The US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 Monday in Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States that a right of way granted under the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875 is an easement which can be terminated by the railroad’s abandonment, leaving the underlying land unburdened. The majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts [...]

Amnesty International (AI) on Monday accused Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on Palestinian and Syrian civilians in Yarmouk, on the outskirts of Damascus. The report, entitled “Squeezing the Life Out of Yarmouk: War Crimes Against Besieged Civilians,” discusses the deaths of nearly 200 people since the tightening [...]

The Supreme Court of the Maldives on Sunday dismissed the country’s four top election commissioners, giving each a six-month jail sentence and three-year suspension for “disobeying orders.” The commission members were tried after the passage of new rules that allowed the Supreme Court to initiate the proceedings. The rules enabled the court to essentially act [...]

The US Supreme Court granted certiorari Monday in Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi v. IndyMac MBS, Inc. to rule on the statute of limitations in class action suits. In American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah (1974) the court held that “the commencement of a class action suspends the applicable statute of limitations as [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Stoyan Panov of the University of Birmingham Law School argues that there is a possible pathway for ICC involvement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict …

On Sunday the Oman Court of First Instance sentenced the former executive of Galfar Engineering and Contracting, Muhammad Ali, to 15 years in prison and a fine of 1.7 million Omani rials for conviction in five cases of graft. A similar sentence along with a smaller fine was given to Ali’s deputy for being found [...]

On Sunday North Korea held its first parliamentary elections under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, successor and son of the late Kim Jong-Il. The elections are held at five-year intervals and are considered more a formality than an actual democratic process, as constituents vote “yes” or “no” for the single, party-approved candidate for their district. [...]

An administrative judge for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) , Patrick Geraghty dismissed a fine brought by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) against a drone operator Thursday. The ruling effectively strikes down the FAA’s bans on the use of commercial drones put in place in 2007. Geraghty found that the ban was not enforceable [...]

China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC) , on Sunday announced measures that would subject less crimes to capital punishment if passed. Various government departments are reportedly beginning to study the topic by bringing in legal scholars on the subject. Capital punishment currently applies to 55 different offenses in China. Human rights groups say that [...]

On Friday, a judge for the United Stated Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that a challenge to Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) could continue. The plaintiffs in the suit, consisting of 33 lawmakers, argue that TABOR is unconstitutional because it limits state spending and bars lawmakers from raising taxes without a [...]