Recently, a division of legal scholarship, Critical Race Theory, began examining the law from a new perspective: creative literature. Within the legal community, CRT legal storytelling has received mixed reception; yet literary scholars have largely ignored this genre. This thesis aims to fill the research gap surrounding legal storytelling, examining the stories not only as works of legal scholarship, but as works of literature as well. Through application of literary theory and close-reading techniques, I argue for the value of literary works to legal scholarship, particularly civil rights. My research concerns four findings. First, literature broadens the scope of legal scholarship to examine how the law operates and our relationship to the law. Second, fiction allows for critique of the law and legal scholarship. Third, counterstories provide alternative strategies for the civil rights community. Finally, Derrick Bell’s science fiction contains elements of fantasy well-suited to judicial critique of racial inequality.

Current technology and the planning of ambitious programs for the next decade tend to transform the stakes inherent in space activities. In effect, the launching of space stations and platforms pave the way towards new industrial prospects previously unheard of to date. Thus, the objective of this thesis is to present an outline of these new prospects and to undertake a legal analysis motivating the transition from basic research to commercial applications. / Consequently, the preliminary chapter will describe the general characteristics of those future trends towards commercial and industrial space activities. Legal provisions of Public International Space law are examined in the first chapter, notably those which are indicative of the difficulties encountered in this process. / A second chapter will conduct the study of the questions regarding Registration, Jurisdiction and Choice of Law which hopefully lead to a successful regulation of Outer Space activities. The US/International Space Station project will provide an example which will underline the deficiencies and ambiguities of the applicable law. / Finally, the development of a legal framework favouring the commercial viability of these future commercial production processes will be produced in the third chapter.

This thesis examines the doctrine of forum non conveniens as follows. First, the preliminary factors for foreign aircraft accident plaintiffs to consider, such as the diminishing deterrents to aircraft accident litigation and requirements for bringing a suit to a U.S. forum, are set forth. Second, the development of the doctrine of forum non conveniens is traced from its origins to the landmark case of Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235 (1981) to present. Finally, after examining various model solutions to the problems raised by the doctrine of forum non conveniens, a new solution is proposed.

During the last two decades international terrorism has made international civil aviation one of its prime targets. While the aviation security conventions cover a variety of acts of terrorism against civil air transport they failed to adequately deal with terrorism at international airports. / In direct response to the terrorist attacks that took place at Rome and Vienna international airports in December 1985, the international civil aviation community adopted under ICAO auspices the Montreal Protocol of 1988, a new legal instrument aimed at the control of terrorism at airports serving international civil aviation. / The purpose of this thesis is to critically examine the Protocol in order to provide an answer to the question whether or not this legal instrument can be considered as an effective tool for the achievement of its main goal, the suppression of terrorism at international airports.

The thrust of this research lies in Chapter II in which the study using, inter alia, travaux preparatoires attempts to give an analytical and critical review and interpretation of the provisions of the Convention on the Marking of Explosives for the purpose of Detection of 1991. Analysing the provisions of the Convention, the study tries to preserve and reflect the atmosphere that characterised the deliberations of the International Air Law Conference of 1991, an exercise that is thought to be helpful when one is coupling the theoretical analysis with the practical problems of implementation. For this reason, the study is not restricted to theoretical questions of treaty law. The author benefited from personal participation, as an observer, in the International Conference on Air Law held at Montreal from 14 February to 1 March 1991. / The first chapter presents a full picture of the legal measures for safeguarding aviation security. This chapter endeavours to review the interpretation and implementation of the aviation security multilateral instruments presently in force.

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This thesis deals with the problems of conflict of labour laws in international air transport, in the context of U.S. judicial practice in relation to the constitutional law-based labour statutes, employment accident statutes and labour management relation laws. / The first chapter provides an overview of the methodology adopted in conflict of labour laws under the U.S. jurisprudence, mainly focusing on the balancing-of-interests technique crystallised through precedents. The compatibility problem involved in dealing with conflicts within international airline industry is also briefly discussed. / A detailed review of different categories of labour statutes in later chapters reveals specific conflict of laws problems that could not be solved through any single rule, especially when in international air transport setting. The divergence between domestic labour statutes and Treaties of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation or Air Transport Agreements also create subtle circumstance. All these point to the conflict of labour laws in international air transport as a relatively unexplored sphere, and the desirability of international unification of certain principles. / The implications for the rather unique case of Taiwan are explored in chapter 5.

Drug control has important connotations in the field of civil aviation. In the first place, substance consumption by aviation personnel may have disastrous effects given the level of alertness required in the performance of their duties. Furthermore, a significant portion of the illicit traffic in drugs is performed by air. Hence, the International Civil Aviation Organization has been called upon to participate actively in the international campaign against traffic in drugs. This paper explores ICAO's response to the international call for action. / The first chapter presents ICAO within the context of the international system of drug control and provides background information on the drug control activity performed by the international community during the present century. / The second chapter reviews in detail ICAO's role and activity, which have touched three main subject areas: air transport aspects, technical aspects and legal aspects of the prevention and suppression of drug abuse and illicit traffic in international civil aviation. / The conclusions contain the author's personal assessment of the issues reviewed and make reference to the future challenges of the international community in the subject.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the international regime governing aircraft accident investigation while focusing on its various shortcomings and weaknesses. / Weakened by the international legal nature of the Chicago Convention and by limitations voluntarily inflicted by its authors, Article 26 of the Convention and Annex 13 are unable to offer aircraft accident investigation a sufficient basis for a reliable and unified legal regime. / Consequently, the questions pertaining to accident investigation are regulated by the various domestic laws, which leads to unavoidable conflicts of interests and tends to ruin the effort of co-operation. / Although envisaged under a bilateral or regional form, a global approach to safety of civil aviation should be favoured to solve these conflicts and strengthen the current legal regime. Such international co-operation seems to stand better chances of achievement within the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

In August 2003, the United States resumed the sharing of real-time intelligence with Colombia, information that will be used by Colombia to shoot down aircraft engaged in drug trafficking. A similar program with Peru may restart soon. Such operations are part of the Air Bridge Denial Program (ABDP), a program that has been operating since the early 1990s designed to cut off the flow of drug out of the Andean Region of South America. / This thesis examines the history of the ABDP and the norms applicable to shootdown operations under the UN Charter, customary international law, the Chicago Convention, and human rights law to determine the specific limitations of the prohibition. International law generally prohibits the shootdown of international civil aircraft, and the nature of the shootdown operations can also have human rights implications. / This thesis then examines the circumstances under which international law would excuse an otherwise unlawful shootdown of a civil aircraft. Self-defense, the law of armed conflict and distress are ruled out as likely candidates for use in the legal justification of the shootdown of drug aircraft. / The best defense for the conduct of ABDP shootdowns is the defense of necessity as it exists under customary international law. The potential harm to the essential interests of States threatened by drug trafficking combined with the unique nature of the drug trade in the Andean Region is the ideal situation for the invocation of necessity and provides the most sound international legal justification for the conduct of shootdown operations in this context.