .doc or .docx: Microsoft Word

   • .wpd: WordPerfect

6. Do NOT use image file formats (.jpg, .tiff, etc.). We cannot easily make comments on those file types.

7. If you have any questions about the format you want to use, just ask us.

8. 30 pages, exclusive of notes, 1 inch margins all around, normal 12-pointish type, double-spaced.

9. Make sure you use your last name in the file name. We will be getting a bunch of these. If they are all called “InternationalCourtsPaper.doc” We will be frustrated. We will be grading your papers. You don't want to make us frustrated. If your last name is Smith your file should be named:

   smith.pdf, or smith.odt, smith.doc, or smith.docx, or smith.wpd

10. If you are graduating, make sure you put “GRADUATING” on the title page of your paper and in the file name. For example:

    smithGRADUATING.doc

A printable PDF copy of this page is available.

As of 18 November 2014, the presentation schedule is:

The UN General Assembly and Security Council, meeting in parallel, elected four members of the ICJ on Thursday, 6 November 2014. They could not agree on who should fill the fifth open slot, and met again Friday to try to finish the election. They failed to decide between two candidates (Susana Ruiz Cerutti of Argentina and Patrick Lipton Robinson of Jamaica), and a third round is scheduled for 17 November 2014.

Press Release from the ICJ (PDF)

Official UN Photo: Raimonda Murmokaitė (right), Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the UN, casts her country’s ballot in the Security Council.

In the class exercise on Tuesday, 28 October 2014, we will look at how the various international & hybrid criminal courts (ICC, UNMICT, ICTY, ICTR, SCSL, STL, ECCC, SPSC-ET, IMT, & IMTFE) deal with the rights of the accused to a fair trial. Before class, students will read the Lawyer's Committee report then research & study their assigned court to see how it handles these rights. In class, we will discuss each right and how the various courts do (or do not) support it. The assignments are:

Abdulla Almulla: Human Rights Commission within the Constitutional Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina
Kelly Ayers: UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Human Rights Advisory Panel
Sulafah Bamuhayr: Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal
Angela Chen: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
Tiffany Davidson: The International Criminal Tribunals (ICTY, ICTR, UNMICT)
Ravneet Deol: Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East Timor
Susana Diaz Garcia: Special Court for Sierra Leone
Kyrsten Melander: Special Tribunal for Lebanon
Natalia Ramirez: International Criminal Court
Morgane Zander: International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) & the Nuremberg Military Tribunals

I will handle the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

You will find information on all of these tribunals on our research page. If you have time and feel so inclined, you may also do additional research.

Interesting article:

Is Asteroid Mining legal under international law?

In no particular order:

1. Poor Proof-reading: Bad spelling and typos come across as sloppy scholarship. Poor writing skills also reflect poorly. Things that particularly grate on us as graders are lack of subject-verb agreement, inconsistent use of tense, and incomplete sentences. Proof-read carefully. Don't rely on spell-check. Have another set of eyes review your paper for spelling errors, typos, and grammar, if at all possible.

2. No Topic Sentences: We read many papers that have paragraphs that run on for 1-3 pages, and which cover multiple topics. The basic rule for paragraph construction is one topic, and one topic sentence, for each paragraph. If you eliminated all the text in your paper except for the topic sentence in each paragraph, what is left should be a functional outline of the paper that conveys the key points and themes of your topic to the reader.

3. Inconsistent Citation Style: We don't care whether you use the Bluebook, Maroon Book, ALWD, etc. All we care is that you use one style or system consistently. Even more importantly, provide enough information for us to find the referenced material in your source. If you are contemplating publication, you should consider using the citation style used by that publication to save yourself time and effort later.

4. Improper Use of Footnotes (or Endnotes): Footnotes should be used to provide references to explanatory information or source information in support of attributed text. They should be used when needed, but not excessively. One problem area is the failure to footnote attributed text (e.g., quotes without footnotes, specific data or referrals to specific sources without footnoting the source information).

   Another footnote faux pas is to include substantive topical discussion in the footnotes. If it is important and relevant to your topic, put it in the text. If it is not important or relevant enough to be in the body of your paper, ask yourself why you are including it. Don't use footnotes to pad out papers for length. If you honestly feel the side issue may be of interest or value to your reader, footnote it, but keep it concise.

   Don't cite to a secondary source when a primary source is available. You can provide both a primary source cite and a secondary source cite as a convenience to your readers, but always point the reader to the original or official source material whenever possible.

