Continue reading »]]> The following 2012 Wisconsin International Law Journal Symposium presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the individual presentation names.

• Professor David Freestone,“Climate Change & Renewable Energy: Opportunities & Challenges for International Law.”

• Attorney Deborah Erwin, ““State Energy Policy Trends.”

• Professor Steven Weissman,“Effective Renewable Energy Policy — Leave It to the States?” (Due to the file size, this presentation has been uploaded in sections: Section 1, Section 2, Section 3, and Section 4).

• Professor Melissa Powers,“Small is (Still) Beautiful:  Designing U.S. Energy Policies to Increase Localized Renewable Energy Generation.” (Due to the file size, this presentation has been uploaded in sections: Section 1,  Section 2, Section 3, and Section 4).

• Attorney Shalanda Baker, ““Does Free and Prior Informed Consent Matter?”

• Professor Tseming Yang, “An Overview of Renewable Energy Policy in China.”

• Professor David Trubek & Paulina Calfucoy Alarcón,“Producing Sustainable Biofuels for the European Market: Brazil and the EU’s Renewable Energy Standards.”

Continue reading »]]> 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.

Continue reading »]]> The Wisconsin International Law Journal would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the 2012 Wisconsin International Law Journal Symposium.

• University of Wisconsin Law School
• Sonnet and Chris Edmonds
• Sonnet Schmidt Edmonds Prize in Energy Law
• ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
• Wisconsin State Bar’s Energy & Telecommunications Section
• Clean Wisconsin
• University of Wisconsin Lectures Committee
• University of Wisconsin Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
• UW Law School’s Global Legal Studies Center
• UW Law School’s Institute for Legal Studies
• UW Law School’s East Asian Legal Studies Center
• Wisconsin International Law Society
• Wisconsin Law School Environmental Law Society
• The European Union Center of Excellence
• Wisconsin State Bar Section on International Law
• The University of Wisconsin Center for German & European Studies
• Lexis Nexis

Image: Madison, Wisconsin. State Capitol.  Photograph provided by Nicole Wells

Continue reading »]]> EXAMINING THE GRONINGEN PROTOCOL: COMPARING  THE TREATMENT OF TERMINALLY-ILL INFANTS IN THE  NETHERLANDS WITH TREATMENT GIVEN IN THE UNITED STATES AND ENGLAND

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/

Continue reading »]]> 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/

Continue reading »]]> 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

Continue reading »]]> 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/

Continue reading »]]> TOWARD HARMONIZATION AND CERTAINTY IN CHOICE-  OF-LAW RULES FOR INTERNATIONAL CONTRACTS:  SHOULD THE U.S. ADOPT THE EQUIVALENT OF ROME I?

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