0000000000140014
AUTHOR
Isabel Trujillo
Human Rights and Changes to the International Legal System. Philosophical Reflections on the (Difficult) Coexistence of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law
Chapter 6 analyses the relationship between International human rights law (IHRL) and international humanitarian law (IHL). IHL represents the new version of a part of the old ius gentium, in particular its ius in bello. Nonetheless, IHL excludes ius ad bellum, formerly linked to ius in bello in ius gentium, in continuity with the Just War Theory. The current IHL is characterized by neutrality, impartiality, and humanity in protecting victims. The practice of IHRL – not the abstract doctrine of natural rights – aims to protect human beings in different contexts and against different forms of vulnerability. In this last sense, IHL could be seen as a part of the former in the case of vulnerab…
L'oblio del diritto alla pace nella pratica dei diritti
The aim of this article is to contextualize the right to peace in the practice of human rights and to examine its evolution in the last sixty years. Three phases can be identified. At the very beginning, peace was the propelling force of establishing the practice of protecting human rights, but very soon other compelling needs replaced it, mainly the right of Peoples to self-determination during the age of decolonization. The last development of the relationships between rights and peace regards the exaltation of human rights as just causes for wars. This paradoxical development can be considered a defective shift for human rights, not only from the point of view of the very meaning of the …
Centennial olive trees as a reservoir of genetic diversity
†Background and Aims Genetic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of the oldest trees could be a powerful tool both for germplasm collection and for understanding the earliest origins of clonally propagated fruit crops. The olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is a suitable model to study the origin of cultivars due to its long lifespan, resulting in the existence of both centennial and millennial trees across the Mediterranean Basin. †Methods The genetic identity and diversity as well as the phylogenetic relationships among the oldest wild and cultivated olives of southern Spain were evaluated by analysing simple sequence repeat markers. Samples from both the canopy and the roots of each tr…
Coercion and Non-State Law
Abstract The aim of this paper is to introduce some elements of a research project in legal philosophy. Its goal is to identify some crucial topics for the definition of law. In the first part (§§ 1 & 2) I analyse some methodological difficulties of the dominant research on the definition of law. In the second part (§§ 3 & 4) I refer to some current development of law and sketch some characteristics of the object to be defined, corresponding to what can be called the process of law differentiation. In the last part of this contribute I try to sum up some elements to be taken in account in the definition of a differentiated law. Key words: Differentiation of law, Legal pluralism, Jus…
Estado de derecho y práctica de los derechos humanos
This article is divided in two parts. In the first one it faces the concepts of (and relationship between) the rule of law and human rights. In the second one, this topic will be analyzed from the point of view of the evolution of law, what implies also the evolution of the rule of law. In the first part, the aim is to show that rule of law and human rights are two different but complementary practices, both able to realize different aspects of justice, both necessary for the success of law. The rule of law regards the way of decision making for coordination; human rights aim for the protection of fundamental interests of human beings. In different points these two practices interact, but i…
La ética profesional y la autonomía de lo jurídico en el derecho del futuro
The aim of this article is to examine how and why – in the current legal context, and because of some relevant changes that are ripening – the legal practice is supported by a solid professional ethics of the legal roles, summed up in the respect of the rule of law. Other elements that in the past seemed crucial to explain the legal order nowadays are inadequate and a legal theory without considering the role of lawyers is incomplete. After indicating the changes in the background, it will follow an analysis of the legal professional ethics and the reasons of its specificity. Against what is supported by the recent literature about eliminativism in legal philosophy, the perspective of profe…
TRIBUNALES SUPERIORES ESPAÑOLES FRENTE A LA LIBERTAD IDEOLÓGICA. EL EJERCICIO DEL PODER EN LOS ESTADOS CONSTITUCIONALES PLURALISTAS
The chapter examines some controversial decisions by the Spanish Tribunal Supremo on freedom of thought in a question related to education, in which freedom of conscience was advanced. The topics are the role of the objection of conscience in a constitutional state, the problem of the different levels of determination of constitutional principles and the room for legitimate pluralism.
Introduction: Why (Ever) Define Law and How to Do It
This contribution addresses some problems regarding the two core aspects of Schauer’s proposal discussed by his critics in this book: the method of defining law (his proposal of anti-essentialism) and the definition of law based on the ubiquity of coercion. In this introduction, both aspects will be discussed pushing to the very limit the idea of law as a differentiated phenomenon. This means that legal theory has to take non-state law seriously. But main legal theories in the Nineteenth century are biased by the domestic assumption: law is produced by the nation-state as a coherent and rational system identified by its pedigree and supported by the state’s raw force. According to this idea…
The legal balance between liberty and equality
The paper explores the specific legal balance between liberty and equality, distinguishing it from political theories and constitutional settings, where they are often considered in opposition. In order to find the specific legal balance between liberty and equality, and after identifying some of their relevant meanings for the purpose, it becomes necessary to focus on the rule of law, and to examine the relationship between liberty and equality in its different versions. Once the core meaning of the rule of law in terms of liberty and equality is enucleated, it is possible to consider extending it to the international field.