From the exhibit, "Mexico Celebrates its Bicentennial: 1810-2010", curated by Teresa Miguel and Michael Widener, and on display in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.  All works are part of the Yale Law Library collection unless otherwise indicated.

Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), first proclaimed as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968, celebrates the Hispanic, Latino, and Chicano cultures of the United States while recognizing the independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua on September 15, Mexico on September 16, and Chile on September 18.

September 16, 2010, marked the bicentennial of the beginning of Mexican independence from Spain:

About eight o’clock in the morning on September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo exhorted a crowd of some 600 men who had come for Mass at the hamlet of Dolores where he was the curate to join him in rebellion; most did. This event, known as the Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores), began the eleven years war for Mexican independence.

-- Robert L. Scheina, Latin America’s Wars (2003).

That same autumn, a group of progressive-minded Spaniards and leaders from the Spanish colonies in the Americas began work on a document focusing on the concepts of liberty and equality which eventually became Spain’s first constitution. The Constitution of Cadiz was written during the Peninsular Wars when Spain was wresting away control of its homeland from Napoleon. Several leaders from the Spanish colonies including Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador, participated in the Cadiz debates. Naturally, they returned to the Americas and influenced the writing of their own constitutions.

Mexico’s Constitution of 1824, the first after achieving independence from Spain, was heavily influenced by the Constitution of Cadiz. Miguel Ramos Arizpe (1775-1843), a Mexican priest and politician, was present in Cadiz and was an active participant in the creation of the Mexican Constitution of 1824, a precursor to Mexico’s current Constitution of 1917. Ramos Arzipe later served as Minister of Justice to four presidents including Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

(Photograph courtesy of Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas)

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), a Catholic priest and illustrious military general, is considered the Padre de la Patria, or Founding Father, and initiator of its indepen-dence. It was he who organized and led the first group of insurgents in September 1810 in what would be a lengthy but successful fight for independence. In December 1810, Padre Hidalgo, acting as head of the newly established alternative Mexican government in Guadalajara, issued a decree abolishing slavery. He was captured by Spanish forces in January 1811 and rapidly jailed, excommunicated, found guilty of treason, and executed before a firing squad.

The volume below is a tribute to famous Mexican places and people who contributed to the legacy, evolution, and culture of law and justice in Mexico.

El Abogado Mexicano: Historia e Imagen (México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, 1992).

The next work, written the same year as Mexico’s first constitution, is a report by the judges of the Mining Tribunal to the Supreme Executive Power of Mexico on the re-establishment of mining regulations, procedure, protection, promotion, and commerce in Mexico. The Supreme Executive Power had expressly requested recommendations from the Tribunal, which advocated comercio libre or free market in this field.

Memoria acerca de los Medios que se Estiman Justos para el Fomento y Pronto Restablecimiento de la Minería presentada por el Tribunal del mismo cuerpo al Supremo Poder Ejecutivo (Mexico 1824).

Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876) was just 16 years old when he joined the colonial Spanish army to fight against the insurgency of Miguel Hidalgo and the rebel forces. Santa Anna rose quickly through the ranks of the Spanish army, but in 1821, he declared his loyalty to Agustín de Iturbide, a general in the Mexican Army who led the decisive assault on Mexico City to secure Mexico’s independence from Spain. Santa Anna’s life was long and complex. He served as Mexico’s leader eleven times, the first in 1833. He is best remembered as the commander who, in 1836, stormed the Alamo in the Texas Revolution.

In 1845, during his fifth presidency, Santa Anna was arrested by opposition forces and tried for treason. This document is Santa Anna’s plea from San Carlos de Perote prison to the Court to release him and allow him, against his true desire, to leave Mexico. His wish was granted and he was exiled to Cuba shortly thereafter.

Antonio López de Santa Anna, Exposición que el Exmo. Sr. D. Antonio López de Santa-Anna dirige desde la Fortaleza de San Cárlos de Perote á los Exmos. Señores Secretarios de la Cámara de Diputados para que se sirvan dar cuenta en la sesión del Gran Jurado, señalada para el día 24 de febrero del corriente año (Mexico, 1845).

After the Spanish colonies won independence, the law of each newly formed country evolved individually. This early 19th-century lawyer’s manual explains the state of the law in Peru only a few years after its independence (1821). Originally written by law professor Juan Eugenio de Ochoa and printed in Paris in 1827, this second edition was “corrected and improved” by an unnamed “society of friends” and reprinted in Peru in 1830.

Juan Eugenio de Ochoa, Manual del Abogado Americano (Arequipa, Peru, 1830).

Vicente Morales y Duárez (1757-1812) was sent to Cadiz in 1810 to participate along with other representatives from the Spanish colonies in the Cortes de Cadiz. They were the Diputados de Indias, the Deputies from the Americas, and were granted full rights and freedoms to participate in the assembly alongside their counterparts from Spain and the Philippines. Morales y Duárez, who was greatly respected by his colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic, was speci-fically instrumental in the establishment of the Cortes, which was charged with creating a body of laws and ultimately issued the Constitution of Cadiz. He died suddenly in Cadiz of apoplexy shortly after the promul-gation of the Constitution.  This volume is a tribute to Morales y Duárez and his short but successful and influential career which helped shape Peruvian constitutional law.

