The Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) of 1789 grants jurisdiction to US Federal Courts over “any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” An interesting development has been the recent efforts to use ATCA to sue transnational corporations for violations of international law
These are international covenants that have been signed and reaffirmed by most countries around the globe. The fundamental inalienable rights laid out in these documents are often not followed or held up by public officials. Links to PDFs: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Summary of the International Covenant on Economic, Social
The laws of war on land are more relevant to everyday life in the world than one may think; they derive from international law. International law is essentially natural law, applied to nations, with the addition of unnatural ‘positive law’ appendices. These appendices are called treaties and conventions. The Hague Convention and The Geneva Convention are the two principal
