Since 1982, the University of Wisconsin Law School has published the Wisconsin International Law Journal (WILJ) a professional journal dedicated to the study and advancement of international law. WILJ publishes four issues a year focusing on a wide range of international legal topics.
For more information please contact our Editor-in-Chief at eic.wilj@gmail.com.
The Wisconsin International Law Journal would like to announce the newest members to our journal! Please see our new masthead for new editors and staffers!
The following 2012 Wisconsin International Law Journal Symposium presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the individual presentation names.
Several of the Wisconsin International Law Journal 2012 Symposium speakers have kindly provided WILJ with scholarly works and resources related to the 2012 Symposium.
Please click here to visit the 2012 Symposium Readings page, and download the related scholarly works and resources.
The Wisconsin International Law Journal would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the 2012 Wisconsin International Law Journal Symposium.
Image: Madison, Wisconsin. State Capitol. Photograph provided by Nicole Wells
Coming Soon!
2012 WILJ Symposium
To register for the 2012 Symposium, please complete this form: WILJ 2012 Symposium Registration
or complete our online form here
Image: Costa Rica, by Mary Haight: Costa Rica by Mary Haight http-//www.flickr.com/photos/30204883@N07/6770276893/
DARIN ACHILLES
THESIS
In 2004, after two unsuccessful attempts to prosecute physicians who euthanized infants, physicians at the University Medical Centre in Groningen, with the help of the local prosecutor, produced the “Groningen protocol.” This protocol set out a procedure for physicians to use if their intention is to end the life of a terminally-ill infant. The use of the protocol creates vast differences between the treatment of terminally-ill infants in the United States and England, on the one hand, and in the Netherlands on the other hand. The Kadijk and Pearson cases illustrate the application of the Groningen protocol while comparing the treatment of terminally-ill infants in the Netherlands, the United States, and England. While the Groningen protocol may appear to be extreme, the two case studies illustrate that the protocol has two advantages over the solutions provided in the United States and England. First, the Groningen protocol provides a quicker and more humane death for infants who are in pain and have a terminal diagnosis. Second, the Groningen protocol can be used as a regulatory device and can help to ensure transparency in the health care system.”
For full article, see Volume 28:4
Image source: Jeremy Hetzel, http://www.flickr.com/photos/jthetzel/
FROM BRUSSELS TO ROME: THE NECESSITY OF RESOLVING DIVORCE LAW CONFLICTS ACROSS THE EUROPEAN UNION
TERESA HENDERSON
THESIS
“As the lives of the citizens of the European Union (EU) become more and more intertwined, national borders have, in some ways, become less meaningful. National borders, however, provide jurisdictional boundaries that often are a determinative factor in the application of substantive divorce law. As international couples marry and live throughout the EU, a divorce of a couple coming from two different EU nations or a couple from one EU nation who are living in another confuses the application of this substantive law. Therefore, a resolution on the harmonization of jurisdiction and conflict of laws surrounding divorce is necessary to address the problems of legal uncertainty, unpredictability, and potential unfairness faced by international couples seeking a divorce in the European Union, in order to protect the EU’s children and to maintain a unified and universal European Union.”
For full article, see Volume 28:4
Image source: TPCOM, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tpcom/
RECONCILING GERMAN-STYLE FEED-IN TARIFFS WITH PURPA
BRADLEY MOTL
THESIS
“Countries throughout the world are utilizing feed-in tariffs to provide their citizens an incentive to invest in small-scale renewable energy projects. In order for individual states within the United States to provide a similar incentive, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) must be changed to allow for technology-based purchase rates that are greater than a utility’s avoided costs, or the states must find an alternative that achieves a similar goal. “
For full article, see Volume 28, Issue 4
Image source: Tumbleweed, Budingen-Germany, http://www.flickr.com_photos_us_army_rolling_along_3349161447
WOMEN’S INHERITANCE AND CONDITIONALITY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS
SARAH J. CONROY
THESIS
“Where poor enforcement of women’s inheritance rights and high HIV infection rates combine, they form a vicious cycle—where more women are left economically vulnerable, more women are forced into infection risk by the sex trade and “widow inheritance” practices. Women’s inheritance rights are critical in the world’s efforts to curb the spread of AIDS, but without a method of enforcement that creates strong incentives for governments to implement them, these rights run the risk of continuing to be neglected. This article asserts that placing conditions on aid money could help make women’s inheritance rights a reality.
The article focuses on the impact of domestic family structures on the national and international stage. The intersection of poorly enforced women’s inheritance rights and HIV infection rates pulls inheritance, which touches on a culture’s deeply-rooted ideas of family and morality, into conflict with a population’s fight for survival against a deadly epidemic. This article argues that international economic institutions such as the IMF and World Bank can offer the case-by-case analysis and support necessary to navigate such a difficult conflict of priorities. First, the article outlines the importance, both on a domestic and international level, of women’s inheritance rights, showing that the rights are not adequately protected under domestic jurisdiction. Second, the article demonstrates that the international community has a right and duty to enforce women’s inheritance rights. Finally, the article proposes that international economic institutions take a leadership role in enforcing the rights, primarily through conditions on aid lending.”
For full article, see Volume 28:4
Image source: Arenamontanus, http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/
CHARLES R. CALLEROS
THESIS
“Most courts and commentators have rejected the relatively simple and mechanical choice-of-law rules of the first Restatement of Conflict of Laws. Those rules sometimes resulted in the application of the law of a state or nation with no interest in the dispute and with little relationship to the issues, the parties, or the parties’ expectations about applicable law. The effort to find suitable replacement rules, however, has resulted in a patchwork of approaches within the United States, many of them typified by the flexible and multi-faceted approach of the second Restatement of Conflict of Laws1 or the homeward-looking test of the Uniform Commercial Code.2 The needs of parties to commercial contracts would be better served with simple, certain, predictable, and globally uniform choice-of-law rules. The choice-of-law rules set forth in the European Community’s Rome I3 Regulation offer these benefits in international contract disputes, along with special protections for consumers and employees and with adequate “escape hatches” to vindicate public policies of overriding importance in the international sense. Other countries, including the United States, should consider adopting the equivalent of Rome I for international contracts to achieve maximum certainty, predictability, and uniformity in choice of law in the absence of contractual choice.”
For full article, see Volume 28:4
Image Source: Nicole Wells