Luis Alayza y Paz Soldán, La Constitución de Cádiz de 1812: El Egregio Limeño Morales y Duárez (Lima, 1946).

Special thanks to Maria Gutierrez, PhD '15, and Jaime Olaiz Gonzalez, JSD '14, for their expert assistance and suggestions.

We have just created two new research guides for those of you interested in foreign and international law research; one on International Arbitration  and another on International Investment Law.  You will find tabs for treatises, journals, awards and decisions, treaties, institutions, and current awareness.  As always, our guides are works-in-progress so please feel free to speak with any of the librarians about suggestions or questions you may have.

 Students who are considering paper topics might want to consult the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law and the Electronic Information System for International Law to gain some familiarity with subjects and resources on a wide variety of topics.

For those of you interested in arbitration, our new Global Arbitration Review database provides not only the electronic version of the journal, but also news and trends regarding arbitration.  You can also go directly to the Permanent Court of Arbitration site to examine recent decisions as well as documents for cases that are currently pending before the court.  The PCA only identifies cases on their site when parties have agreed, but will include all sorts of documents, including transcripts of the hearings and webcasts when available.  There are many other ways to find out what is currently happening in arbitration, so take a look at our research guide.

Other research guides can be found on the law library website.

                                                                                                                                                                 ---- Ryan Harrington

The Yale Law Library has obtained a trial subscription for the next month or so to the Trade Law Guide.  This database is a new WTO research product.  It is the only database on WTO law that enables the user to "note up" WTO law.  "Noting up" refers to examining the judicial treatment of legislation or a case and is a crucial step in legal research.

 This trial subscription is available to all member of the Yale community when connected to the Yale network (IP access).

 The Law Library appreciates any feedback regarding this database.  Please direct your comment to teresa.miguel@yale.edu.

 Enjoy!

Beginning today, Tuesday, September 14, 2010, and for the next three days, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will be transmitting live hearings from Tribunal on their website: http://www.itlos.org/procedings/video/live_en.shtml.  The subject of the hearings is a Request for an Advisory Opinion on the responsibilities and obligations of States sponsoring persons and entities with respect to activities in the International Seabed Area.

The times of the hearings are local time Germany, which is six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.  Thus, today's hearing that begins at 3pm in Hamburg, begins at 9am in New Haven.

Below please find ITLOS' Press Release: 

INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE LAW OF THE SEA

TRIBUNAL INTERNATIONAL DU DROIT DE LA MER

Press Release

RESPONSIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS OF STATES SPONSORING PERSONS AND ENTITIES WITH RESPECT TO ACTIVITIES IN THE

INTERNATIONAL SEABED AREA

(REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION

SUBMITTED TO THE SEABED DISPUTES CHAMBER)

PUBLIC HEARING TO BE HELD FROM 14 SEPTEMBER 2010

LIVE WEBCAST OF THE HEARINGS ON THE TRIBUNAL’S WEBSITE

            Hamburg, 6 September 2010. The public hearings of the Seabed Disputes Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea regarding the Request for an Advisory Opinion on the responsibilities and obligations of States sponsoring persons and entities with respect to activities in the International Seabed Area will open on 14 September 2010 at 3 p.m. Judge Tullio Treves, President of the Chamber, will preside. The public hearings will be transmitted live on the Tribunal’s website.

By Order of 18 May 2010, the President of the Seabed Disputes Chamber invited States Parties to the Convention, the International Seabed Authority and those organizations invited as intergovernmental organizations to participate as observers in the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority to indicate their intention to make oral statements at the hearing no later than 3 September 2010.

Nine States and three intergovernmental organizations have expressed their intention to participate in the hearings. These are: Federal Republic of Germany, Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Argentine Republic, Republic of Chile, Republic of Fiji Islands, United Mexican States,Republic of Nauru, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Russian Federation, International Seabed Authority, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, International Union for Conservation of Nature.

            The schedule for the hearings adopted by the President of the Chamber is as follows:

Tuesday, 14 September 2010

3 p.m.:  International Seabed Authority

Wednesday, 15 September 2010

10 a.m. – 1 p.m.:     Germany 

Netherlands

Argentina

Chile

Fiji

Mexico          

(to be continued from 3 p.m. if necessary)

Thursday, 16 September 2010

10 a.m. – 1p.m.:      Nauru

United Kingdom

Russian Federation

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

International Union for Conservation of Nature

(to be continued from 3 p.m. if necessary)

The verbatim records of the hearings will be published daily on the website of the Tribunal at http://www.itlos.org/cgi-bin/cases/case_detail.pl?id=17&lang=en. The hearings can be viewed live at: http://www.itlos.org/procedings/video/live_en.shtml.

