An aguila dorada beats its wings and lifts off a twisting sapodilla tree branch overlooking the ruins of the once-mighty jungle kingdom of Palenque. It rises above undulating hills and past the majestic strongholds of the western hemisphere's greatest ancient civilization. It soars past stonework cut to perfection without modern tools, glides past 1,000-year-old solar calendars whose ancient timekeeping rivals the modern atomic clock. The eagle heads west and passes cerulean rivers cutting through emerald jungles plunging into the fissure of the Sumidero Canyon. Thermals lift the eagle to the high, dusty plain of Monte Alban and it turns north. It approaches the eternal spring of Cuenavaca and then over the frenetic megalopolis of Cuidad de Mexico. It glides above the imposing Teatitulaican and then drifts through the pastoral Bajío. The world's two biggest oceans flank the sides of her long north/south country. The air grows warmer as she traverses the spine of the Sierra Madre. The mountains flow down and dissolve into verdant jungles which, in turn, edge right up narrow beaches with crashing blue waves. The Sierra Madre then gives way to wild, tawny country, filled again with canyons, mesas and then ends at the Rio Bravo. The national symbol of Mexico is traced over a rich tapestry of topography, cultures, economies, history, and mixture of peoples. Reflected in this diversity is Mexico's stunning contribution to world jurisprudence: the Amparo.

Nigeria faces a perennial problem of inadequate electricity generation and supply. Electricity generation from fossil fuel sources has not succeeded in meeting the electricity needs of the country. And attempts to diversify electricity generation sources to include renewable energy sources have not been successful. Although there is a policy direction supporting the inclusion of renewable energy sources for electricity generation, the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 (ESPR) has not succeeded in achieving the country's sustainable electricity drive. Nigeria needs to vigorously pursue its renewable electricity objectives through a law dedicated to encouraging uptake of renewable energy. This article examines the law and the policies underpinning Nigeria's sustainable electricity drive through a critique of the EPSR Act and the energy policy in light of Nigeria's renewable electricity objectives.

Today is October 1, 2020. In this moment, over 34 million bodies—that we know of—have hosted a deadly virus and more than one million of those bodies have succumbed to the strain of their unwelcome, malignant guest. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)—genetically related to, yet different from the coronavirus responsible for the 2003 SARS outbreak—is the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The virus first materialized in Wuhan, Hubei province, China as early as November 17, 2019, and quickly escalated from a small cluster of cases of what appeared to be pneumonia to a global pandemic by March 11, 2020.

On January 29, 2020, an Israeli air strike proved fatal, taking the lives of an entire family, a twelve-year-old child the youngest among them. The airstrike was carried out as part of Israel's military operation, Operation Protective Edge, in the Gaza Strip, and despite the deaths of numerous civilians, the State of Israel alleged that the strike was committed in pursuance of official duties. Ismail Zeyada, whose mother, brothers, sister-in-law, and nephew all perished in the airstrike, initiated a civil suit in the Netherlands against the two former Israeli military officials involved. In a devastating blow to the victims and their families, the District Court of the Hague dismissed the civil proceeding brought against the former Israeli officers. The Court cited the doctrine of functional immunity as the basis for this decision. The functional immunity, or immunity ratione materiae, of these officials bars the prosecution of them in any state besides Israel, absent a waiver by the Israeli government. As such, the victims of the airstrike, an act that might amount to a war crime, is not one for which victims are being offered redress. Although domestic prosecution of the case before Israeli courts is theoretically possible and is not precluded by the District Court of the Hague's dismissal, domestic prosecution is neither likely to occur nor likely to result in fair redress for the victims of this atrocity. This is not the justice these victims deserve. And it is not the justice that international law assures them.

This article studies the social and technological barriers that prevent documented and undocumented female migrants in Thailand's Chiang Mai Province from improving their literacy skills and using social media such as Facebook. In July 2019, our team conducted nine focus-group discussions (FGD) with 38 participants using a picture sorting activity. Using graphics in the FGDs helped us to better engage with migrant populations with low literacy skills. Demographic information of each FGD participant was also collected. Findings show that Thailand's current laws for migrant workers are the barrier that have negative impacts on literacy improvement and social media usage among both documented and undocumented ethnic Shan female migrants from Myanmar. As Thailand's law only permits migrants to work in labor-intensive jobs with minimum wage and no benefits, they do not have time and energy to spend on learning the Thai language and other skills. This reduces the migrants’ abilities to interact with Facebook. Additionally, undocumented migrants could not buy a SIM card with the cellular data plan to use their Facebook account directly from their cellphones because Thailand's laws require all network providers to officially register all SIM card purchases and only sell to documented persons.

The research footprint of Information Technology (IT) in a legal system has not grown with the same pace as it has penetrated other domains. More specifically, in developing countries such as India, where the digitalization revolution is underway, the growth of legal informatics (LI) is still premature and very limited traces of IT can be observed to assist and elevate the legal system, which still functions very much in an old school way. The faster growth of population and the diminishing proportion of judicial executives and the deteriorating law and order situation along with declining human rights demand the urgent evolution of LI to grow at a very rapid pace to attain its maturity. However, the human harassments are pretty prevailing across the nation, but its intensity increases manifold when it comes to the law-enforcement agencies tasked with responsible policing, more specifically, the state police, which often operates with compromised work ethics. The situation becomes more appalling with a vulnerable population, especially women. As a result, such a population often does not muster enough courage to go to a police station to file their complaints despite acute mental and emotional pain. This is to avoid further trauma by police harassment and ergo a large number of cases go unnoticed. An underprivileged rape victim, who tries to file a report by going to a police station is a classic example of such a situation; where she is not only denied, but also gets harassed by insensitive police official(s) at the station; consequently, a good number of such victims do not go and their cases are not reported.

In this research work, we have developed a computational framework, called eLegalls, an LI-enabled innovation, as an effective solution to the above stated issues. The eLegalls system facilitates users to file their reports to police in their geographic jurisdiction, through its efficient and secure interface without any in-person visit. The eLegalls will help the vulnerable population to avoid unwanted denial and impending harassment by the police official(s) at the police station. The system is also equipped with some secure and pertinent features for the lawyers or attorneys to efficiently advocate in assigned cases. The eLegalls is envisioned to eventually be a successful legal tech, effectively serving the community.

Legal scholarship in Australia is under-researched. Without detailed empirical investigation, it is difficult to understand the characteristics of the scholarship in terms of topics and method/approach. Legal scholarship, like all scholarship, claims to make a contribution to knowledge. To understand and evaluate the scholarship, this article adopts an empirical method. Using a case study approach and citation counts, the article provides an analysis of all the articles published by a leading law review over ten years: 2008–2018. The article identifies the types and methods of legal scholarship in the journal and examines a sample of its most highly cited articles. The study then evaluates the impact of this scholarship with recommendations for the future.

Censorship normally refers to the Government's actions to ban different forms of freedom of speech (i.e. suppression of words or images). However, cries of censorship were heard as a result of the decision taken by television broadcast networks to interrupt the transmission of a Presidential press conference in November 2020. Some interpreted this act as censorship against public authorities. Others thought it was a legal (and necessary) measure to combat fake news. This article addresses whether the decision to limit a televised broadcast by President Trump was censorship or, alternatively, whether it was a valid, innovative measure to fight fake news. To tackle these issues, it is necessary that some of the related duties and rights television broadcast stations have before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), governmental authority in charge of these matters, must be revised.

There are three types of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)—nuclear, chemical, and biological. Of the three WMDs, biological weapons are arguably the most dangerous as they are the most indiscriminate, the least controllable, and the least expensive to create. The seminal treaty for establishing legal constraints on this vital issue is the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).2 Article I of the BWC specifically outlaws State acquisition of “microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes . . .”3

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties4 (VCLT) provides the general rule for how to interpret treaty language: “a treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose.”5 Problematically, by reading the BWC in light of this general rule, because the BWC only prohibits acquisitions that have “no justification,” the ordinary meaning of the text creates a wide loophole through which States may argue the acquisition of a potentially prohibited material has some justification, however minor, and therefore is not prohibited.

The Comment first reviews the background of biological weapons and regulation of their use. In this section, the Comment also describes the VCLT requirements for treaty interpretation and the evolutive approach to interpretation. Next, the Comment conducts a global analysis of State practice in regards to biosafety and biosecurity regulatory measures. It then analyzes the BWC using the various treaty interpretation methods—including addressing how subsequent state practice has affected this interpretation, and how an evolutive approach to interpretation changes the meaning of Article I of the BWC. Lastly, in recognition of this evolution in the law, this Comment recommends how to update enforcement mechanisms to accurately reflect the new state of the law.