Taking Rights Seriously.

Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and U.S. Foreign Policy@@@Rights

When interpreting the Constitution, judges and commentators often invoke the “original intent of the framers” in support of their positions. Many claim that such an interpretive strategy is not only currently desirable, but indeed was the expectation of the Constitution’s drafters and early interpreters. In this Article, Professor Powell examines the historical validity of the claim that the framers of the Constitution expected future interpreters to seek the meaning of the document in the framers’ intent. He first examines the various cultural traditions that influenced legal interpretation at the time of the Constitution’s birth. Turning to the history of the Constitution’s framing, ratification, and early interpretation, Professor Powell argues that although early constitutional discourse did contain references to “original intention” and the “intent of the framers,” the meaning of such terms was markedly different from their current usage. He concludes that modern resort to the “intent of the framers” can gain no support from the assertion that such was the framers’ expectation, for the framers themselves did not believe such an interpretive strategy to be appropriate.

The Original Understanding of Original Intent

Universal Jurisdiction for International Crimes: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Practice, 42 Va. J. Int’l. L. 81 (2002) (Another appeared as Universal Jurisdiction in Historical Perspective, in Universal Jurisdiction (Steven Macedo, ed., 2003).

As an Advocate of the Supreme Court, John Dugard observes the South African legal order daily in operation. In this book he provides a thorough description and probing analysis of the workings of the system. He places South Africa's legal order in a comparative context, examining the climate of legal opinion, crucial judicial decisions, and their significance in relation to contemporary thought and practice in England, America, and elsewhere. He also considers South Africa's laws in the light of its history, politics, and culture. Originally published in 1978. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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Human Rights and the South African Legal Order

Israel's half-a-century long rule over the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and some of its surrounding legal issues, have been the subject of extensive academic literature. Yet, to date, there has been no comprehensive, theoretically-informed, and empirically-based academic study of the role of various legal mechanisms, norms, and concepts in shaping, legitimizing, and responding to the Israeli control regime. This book seeks to fill this gap, while shedding new light on the subject. Through the format of an A-Z legal lexicon, it critically reflects on, challenges, and redefines the language, knowledge, and practices surrounding the Israeli control regime. Taken together, the entries illuminate the relation between global and local forces - legal, political, and cultural - in Israel and Palestine. The study of the terms involved provides insights that are relevant to other situations elsewhere in the world, particularly with regard to belligerent occupation, the law's role in relation to state violence, and justice.

Michael Sfard

Papers

The ABC of the OPT: A Legal Lexicon of the Israeli Control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory