At the 1994 Summit of the Americas, leaders of democratic nations in the Western Hemisphere committed to establishing a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by January 2005. The Declaration of Principles resulting from that Summit called for building on “existing sub-regional and bilateral arrangements in order to broaden and deepen hemispheric economic integration and to bring the agreements together.” Although ambitious, this endeavor was undertaken during a decade marked by an unprecedented proliferation of trade agreements. In 1991, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay agreed to initiate the formation of a common market now known as the MERCOSUR. Then in 1994, Canada, Mexico and the United States signed the North American Free Trade Agreement which replaced the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement. Later that year, nations around the world formalized the existing General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, creating the World Trade Organization. In 1997, the Andean Community of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela formalized its plans to establish a common market. Members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market also agreed in several protocols to further their economic and social integration. During the 1990's, numerous other trade agreements were negotiated, and their development continues at the same rapid pace today.

This essay fills a gap by exploring compliance theory in international law to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. After introducing the topic and setting the context, it delves into the question of why nations follow international law. Interacting with prominent theoretical models (including the managerial model, fairness and legitimacy, transnational legal process, self-interest, and a comparative perspective with Europe), it arrives at a critical synthesis in the conclusion.

A colleague told me about the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law when I first became a law librarian. I was researching European Union law and collecting French law and she mentioned that the Swiss Institute offered fellowships to researchers interested in comparative law.

Liberia has become the quintessential example of an African failed state. Though Liberia's civil war is officially over, war criminals are free and some are even helping run the transitional government under the authority of Liberia's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This peace agreement calls for the consideration of a general amnesty for those involved in the Liberian civil war alongside the parceling of governmental functions among members of various rebel groups. The drafters of the agreement claim that this was the only viable solution for sustainable peace in Liberia. Meanwhile, Charles Taylor relaxes in Nigeria's resort city of Calabar.

There has been increasing dissatisfaction with the way Arctic-wide cooperation under the Arctic Council operates. Scholars and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have taken up the idea of finding a new direction for the work of the Council by drawing on the experience of the other pole, the Antarctic, and its well-established structures of governance. At first sight, this may seem like a misdirected idea, given that the two poles show more differences than similarities: the Arctic consists of ocean surrounded by continents, whereas the Antarctic is a continent surrounded by ocean; the Antarctic has no permanent human habitation, while the Arctic is inhabited by indigenous peoples and other local communities. Yet, the two polar areas also resemble each other in many respects. Both have extreme climatic conditions, receiving less radiation from the sun than other parts of the globe, and the ecosystems have had to adapt to very cold and dark environments with short and light-filled growing seasons. In such conditions, the ecosystems are simple, containing only a few key species, and are thus more vulnerable to human-induced pollution than those of more temperate areas.

Globalization has done little to fight global poverty and inequality. Though some critics have used this fact to argue against global economic integration, this article explains that those in favor of a freer and fairer global trade and finance system must link that regime with labor rights in order to achieve a reduction in global poverty and a more equitable distribution of trade gains. Without this connection, today's most powerful economies will be tomorrow's least relevant markets, finding themselves subordinate on the global supply chain to countries who were once thought of as “lesser developed.” This result will not come from increased development from those countries. Instead, it will derive from the erosion of progress in leading markets initiated by enhanced competition from countries with lower relative standards of living. Simply put: without a mechanism to increase those standards in the poorest countries, the richest countries will find their own standards retrograded in order to remain competitive. Accordingly, legal architectures must link free trade and global finance with core worker rights—or else.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Legislative competence for the UK resides in the Westminster Parliament, but there are three legal systems (England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland) with separate courts and legal professions. These legal systems have a unified final court of appeal in the House of Lords. The Isle of Man, and the two Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey) are not part of the UK, but possessions of the crown. Although their citizens are subject to the British Nationality Act 1981, the islands have their own legal systems. They are represented by the UK government for the purposes of international relations, but are not formal members of the European Union.