History of the proceedings

On 6 May 2010, the Council of the International Seabed Authority adopted Decision ISBA/16/C/13 during the Authority’s Sixteenth Session, in which, in accordance with article 191 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it decided to request the Seabed Disputes Chamber to render an advisory opinion on the following questions:

 1.    What are the legal responsibilities and obligations of States Parties to the Convention with respect to the sponsorship of activities in the Area in accordance with the Convention, in particular Part XI, and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982?

2.     What is the extent of liability of a State Party for any failure to comply with the provisions of the Convention, in particular Part XI, and the 1994 Agreement, by an entity whom it has sponsored under Article 153, paragraph 2 (b), of the Convention?

3.     What are the necessary and appropriate measures that a sponsoring State must take in order to fulfil its responsibility under the Convention, in particular Article 139 and Annex III, and the 1994 Agreement?

The Request for an Advisory Opinion was transmitted by letter dated 11 May 2010, from the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, Mr Nii Odunton, addressed to the President of the Seabed Disputes Chamber, Judge Tullio Treves. The Request was filed with the Registry on 14 May 2010. Subsequently, the Authority submitted a dossier to the Chamber containing documents, decisions and other material of the Authority as well as international instruments and other material likely to throw light upon the three legal questions on which the advisory opinion of the Seabed Disputes Chamber is requested. The dossier is available on the Tribunal’s website.

In accordance with article 133 of the Rules of the Tribunal, the Registrar gave notice of the Request for an advisory opinion to all States Parties to the Convention and to those organizations invited as intergovernmental organizations to participate as observers in the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority.

By Order of 18 May 2010, the President of the Seabed Disputes Chamber decided that the International Seabed Authority and those organizations referred to above are considered likely to be able to furnish information on the questions submitted to the Seabed Disputes Chamber and invited them and the States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to present written statements on the questions contained in the Request. The Order of 28 July 2010 fixed 19 August 2010 as the time-limit for the presentation of written statements.

Twelve States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and three intergovernmental organizations filed written statements within the time-limit as follows (in order of receipt):

Interoceanmetal Joint Organization; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Republic of Nauru; Republic of Korea; Romania; Kingdom of the Netherlands; Russian Federation; United Mexican States; International Union for Conservation of Nature; Federal Republic of Germany; People’s Republic of China; Australia; Republic of Chile; Republic of the Philippines; International Seabed Authority.

            An additional statement was received from the United Nations Environmental Programme after the expiry of the time-limit.

            A written statement was also submitted to the Chamber by Stichting Greenpeace Council (Greenpeace International) and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

            The written statements are available on the Tribunal’s website.

Webcast

The hearings will be transmitted live on the website of the Tribunal at http://www.itlos.org/procedings/video/live_en.shtml. Short interludes in transmission may occur due to congestion on the Tribunal’s site. A recorded webcast of the hearings will be available after each sitting under Webcast Archives at: http://www.itlos.org/procedings/video/start_en.shtml.

The press releases of the Tribunal, documents and other information are available on the Tribunal’s websites: http://www.itlos.org and http://www.tidm.org and from the Registry of the Tribunal. Please contact Ms Julia Ritter at: Am Internationalen Seegerichtshof 1, 22609 Hamburg, Germany,

Tel.: +49 (40) 35607-227; Fax: +49 (40) 35607-245;

E-mail: press@itlos.org

The newly released 2010 World Trade Report focuses on trade in natural resources, such as fuels, forestry, mining and fisheries. The entire report, which can be downloaded from the official WTO website, examines the characteristics of trade in natural resources and the policy choices available to governments.  It also discusses how trade in the sector fits within the legal framework of the WTO and other international agreements that regulate trade in natural resources.

To search for general treatises on WTO in the law library collection, search in Morris under subject headings “World Trade Organization”, “Foreign Trade Regulations”, and "International Trade".  Electronic resources subscribed by the law library include WorldTradeLaw.net and our BNA subscription, which provides access to International Trade Daily, International Trade Reporter, and WTO Reporter.

A recent arrival in the Foreign and International Law Collection is Religion, Race, Rights: Landmarks in the History of Modern Anglo-American Law   (Oxford/Portland,OR: Hart, 2010). 

Written by  Eve Darian Smith, Professor of Global & International Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, author of Bridging Divides: The Channel Tunnel and English Legal Identity in the New Europe   (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), the book draws upon eight landmark legal decisions, beginning with Martin Luther and the trial of Charles I, to demonstrate that our concept of justice evolves over time and is connected to economic power, social values, and moral sensibilities that are not universal. By doing this, the author underscores the cultural specificity of western legal concepts and showsthat they cannot be used in all cultural contexts, and that legal rights are shaped by prevailing notions about race and religion. 

The book is noteworthy for its many illustrations, and note that it is not classed with books on religion, race, or rights, but with books on the history and theory of the common law (K588 .D37 2010, UES)

                                                                                                                                     ----Daniel Wade