Print
Article
25.1
Corporate Creditors Protection Rights Worldwide: Towards a Convergence of Strategies
Samuel Biresaw, Mia Rahim, and Michael Adams
LLB with Honors (Distn.), LLM in Business Law (Distn.), LLM in International Commercial and Business Law (UEA, UK), First-class Honors, PhD Candidate in Law (University of New England, School of Law); Associate Professor of Law (University of New England, School of Law); Professor of Law (University of New England, School of Law).

We want to thank the CJIL Editorial Team.

Companies rely on creditors for funding to operate, making it crucial to have legislative and procedural frameworks that protect the interests of these creditors. This article engages in a comparative analysis of corporate creditors’ protection rights on a global scale, emphasizing the Ethiopian case. The study contends that while countries may adopt distinct approaches to safeguard corporate creditors, and variations may exist in the strictness of rules across different strategies, nations have a universal commitment to implement strategies to ensure adequate protection for creditors’ interests.

Print
Article
25.1
Navigating State Interventions: The Pivotal Role of PTAs in Modern Trade Conflicts
Andrew Mitchell
Professor; Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Law, Monash University; PhD (Cantab); LLM (Harv); Grad Dip Intl L, LLB (Hons), BCom (Hons) (Melb); Email: <andrew.mitchell@monash.edu>; orcid.org/0000-0001-8399-8563.

I want to thank Eduardo Díaz Gavito, Gary Horlick, Joseph Wira Koesnaidi, James Munro and Weihuan Zhou for helpful comments on an earlier draft. 

In international trade, State interventions often challenge the efficacy of traditional anti-dumping and countervailing measures under the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. This article examines the limitations of the Anti-Dumping Agreement and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement) in addressing State interventions, such as export taxes, export bans on raw materials, and non-commercial activities by State-owned enterprises.

Print
Article
25.1
The New Gender Perspective: The Dawn of Intersectional Autonomy in Women's Rights
Rosa Celorio
Burnett Family Associate Dean and Distinguished Professorial Lecturer for International and Comparative Law and Policy, George Washington University Law School. Former Senior Human Rights Attorney, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

I am grateful to Vitalina Buchatska, Elizabeth Fuller, and Laura Okeyo for their invaluable research support. My deep gratitude to the participants of the faculty workshop at George Washington University Law School. Special thanks to the wonderful editors of the Chicago Journal of International Law. The views expressed are solely those of the author.

International human rights jurisprudence has increasingly mandated state action which integrates a gender perspective, taking into consideration the discriminatory norms, harmful social practices, stereotypes, and violence that women have and still suffer. A range of supranational bodies have issued case decisions promoting the adoption of gender-sensitive legislation, policies, programs, and the establishment of administration of justice systems well-trained and equipped to address women’s rights violations. This article discusses how the conception of this gender perspective has evolved over time and is now centered on the pursuit of autonomy for women.

Print
Article
25.1
Subsidiarity and the Best Interests of the Child
Lindsay Saligman
B.A. Columbia University, J.D. Candidate at the University of Chicago.

I would like to thank the board of CJIL and Professor Adam Chilton for their mentorship on this Comment. I am additionally grateful to my peers and Professors James Silk and Muna Ndulo for their feedback on this Comment as a part of the Salzburg Cutler Fellowship Program.

In the context of adoption, subsidiarity is the principle that children should remain with their birth families whenever possible, and whenever not possible, that in-country placements should take precedence over intercountry adoption. This Comment looks at the specific meaning of subsidiarity in the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. It highlights that the convention does not require intercountry adoption be a last resort, but rather that “due consideration” be given to placements “within the State of origin.” It reveals a broad trend of these countries implementing stricter and stricter conceptions of subsidiarity over time and concludes that presently all three countries go far beyond what the convention requires, potentially in ways that undermine the best interests of the child.

Print
Comment
25.1
Kids, No Phones at the Dinner Table: Analyzing the People’s Republic of China’s Proposed “Minor Mode” Regulation and an International Right to the Internet
Tucker Craven
B.A. 2021, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; J.D. Candidate 2025, The University of Chicago Law School.

I would like to thank Professor Tom Ginsburg as well as the editorial board and staffers of The Chicago Journal of International Law for their contributions in shaping this piece.

In 2023, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) released a draft regulation restricting minors’ screen time and internet use, which imposes a significant burden not only on children, but also on technology and internet companies that wish to continue operating in the country. However, the PRC’s proposed minor mode regulation is neither an extreme departure from the types of restrictions neighboring countries in East Asia have imposed on children’s screen time and internet use, nor its own previous regulations in this area. As such, it is unlikely to have violated a norm of customary international law against restricting children’s internet use.

Print
Comment
25.1
Investor State Dispute Settlement and Net Zero Initiatives: Case Study of Germany’s Coal Exit Auctions
Raam Tambe
BA, Dartmouth College; JD/MBA Candidate, The University of Chicago Law School and The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

I would like to thank the editors of the Chicago Journal of International Law for their assistance with this comment.

