Oregon Review of International Law : Volume 20, Number 1 (2018)
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
Item Open Access What Happens When an Island Starts to Drown Under Its Own Weight? The Debt Crisis of Puerto Rico(University of Oregon School of Law, 2019-02-14) Leblanc, EmilyHurricanes, floods, and earthquakes are recent natural disasters to have hit the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Compounding these natural disasters is one that is man-made: the Puerto Rican debt crisis. Current estimates are that Puerto Rico owes more than $73 billion to its bondholders. How did this happen? This Comment is an examination of the legislation designed to help Puerto Rico restructure its finances and reorganize and/or discharge its debt.Item Open Access Unmarried Cohabitants: How the United States Is Still Not Protecting Same-Sex Couples(University of Oregon School of Law, 2019-02-14) Ballard, London S.Same-sex couples often face discrimination throughout their daily lives. Although the United States is making efforts to remove that discrimination, many problems still exist and disrupt same-sex couples’ lives. For example, when sharing property, the name on the property’s legal title of certificate often dictates the owner(s) without considering if, and with whom, they live. Unmarried cohabitants might not be protected under zoning ordinances that only protect “traditional families” connected by blood, marriage, or adoption. Unmarried cohabitants might struggle to bring inheritance claims if his/her partner dies without a will. For tax purposes, unmarried cohabitant couples are often classified as “single,” so they are unable to reap marital tax benefits like their married counterparts. These are just a few examples of the legal drawbacks facing unmarried cohabitants.Item Open Access Without Silence, There Is No Golden Rule; Without Dissent, There Is No Progress(University of Oregon School of Law, 2019-02-14) Uluc, Inan; Sutton, Kristi R.The frequency of dissenting opinions accompanying arbitration awards in international arbitration has multiplied, particularly in international investment arbitration. Accordingly, dissenting opinions are now inevitable companions to majority awards. Notwithstanding the fact that dissenting opinions neither form part of an arbitral award nor constitute a separate award, the escalation of dissenting opinions spawns anxiety in scholars and practitioners. This trepidation ignited a crusade whereby those opposed to the practice of rendering dissent challenge the role and usefulness of these opinions. In this respect, this Article initially considers and critiques specific arguments raised by those opposed to dissenting opinions in international arbitration. Following analysis of the criticisms, this Article explores the beneficial and constructive aspects of dissenting opinions. Evident from this discussion is that dissenting opinions are not only integral to supplement an arbitrator’s quasi-judicial capacity, but also encourage issuance of well-reasoned awards. Clear from the benefits of dissenting opinions in international arbitration, any departure from the present clemency espoused toward the practice will eventuate in the field’s regression.Item Open Access Operation Restore Legacy Renders Southern African Development Community (SADC) Constitutionalism Suspect in the Coup d’État That Was Not a Coup(University of Oregon School of Law, 2019-02-14) Chigara, Benedict AbrahamsonThis Article examines the SADC constitutional norm on the absolute prohibition of unconstitutional takeover of power in light of the 2017 change of power in Zimbabwe. That year, the country underwent a correction of governance from a Mugabe-contrived family dynasty to sovereign control of Zimbabwe’s peoples. This Article recommends the urgent development by the SADC of a parallel constitutional normative structure requiring the absolute sanctity of the national assembly ballot as a precondition to implementation of the absolute prohibition of unconstitutional takeover of power. The new norm should also have a similar, if not stronger, monitoring and enforcement mechanism.Item Open Access Corporate Diversity 2.0: Lessons from Silicon Valley’s Missteps(University of Oregon School of Law, 2019-02-14) Kamalnath, AkshayaPresently, there is lack of clarity regarding the objectives of board gender diversity laws across jurisdictions. This Article reviews the current laws and regulations for corporate gender diversity across countries and finds two separate problems that current laws address. The first problem is that board effectiveness is hampered by homogeneity and the second problem is the lack of gender equality in the corporate context. However, current gender diversity laws do not address either of these issues individually. Instead, there is a conflation of both these issues, because of which the laws are only able to provide superficial solutions. To appropriately tailor the board gender diversity laws to the two problems, this Article argues a move toward a revised framework, or “corporate diversity 2.0.” Specifically, the Article focuses on the second problem of the lack of “gender equality” and argues that it should be framed more broadly as equality at the workplace rather than merely on the corporate board.Item Open Access Victims’ Testimonies in Truth Commissions: Who Owns the Memory?(University of Oregon School of Law, 2019-02-14) Urquidi Herrera, Juan CarlosAfter massive abuses of human rights, it is common for a government to create a truth commission. These bodies have different tools for finding the truth sought by wounded societies. One such tool, perhaps the most important, is the victims’ testimonies of the events that transpired. The problem this Article tries to solve arises when the truth commission promises the victims that their testimony will be kept confidential if they tell their stories. This Article seeks to resolve whether such confidentiality should be maintained or if the content of the statements should be publicly released because the whole society is entitled to know the truth. What should prevail in these situations: the private property that exists over the testimony itself (owned by the victims) or the right of society to know an episode of its past?Item Open Access Forty Years from Fascism: Democratic Constitutionalism and the Spanish Model of National Transformation(University of Oregon School of Law, 2019-02-14) Christiansen, Eric C.This Article seeks to understand and evaluate core elements of the past promise and present reality of Spain’s transformation from Francoist dictatorship to modern European democracy. It does this by investigating the role of the 1978 Constitution and the distinctive Spanish Model of relatively peaceful constitutional transformation in facilitating the key legal elements of Spain’s transition to democracy.