Estonia restored its independence in 1991 following the unsuccessful coup attempt for in Moscow. Within six months, the Constitutional Assembly created a draft of a new constitution based on Estonia's constitution of 1938. Estonia's subsequent legal reforms have been based on the Constitution adopted in 1992 reinstating a parliamentary democracy founded on legal continuity. Supreme power is vested in the people, and this power is exercised through a single chamber parliament.

I imagine most people with an interest in the subject have their own working definition of globalization. My definition goes something like this: Globalization is at least in part about the spread of mass markets and common tastes, albeit with variations. International trade law, by reducing the possibility that individual countries can “prefer” their own productions, is one of the mechanisms for facilitating the spread of these common tastes. I am by no means implying that the global tastes are elevated ones; in fact, the mass-appeal products sought might be inferior in many ways to what came before. The irony of the franchise, for instance, is that better or worse does not matter—only sameness. The important thing is that the tastes are commonly held across a national-culture-free zone, and recognized as such.

In today's increasingly interdependent global society, international institutions formerly committed to operating as insular systems recognizing only states as legitimate participants have come under pressure to open their processes to public view and participation. The World Trade Organization (WTO) in particular has been widely criticized for its lack of transparency and democratic participation. Nowhere has this criticism been more prevalent than in the arena of dispute settlement. The controversy over the acceptance of amicus briefs at the WTO reflects the tensions among WTO members and non-members concerning greater public access to dispute settlement proceedings. This battle has been fought primarily through the Appellate Body and its important series of decisions on amicus briefs.

Estonia employs a civil law system and follows the legal traditions of continental Europe – there is a distinction between public and private law. The main source of law is written (statutory) law. Case law has no precedent value. However, the decisions of the Estonian Supreme Court are used as a subsidiary source of law in interpreting and founding the general principles of law. This follows expressis verbis from the Estonian Code of Criminal Procedure, which states in article 2 subsection 4 that the decisions of the Supreme Court in issues which are not regulated by other sources of criminal procedural law but which arise in the application of law are also sources of criminal procedure law. And they are de facto in other areas of law: private law, in particular administrative law, as well. Thus one could say that step-by-step the judgments of the Supreme Court gain more and more importance in shaping the legal system and legal order of Estonia.

Twenty years ago, most of the users at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Law Library (UOFLL) were what we would call “Norwegians from Norway”. They came to the library to find Norwegian domestic law to address issues of purely domestic concern. In recent years, bilateral, regional and global agreements have increasingly become an integral part of our domestic legal system.

Article 292 of the United Nations 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (Convention) reads:

1. Where the authorities of a state party have detained a vessel flying the flag of another state party and it is alleged that the detaining state has not complied with the provisions of this Convention for the prompt release of the vessel or its crew upon posting of a reasonable bond or other financial security, the question of release from detention may be submitted to any court or tribunal agreed upon by the parties or, failing such agreement within 10 days from the time of detention, to a court or tribunal accepted by the detaining state under article 287 or to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, unless the parties otherwise agree.

2. The application for release may be made only by or on behalf of the flag state of the vessel.

3. The court or tribunal shall deal without delay with the application for release and shall deal only with the question of release, without prejudice to the merits of any case before the appropriate domestic forum against the vessel, its owner or its crew. The authorities of the detaining state remain competent to release the vessel or its crew at any time.

4. Upon the posting of the bond or other financial security determined by the court or tribunal, the authorities of the detaining state shall comply promptly with the decision of the court or tribunal concerning the release of the vessel or its crew.

Protection and preservation of the marine environment is a topical issue around the Baltic Sea. Not least does it refer to vessel-source pollution. The Baltic Sea is a particularly vulnerable sea area with its narrow waters, often severe climatic conditions, and growing tanker traffic, especially to and from Russian ports at the far end of the Gulf of Finland. By way of example, oil transports in the Gulf of Finland tripled in 1995 to 2003, recently reaching to some 78 million tons a year.