0809 Fall, International Newsletter

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t h e G e o rg e Wa s h i n g t o n U n i v e r s i t y L aw S c h o o l

international and comparative law

perspectives N e w s

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p e r s p e c t i v e s

a n d

c u r r e n t

i s s u e s

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respecting the law in

f a ll

international law

Looking back, there was rarely, if ever, a period of such rapid global change as the 20th century. From its beginning, the telegraph and telephone, followed by radio, aviation, and television, made it possible to communicate and travel rapidly across borders. Much of the resulting international regulation we take for granted today.

On April 4, 2008, Professor Dinah Shelton delivered the inaugural lecture as the first holder of the Law School’s Manatt/Ahn Chair of International Law. The chair was established by Charles T. Manatt (J.D. ’62), former U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and Jane Weatherly (J.D. ’99), who made a generous gift from the estate of her late mother, Jin-Hyun Weatherly Ahn (M.B.A. ’81), a former trustee of the University. We are pleased to share excerpts from Shelton’s presentation.

Professor Dinah L. Shelton and Ambassador Charles T. Manatt

We are accustomed to being able to pick up the telephone and directly call almost any place in the world or fly from one country to another with, as the pilots always remind us, “a choice of many airlines” often registered in different countries. The international legal system has necessarily changed when presented with each challenge or opportunity. The

first decades of the United Nations system and regional organizations like the Council of Europe, Organization of American States, and European Union were largely devoted to elaborating and giving effect to fundamental new principles in the aftermath of World War II. Among these, selfdetermination and human rights became, in the words of John continued on page 2

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perspectives

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elcome to GW Law’s International and Comparative Law Program’s Perspectives newsletter, designed to introduce you to and inform you about our community of leaders. In this first issue we cover matters of substance as reflected in the excerpt from Professor Dinah Shelton’s inaugural Manatt/Ahn lecture, which focused on the obligation to follow international law. We share what is new at the Law School, introducing our new colleague, Professor Francesca Bignami, a specialist in the law of the European Union, and

Assoc. Dean Susan Karamanian continued on page 3


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