In an early post on this blog, Joel cited some articles by and about Judge Richard Posner, and noted that while Posner accepts that there are limits, he refuses to accept a clear line between interpretation and policy-making.  This line is, if not the definition of the "rule

Hold your breath.The EU is putting trade policy to public task: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/04/business/trade.php . Is this like putting liberalization to public referendum? If the outcome is negative, could it justify trade restrictions? If it is positive, could it justify openness? One

" Interactions between Investment and Non-Investment Obligations in International Investment Law " by my Hebrew University Colleague Prof. Moshe Hirsch is a systematized analysis of investment tribunals' treatment - perhaps the first - of the overlap between investment law and other areas of international obligation. It's available at

This paper came across on SSRN, and looks interesting, both in terms of the subject it describes, and the method by which it evaluates the benefits of this convention. "Innovation in International Law and Global Finance: Estimating the Financial Impact of the Cape Town Convention" Author: ANTHONY SAUNDERS

Unlike the rest of the world, I have made it a practice not to read leaked WTO panel reports.  I do this out of respect for the integrity of the WTO dispute settlement system.  Therefore, I did not have occasion to consider tackling the new Biotech report until it was

It appears that the EC has decided not to appeal the panel ruling in Biotech.  Why?  And what are the jurisprudential and practical implications of this decision?

In the ongoing retreaded tires dispute, part of Brazil's defense is that it should be able to restrict imports of used tires because of the environmental damage they cause.  But the problem seems to be a more general one, applying to other forms of waste products: Devising measures

Following up on Joel's post that the "Russians are Coming," Evraz Group SA, a steel maker partly owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, agreed to buy Oregon Steel Mills Inc. for $2.3 billion, the biggest-ever purchase in the U.S. by a Russian company. http:

Over at Opinio Juris, Roger Alford has an interesting post on the precautionary principle.  Among other things, he notes: Of course, there are mild and strong versions of the precautionary principle. As Cass Sunstein has noted in this article, a mild version rather benignly posits that "a lack of