international law

Foreign direct investment: an overview

The International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) defines foreign direct investment (“FDI”) as a “cross-border investment” in which an investor that is “resident in one economy [has] control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy.” IMF, Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual 100 (6th ed. 2009).

Definition

A clause frequently included in bilateral investment treaties ("BITs") which provides that a host state shall treat foreign and domestic enterprises equally.

See also

• Most favored nation

• World Trade Organization: Trade without Discrimination

Definition

The principle that one sovereign nation voluntarily adopts or enforces the laws of another sovereign nation out of deference, mutuality, and respect.

Unlike enforcement of judgments between states in the United States (which is governed by the Comity Clause of the Constitution), there is no Constitutional obligation on a U.S. court to recognize or enforce a foreign judgment. Neither is comity of nations embodied in international law.

Definition

The legal principle that political entities (such as states, nations, or courts from different jurisdictions) will mutually recognize each other’s legislative, executive, and judicial acts. The underlying notion is that different jurisdictions will reciprocate each other’s judgments out of deference, mutuality, and respect.

In Constitutional law, the Comity Clause refers to Article IV, § 2, Clause 2 of the U.S.

Definition

A clause frequently included in bilateral investment treaties ("BITs") which provides that a host state shall treat all of its trading partners equally. Under such a clause, if the host state lowers a tariff for one trading partner, it must lower it for all trading partners.

Definition

1)  A harmonious agreement, especially between countries. 

2)  An offer to substitute a different obligation for one that was previously owed, plus the acceptance of that offer.  Either of the parties involved can propose an accord.  If the newly substituted obligation is actually performed, the performance is called a satisfaction.  See Accord and satisfaction.

International trade law: an overview

International trade is “the exchange of goods [or] services” “between nations.” Black’s Law Dictionary 285, 1529 (8th ed. 2004).

International Law: an Overview

Traditionally, international law consisted of rules and principles governing the relations and dealings of nations with each other, though recently, the scope of international law has been redefined to include relations between states and individuals, and relations between international organizations.  Public_international_law, concerns itself only with questions of rights between several nations or nations and the citizens or subjects of other nations. In contrast, Private_international_law deals with controversies between private persons, natural or juridical, arising out of situations having significant relationship to more than one nation. In recent years the line between public and private international law have became increasingly uncertain. Issues of private international law may also implicate issues of public international law, and many matters of private international law have substantial significance for the international community of nations.

overview

The Geneva Conventions are a series of treaties on the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war (POWs) and soldiers who are otherwise rendered hors de combat, or incapable of fighting. The first Convention was initiated by the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded (which became the International Committee for the Red Cross and Red Crescent). This convention produced a treaty designed to protect wounded and sick soldiers during wartime. The Swiss Government agreed to hold the Conventions in Geneva, and a few years later, a similar agreement to protect shipwrecked soldiers was produced. In 1949, after World War II, two new Conventions were added to the original two, and all four were ratified by a number of countries. The 1949 versions of the Conventions, along with two additional Protocols, are in force today.

Immigration law: an overview

Federal immigration law determines whether a person is an alien, the rights, duties, and obligations associated with being an alien in the United States, and how aliens gain residence or citizenship within the United States. It also provides the means by which certain aliens can become legally naturalized citizens with full rights of citizenship.