http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/ Legal news and events around the world. en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:37:39 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/images/vbseo_skin_2.0/misc/rss.jpg http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/ http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/international-law-news/31689-book-review-art-craft-international-environmental-law.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:50:26 GMT By Daniel Bodansky, Harvard University Press, 2009. Pp. 330. $39.95 (cloth). The reviewed work is a collection of interrelated essays, all... By Daniel Bodansky, Harvard University Press, 2009. Pp. 330. $39.95 (cloth).

The reviewed work is a collection of interrelated essays, all written by Professor Bodansky, presenting a general overview of most areas of international environmental law. It is not a casebook, nor does it contain excerpts of leading cases. Professor Bodansky provides a good general overview of environmental law. However, he does not treat any aspect of the subject in depth. The book would thus serve well as a general introductory text for political scientists, economists and policy-makers, or as a supplementary book for a course on international environmental law.

The result of this generalist approach is that the various aspects of positive law are treated superficially, scattered throughout the work. Although this approach works well for courses directed at political scientists and economists, it is not adequate to serve as the principal text for a course in international law directed at law students. If that had been the intended audience, a better approach may have been to systematically organize the materials by legal topics and to address the substantive (positive) law in-depth with analyses of cases and conventions.

The work provides a general overview of international environmental law but does not cover all aspects of the subject. For example, the World Trade Organization’s SPS and Technical Barriers to Trade agreements – both of which have broad environmental implications – do not seem to be treated in the work at all.

The author seems concerned with refuting the naïve view of international law, often held by political scientists or economists, that international law is somehow “mere rhetoric” and “not law”. The author clearly refutes the idea of international law as a space of non-law. His attention to these arguments here may be influenced by the last decade of U.S. unilateralism, and may be a reaction to that unfortunate tendency or the perceived mind-set of his intended audience.

The work ought not to be considered as a principal text for a course on international environmental law because of various omissions and its superficial treatment of the law. For example, the work does not seem to treat the issues of monism versus dualism and the related question of the integration (or not) of international laws as directly enforceable rules before national courts. Although the work mentions many of the major international environmental treaties, such as the Kyoto protocol, they are not treated in sufficient depth to be of real use to a scholar or practitioner researching these treaties. Instead, this work is well-suited as an adequate introduction to international environmental law for economists, political scientists, and policy-makers, the apparent main audience for this work.

The treatment of general principles of international law provides another example of the limits of this work as a potential main textbook for a course on international environmental law. The principles of prevention[1] and precaution,[2] as well as the source principle[3] and the polluter pays principle,[4] arose in German law, where they are very well defined. These general principles of law were then taken up by E.U. law and in turn migrated from E.U. law into international law by way of international treaties, which are evidence of the opinio juris needed to form customary international law. U.S. legal scholarship tends to dispute the existence and contours of these general principles of international environmental law. These principles, though important, are treated only superficially in the work. The precautionary principle is described adequately, but its treatment is scattered throughout the work, here and there, in one to three page bursts. The polluter pays principle is mentioned on exactly three pages. The source principle does not seem to be treated at all. While this may be acceptable for students of political science and economics, it is not sufficient for a law school course where these legal principles and the debate about their international validity would have to be treated in much greater depth.

In contrast, general themes of political economy are very well treated in the work. Concepts such as externalities, the Coase theorem, game theory, Pareto optimality, and balancing as cost/benefit analyses are all treated with sufficient precision to be of use to economists, political scientists, and policy-makers, all of whom would find this work useful. In contrast, some basic legal issues, such as the internationally recognized general principle of proportionality, monism versus dualism, and whether and when international law is directly effective in U.S. law, are ignored. The focus on economic analysis may be due to an intended audience of political scientists and economists. Alternatively, this may be a reflection of the unfortunate tendency of “economic analysis of law” to dominate contemporary U.S. legal thinking. That theory, however, leads to reductionism and underdeveloped legal methodology. In any case, it limits the usefulness of this work as a text for legal specialists.

Stylistically, the work is successful. The author’s writing style is clear; the book is well-written, easy to read and entertaining. Moreover, the work provides a global overview of environmental political economy, follows a coherent outline, and contains a useful index. While I can recommend this work without hesitation to political scientists, economists, and policy makers, it should not be seen as the main text for a course in international environmental law at a law school. It may, however, be useful as a secondary work for such a course.

As many know, Professor Bodansky has made other, deeper, contributions to the study of international environmental law. Perhaps this work might be a lead-in to some future in-depth work of legalscholarship. International law deserves not only popularization and uptake by political scientists, historians, economists, and policy makers – the work here. It also merits deep and intensive work by and for legal specialists. We hope to see more work from Professor Bodansky in that vein. Given his past performance, our hopes are high.


-Dr.Jur. Eric Engle*

A complimentary copy of the reviewed work was provided to the Harvard International Law Journal.

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[1] Pollution should be prevented: prevention of damage is preferred to cure of damage.


[2] When in doubt whether a polluting activity causes harm the activity should not be undertaken: this principle is controvered.


[3] Pollution should be treated as close to the source as possible.


[4] Externalities should be internalized.


* Research aid to Professor Duncan Kennedy, Harvard Law School ]]> International Law News ILJ_Digest http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/international-law-news/31689-book-review-art-craft-international-environmental-law.html http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/international-law-news/31674-french-law-bans-women-dressing-like-men-paris.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:01:02 GMT An obscure law from the 1800s that is still on the books bans women from wearing pants in Paris, according to the Telegraph. The law bans women... An obscure law from the 1800s that is still on the books bans women from wearing pants in Paris, according to the Telegraph.

The law bans women from "dressing like men" in the French capital. It was first introduced in 1800 by Paris' police chief and has survived several attempts to repeal it.

It has been amended twice over the last 200 years. In 1892 the law was changed to allow women to wear trousers "as long as the woman is holding the reins of a horse." In 1909 another exception was made allowing women "on a bicycle or holding it by the handlebars" to wear pants.

More...

French Law: Women Can't Wear Pants ]]> International Law News forum_admin http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/international-law-news/31674-french-law-bans-women-dressing-like-men-paris.html http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/international-law-news/31672-qatars-new-income-tax-law-would-apply-only-revenues-corporations.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:53:13 GMT Qatar's new income tax law would apply to revenues of corporations and not that of individuals, a government official said on Tuesday, clarifying a report on the official news agency.

The official Qatar News Agency said earlier on Tuesday the new income law would take effect as of Jan. 1, without specifying the type of income it would tax.

"This law will apply to companies ... not people," the official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters by telephone. (Reporting by Inal Ersan; Editing by Amran Abocar) ]]> International Law News forum_admin http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/international-law-news/31672-qatars-new-income-tax-law-would-apply-only-revenues-corporations.html