Tag Archives: international law
“East West Street” by Philippe Sands
As a lawyer and budding historian, I found Philippe Sands‘ idea of telling the story of international criminal law through the biographies of Hersch Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin interesting. But the book East West Street is overloaded with the irrelevant … Continue reading
Does the Federal Republic of Germany even exist? A discussion with a “Reichsbürger”.
Many years ago, someone walked into my law office, showed me a notice about some traffic fine and explained, confusing our respective roles in the attorney-client relationship, why he definitely wouldn’t need to pay the fine. According to him, the … Continue reading
Visiting the UK is as cheap as never before
Sometimes, particularly when I put on my lawyer hat, I am inclined to think that maybe, just maybe, that whole Brexit thing wasn’t properly thought through from the outset. But big words like “sovereignty” won over practical concerns, and thus … Continue reading
The Sad Future of Catalonia
In some conflicts, you don’t need to pick a side. Because sometimes, both sides are wrong. Between the Catalan and the Spanish governments, it’s impossible to keep tabs on who has committed more grave mistakes. Even for supporters of self-determination, … Continue reading
Law School in Bolivia
Everything is explained in my article on Bolivia and the sea.
The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
This is something for my fellow international public law nerds. Q: When does the Vienna Convention of Consular Relations make front-page headlines? A: When there is a petty argument between Bolivia and Chile about the flag in front of the … Continue reading
The difference between Peru and Bolivia, illustrated in random messages
Whenever I move to a new country, I receive e-mails from people whom I don’t know, welcoming me to their country, offering help and giving advice. That’s nice. As I am about to move back from Peru to Bolivia, I realized … Continue reading
Scotland, a Lawyer’s Dream
If you know someone who is eligible to vote in this week’s referendum in Scotland, please tell them to vote “yes” for an independent Scotland. There are probably good arguments for an independent Scotland (as there may be against it), but … Continue reading
There are more important things than territorial integrity
Democracy and self-determination are great. But nobody should believe that a referendum hastily pulled out of a hat, with limited choices and without a proper prior public debate about the question posed at the polls is a good example of direct … Continue reading
“The Case of the Pope” by Geoffrey Robertson is a flawed case.
This week I attended a lecture at LSE by Geoffrey Robertson who was introducing his new book “The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse”, conveniently published just days before the Pope’s visit to Britain. Mr Robertson … Continue reading