   P.S., either footnotes or endnotes are fine, but don't use both.

   P.P.S., if the ratio of body text to footnotes is less than 2:1, then you are probably over-footnoting.

5. Lack of Pinpoint Cites: This goes hand-in-hand with proper use of footnotes. If you are quoting someone or referring to a particular article or chapter in a source in your footnote, make sure you include a pinpoint cite with the page number or paragraph number so that the reader may find it.

6. Not Using Block Quotes: When quoting lengthy passages of text from another source, the text should be indented (both left and right) and single-spaced. Style manuals differ on when to block quote (APA says 40 words, Chicago says 100 words or 8 lines, the Bluebook says 50 words or more, etc. For our purposes, follow the Bluebook and use 50 words or more as your cut-off.

7. Too Much History, Not Enough Legal Analysis: It is easier to recite the history of a situation or issue than it is to do a thorough legal analysis of it. As a result, scholarly legal papers oft times read like history papers with little or no relevant legal analysis (which is often captured in a 1-2 page section near the end of the paper or in the conclusion). If the point of the paper is about legal analysis of an issue or situation, then the bulk of the paper should reflect legal analysis. A lengthy introductory section (or sections) reciting the history is often unnecessary and diminishes the scholarly value of the paper. Note: If you are approved to write a history of a particular topic, then it is okay to write it as a history-style paper.

8. Lack of a Thesis: Every paper should have a point, or what scholars call a "thesis." A thesis may be defined as "a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved." We don't care what your thesis is, just that you have one and the at you adequately support it in your paper with reasoning, analysis, and sources.

9. Manipulation of Paper Length: In order to reach a page limit, students (and attorneys as well ... a cautionary tale [read from the last paragraph on page 2 until the end of the order]) will occasionally resort to tactics such as triple-spacing, adjusting margins, and/or adjusting font size to "make it fit." Adjusting to fit is okay as long as it isn't too noticeable. But turning a 20-page paper into a 30-page paper is noticeable and distracting to the grader. If it's a good paper but a couple of pages short, that will be okay.

10. Plagiarism: The ultimate scholarly sin, punishable by a failing grade and honor code proceedings. Defined most simply as "the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own." Proper use of footnotes or endnotes will eliminate most plagiarism. See our course policy on plagiarism or talk to us if you have any questions. Remember, in the age of Google, it is very easy for professors to spot plagiarism.

This seminar is an introduction to the practice of international courts and arbitral tribunals and their rôle in the development of international law. During the semester we will use lectures, case-studies, and class exercises as teaching methods to outline the evolution and structure of international tribunals, to examine the development of international legal principles by international tribunals using "sources" methodology, and to discuss issues concerning the effectiveness and future rôle of international courts in the development of international law.

The goals of the seminar are to:

1. Introduce students to the historical evolution, structure, and function of international tribunals within the international legal system.
2. Reinforce students' conceptual understanding of the sources of international law and their inter-relationships.
3. Examine selected international legal issues and modes of legal argumentation using class exercises simulating international judicial dispute resolution.
4. Outline issues concerning the effectiveness of international tribunals as dispute resolution mechanisms and their future.

A principal goal of this course is to help you shape your own perspective on the roles and effectiveness of international tribunals in the international legal system and the legal trends that influence their success as mechanisms for international dispute resolution.

To that end, as you read the course materials and do research on your paper, we ask that you bear in mind the following questions, which encompass the general themes of this course:

1. Is International Law "Law" that can be readily discerned and applied by courts?
2. What role can and should international courts play in the "progressive development" of international law? (i.e., international courts don't create law, they "find" it in state custom and practice, but do international courts have a responsibility as a key actor in an international legal system that lacks a legislative function to progressively look for and "find" law?)
3. Can international courts function credibly without compulsory jurisdiction and enforcement powers over states party to international disputes?
4. Are all disputes involving violations of international customary norms or treaty obligations suitable for judicial resolution? Is judicial resolution always preferable to political/diplomatic means of dispute resolution?
5. Are evolving regional and international systems of law (and their corresponding institutions) compatible, or will they lead to the disintegration of international law?
6. Is the trend toward recognition of individual rights and responsibilities under international law consistent with an established legal system and institutions based on states parties and concepts of state sovereignty?
7. What is a state and how does it interact with international dispute resolution mechanisms?
8. What role does sovereignty play in international dispute resolution?
9. What is the impact of politics on international dispute resolution?
10. Does structure follow function, or function follow form, in international dispute resolution?