Elizabeth Hicks : "The decision of the Court of Appeal shows that the Courts are now more likely to agree that a pre-marital contract should be upheld — even when one party has not obtained legal advice and where there has not been full and frank disclosure of their assets. This is a real turnaround [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday called for restraint from all sides and a respect for due process in the ethnic unrest in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region , in which the Chinese government says 156 were killed and more than 800 wounded on Sunday. Expressing her condolences to the victims of [...]

A federal appeals court on Monday ordered an en banc rehearing of a patent case that challenges new US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) rules . The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will reexamine a previous ruling that upheld three of the rules but rejected a fourth after all four were struck [...]

The prosecution warned the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) Monday that the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor at The Hague could take four years to complete due to the extensive list of defense witnesses. Taylor is charged with 11 counts of crimes against humanity, violations of the Geneva Conventions , and other [...]

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf should be subject to public sanctions, including a 30-year ban on holding public office, for her role in supporting the country's 1997-2003 civil wars, according to a final report released Monday by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) . Sirleaf testified before the TRC that she provided financial [...]

Pilgrim v. Luther, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, July 6, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on First Amendment rights.

UK Secretary of State for Defence Bob Ainsworth announced Monday that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was prepared to establish an independent inquiry into the deaths of 20 Iraqis at a British base outside of Basra in 2004. In a letter read to the High Court of Justice , Ainsworth admitted that the MOD had [...]

The US-led Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF) announced Monday that it had begun construction of a training facility for Iraqi corrections officers (ICO) in anticipation of transferring control of MNF detention facilities to Iraqi forces. Military police commander Lt. Col. Bradley Graul said that the creation of the Tactical Operations Center at Camp Cropper "will not only [...]

US President Barack Obama said Monday that a renewed commitment to the rule of law should be part of a "reset" in US relations with Russia during an official visit to Moscow. In an interview with Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta , Obama applauded the "courageous initiative" of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev "to strengthen the [...]

Turkish military officials on Sunday sent President Abdullah Gul a letter urging him not to approve a law that would allow prosecution of military personnel in civilian courts during peacetime. Members of the General Staff said that the law runs counter to Article 145 of the Turkish Constitution, which outlines the responsibilities of the military [...]