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Globalization of Legal Research A Changing World

Globalization of Legal Research A Changing World

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Page 1: Globalization of Legal Research A Changing World

Globalization of Legal Research

A Changing World

Page 2: Globalization of Legal Research A Changing World

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Presented By:

Blane K. DessyDirector, Library StaffUnited States Department of JusticeWashington, DC1*(202)514-21331*(202)514-3546 (fax)[email protected]

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Department of Justice Libraries serve thousands of DOJ patrons every day, especially the Solicitor General, the Office of Legal Counsel, and the six litigating divisions:

• Antitrust

• Civil

• Civil Rights

• Criminal

• Environment and Natural Resources

• Tax

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Further, we serve Justice attorneys and paralegals in all fifty states and territories.

Specialized libraries also serve the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Explosives (ATF), and others.

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“I am looking for files related to a criminal case involving a South African company that was settled between 1999 and 2001.”

“I need to locate a report written after World War Two regarding Antitrust issues in Japan.”

“I need information on proposals to operate state lotteries, especially those involving European nations.”

Research Questions Received by the United States Department of

Justice Libraries

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“I need information on 5 companies and 10 individuals in China.”

“I need an economic summary of South Korea.”

“I need United Nations treaties and resolutions regarding the Law of the Sea.”

Research Questions (Continued)

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What is International Law?

“Rules and principles of general application dealing with conduct of states and of international organizations and with their relations inter se, as well as with some of their relations with persons, whether natural or juridical.”

-Restatement (Third) by the American Law Institute of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States

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What Topics Constitute International Law?*

Traditional

• Position of states• State succession• State responsibility• Peace and security

Contemporary

• Laws of occupation, post-conflict rebuilding, peacemaking and peacekeeping

• Economy and development including antitrust and banking

• Terrorism and immigration

*Malanczuk, Peter. Akehurst’s Modern Introduction to International Law. Seventh Revised Edition. New York: Routledge, 1997.

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Traditional

• Laws of war• Laws of treaties• Laws of the sea• Laws of international

water courses• Conduct of diplomatic

relations

Contemporary

• Human rights and refugee rights

• Environment, intellectual property

• Deep-sea resources, air law, and outer space activities

• Nuclear energy, labor rights, communications

• Non-governmental organizations

International Law Topics (continued)

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Law and Globalization*International law is now a multi-disciplinary

endeavor.

– A new conceptual framework must be created

• At the intersection of comparative law, conflict of laws, civil procedure, cyberlaw, and cultural analysis of law.

• Must include international relations theorists, anthropologists, sociologists, critical geographers, and cultural studies scholars.

*Berman, Paul Schiff, “From International Law to Law and Globalization,” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law (v. 43, pp. 485-556).

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Jurisdictional Rules and the Problem of Physical Location

• Traditional understanding of jurisdiction is changing as courts try to develop jurisdictional models that go beyond the nation-state system.

• An electronically-connected world can exist without relationship to physical location.

• Increasing globalization and the rise of the Internet have posed challenges to the concept of jurisdiction.

• Hybrid jurisdictional or choice-of-law models are new ways of delimiting the scope of jurisdiction.

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“Jurispersuasion” and the Articulation of Norms

• Traditional sovereignty implies a coercive enforcement power, but jurisdiction in this age means articulation and persuasion as well as enforcement.

• Legal jurisdiction becomes rhetorical persuasion.

• Enforcement is no longer the only factor in determining power.

• Jurispersuasion permits multiple affiliations, multiple jurisdictional assertions, and multiple norms to create new norms.

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Plural Sources of Legal and Quasi-Legal Authority

• Law and globalization includes a variety of non-state communities that assert claims to legal authority.

• Various international and transnational norms can have binding effects despite a lack of enforcement power.

• In some circumstances, international groups or private standard setting bodies may have far more leverage with transnational corporations than individual state governments.

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Cosmopolitanism and Law

• People have multiple affiliations (self, family, nationality, ethnic, linguistic, historical, professional, gender, etc.).

• Cultural hybridization/flexible citizenship.

• Middle ground between strict territorialism and expansive universalism.

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The Sociological and Psychological Process of Legal

Consciousness• Compliance has long been a prominent issue in

international law.

• “Transnational legal processes” — norms are accepted into a legal system beyond rules and policies of government.

• Norm internalization takes place outside of the official organs of government.

• Gradual cultural transformations.

• Attitudes, aspirations, and lay understandings of justice that circulate in everyday life.

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The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations

• NGO’s are an important normative force on the international scene and can work for or against globalization.

• Global standards of corporate behavior.

• NGO’s as norm entrepreneurs who use international networks to place items on national agendas.

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The Importance of Institutions

• Bureaucratic institutions implement formal law.

• Large international bureaucracies can influence smaller localized bureaucracies.

• Issues for sociological and legal inquiry include how national bureaucracies are influenced by international, subnational, and transnational bureaucracies.

• Bureaucratic institutions.

• Issues for sociological and legal inquiry.

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The Privatization of State Functions

• Nations are delegating authority to private actors who exist in a quasi-public, quasi-private environment.

• Accountability has historically been placed on nation states.

• Increasingly complicated in an international context.

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The Multidirectional Interaction of Local, National, and International

Norms• Local, national, and international norms

are constantly shifting and influencing each other.

• Research is needed to gain a better understanding of the way legal norms are based among these groups and how this transforms the norms.

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The Problematics of Globalization

• Multiple definitions of globalization.

• Globalization may not be a new phenomenon, but it is generally considered to be so.

• Globalization is often criticized as hegemonic imposition, but it can also be counter-hegemonic.

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Conclusion

• Changing theoretical framework in law and globalization.

• Cross-disciplinary nature of law and other disciplines.

• Construction of law is always contested and open for debate.

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Implications for Attorneys

• Creating new law codes that could be adopted internationally.

• Launching global campaigns in respective areas.

• Representing countries before other countries and non-governmental organizations.

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Implications for Librarians

• Improving access to national law codes and international legal information.

• Compiling new sources of information from many disciplines to further understanding of globalization and law.

• Assisting attorneys by rapidly preparing new types of information products in specialized areas.

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International Law Metapages*• ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law

(http://www.asil.org/resource/Home.htm). Covers following topics: UN, human rights, lists, treaties, international environmental law, international criminal law, and private international law. An excellent starting point for international research.

• Cornell Legal Information Institute (http://www.law.cornell.edu/): Links to International and Foreign sources of law and information on the web.

• D'Angelo Law Library (http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/LibInfo/Law/): Good international links, and index of law related E-journals, discussion lists.

• Hieros Gamos (http://www.hg.org): An international practice-oriented site; links include dictionaries and bar review information. *HLS Library: ILS Web Sites: Metapages. July 1, 2005. Harvard Law School. March 15, 2006. <http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/research/guides/international/web_resources/metapages.php>