This Comment provides a comprehensive legal analysis of the potential investor-state disputes arising from Germany’s groundbreaking Coal Exit Act, which utilizes reverse auctions to phase out coal-fired power plants. It investigates potential breaches of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), delves into Germany’s possible defenses to a prospective claim, and concludes by proposing a more efficient buyout transaction structure that leverages carbon markets to enable comparable emissions reductions at a lower marginal cost of abatement and reduce the state’s exposure to ISDS claims.

Print
Article
25.1
Theorizing Constitutional Change in East Asia
John Gillespie
Professor (research), Department of Business Law, Monash University.

How do constitutions change in response to social problems? This Article explores why constitutions in three East Asian countries, namely Japan, Indonesia, and China, changed rapidly during times of social crisis and then incrementally evolved during periods of stability. It looks for explanations in historical institutionalism, a novel theory developed to understand the factors that give rise to the creation, persistence, and change of political institutions, such as constitutions.

Print
Comment
24.2
Cocoa Crisis: Cartelizing West African Cocoa in Response to the Persistent Use of Child Labor
Matthew Trevisani

I would like to thank both the editing staff of the Chicago Journal of International Law and my faculty advisor Sarah Konsky for their support and assistance throughout the writing of this Comment. 

The lack of resources that afflicts Ghanian and Ivorian enforcement of child labor prohibitions has allowed for the continued use of child labor in the cocoa industry. This Comment proposes a novel solution to establish an intergovernmental organization, or commodity cartel, between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to better regulate and coordinate cocoa export and growth, modeled after existing commodity cartels.

Print
Article
24.2
International Administrative Tribunals and Cross-Fertilization: Evidence of a Nascent Common Jurisprudence?
Jason Morgan-Foster
Legal Officer/Secretary of the Court, International Court of Justice. The views expressed are those of the author and in no way bind the International Court of Justice.

This Article concerns International Administrative Tribunals, the dispute-resolution bodies between staff members and the administration of international organizations. It argues that, contrary to popular belief, the some twenty-five different IATs currently in existence are no longer functioning individually but rather citing to each other with increasing frequency and, in so doing, developing a common jurisprudence of international administrative law.

Print
Article
24.2
Cooperative Federalism and Patent Legislation: A Study Comparing China and the United States
Taorui Guan
Research Assistant Professor, University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law; S.J.D. University of Virginia School of Law.

The author would like to thank Margo A. Bagley, Eric Ip, Xin He, Ying Xia, Ying Zhu, Sida Liu, Hui Jing, Han Zhu, Hualing Fu, Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, Jyh-An Lee, and participants of the Chinese Law Workshop of University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law and of the 2023 Intellectual Property Scholars Conference for their comments, suggestion, and feedback. All errors and omissions remain mine alone.

How should patent legislative power be allocated between central and local governments in order to construct a patent system conducive to promoting innovation? A comparative analysis of the models of the U.S. and China sheds light on this question. Compared to the current centralized patent legislation model in the U.S., China’s semi-decentralized patent legislation model has the advantage of making statutory law more adaptable to local specificities.

Print
Article
24.2
One Click from Conflict: Some Legal Considerations Related to Technology Companies Providing Digital Services in Situations of Armed Conflict
Jonathan Horowitz
Legal Adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

I would like to thank Samit D’Cunha, Pierrick Devidal, Laurent Gisel, Duncan Hollis, Victoria Luckenbaugh, Kubo Mačák, Ralph Mamiya, Laura Walker McDonald, Matt Pollard, Tilman Rodenhäuser, Fasya Addina Teixeira, Mauro Vignati, Lakmini Seneviratne, Austin Shangraw, Mark Silverman, and Claude Voillat for their comments on earlier drafts. This article was written in a personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ICRC.

Private technology companies are increasingly providing their digital goods and services to clients living and working in situations of armed conflict. This paper’s premise is that as tech companies increase their involvement in armed conflict, the legal implications they face under international humanitarian law—a body of law that regulates who and what is protected from the hostilities of armed conflict—also rise.

Print
Article
24.2
Enforceability of Choice of Court Clauses in Transnational Agreements: the 2005 Hague Convention, Its Implementation in Contracting States, and the U.S. Approach
M. Veronica Saladino
Visiting Assistant Professor, Gonzaga University School of Law.

Thank you to Professor David Stewart, whose expertise and mentorship have been instrumental in shaping the quality and depth of this work. Professor Stewart’s dedication to advancing knowledge in the field of Private International Law has been an inspiration. Thank you also to the editors of the Chicago Journal of International Law for their excellent comments and edits.

Parties involved in transnational business naturally expose themselves to peculiar international risks, including the possibility of having a foreign court resolve their future disputes. To reduce uncertainty, transnational contracts often contain a so-called “choice of court” (or “choice of forum”) clause to dictate where future disputes should be resolved. This Article analyzes recent judicial decisions involving their enforceability.