U.S. Foreign Relations Law Posts

Does Congress Care That the President Controls International Law?

We have a new draft paper, forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review, on how extensively the president has come to control international law for the United States, and what, if anything, should be done about it. As we explain at the end of this post, one of the central questions implicated by the paper is: Does Congress care?

Internationalizing the New Conflict of Laws Restatement

Some sixteen years ago, on the occasion of one of many symposia on the possibility of a new Restatement of Conflict of Laws to replace the much derided Second Restatement, Mathias Reimann suggested that a new Restatement should focus on the requirements of what he called “the international age.” Conflict of laws is increasingly international, he pointed out.

Children Crossing Borders: Internationalizing the Restatement of the Conflict of Laws

Treating internal U.S. conflicts and international conflicts law the same, without distinguishing between them, has always puzzled non-U.S. lawyers and scholars. And nowhere is the question of whether domestic and international conflicts should be treated the same more pressing than in the current work of The American Law Institute.

Jurisdiction in the Fourth Restatement of Foreign Relations Law

The essay describes the Fourth Restatement’s division of jurisdiction into the three categories of jurisdiction to prescribe, jurisdiction to adjudicate, and jurisdiction to enforce. It covers the principal developments in each category since publication of the Third Restatement in 1987, including the revival of the presumption against extraterritoriality.

U.S. Foreign Relations Law, Sovereign Immunity Approved

At ALI’s Annual Meeting on Monday, May 22, members voted to approve the drafts for the Jurisdiction, Sovereign Immunity, and Treaties portions of the Foreign Relations Law Restatement. This completes these three portions of the project.

U.S. Foreign Relations Law, Jurisdiction Approved

At ALI’s Annual Meeting on Monday, May 22, members voted to approve the Tentative Draft No. 3 of the Jurisdiction portion of the Foreign Relations Law Restatement. New content reviewed and approved at this meeting includes the following in the Jurisdiction draft.