This project seeks to develop ways of holding governments accountable for their failure to satisfy the requirements of conflict management, political stability, economic growth, and social welfare. Since offending governments tend to resist external sources of protection and assistance for an oppressed population by pleading national sovereignty, and major international actors are less likely to act unless driven by strategic or ideological reasons, the project aims at “expounding on the normative principles of responsible sovereignty, international mechanisms and strategies for their enforcement, and empirical evidence about the performance of governments as measured by the stipulates of sovereignty.” Asserting “human dignity as an overarching goal to which all peoples and societies aspire and are committed, whatever the variations of their cultural perspectives on the institutional details of the concept” the project perceives this concept as “operationally or functionally translated into a quest for recognition and respect for human beings, both as individuals and as members of identifiable groups. Human dignity demands, in the minimum, equal treatment with full rights and duties of citizenship.”

U.S. law librarians are formal sources of information to information-seekers in the United States. U.S. law librarians are approachable and visible assets of law libraries within institutions. They also act as gatekeepers of legal information, preventing information corruption and spearheading research into new frontiers of information.

The search of legal precedence or stare decisis has always distinguished the lawyer who is in professional practice. The development of the internet has led to a greater dimension in this research and to an empirical approach to understanding the application of law. The academic lawyer has always needed access to the newest legislation and case law and the online search engines are of increasing relevance to accessing the virtual library. This is necessary to assimilate because of the impact of law and technology which is not just of relevance to find texts but also the process of artificial intelligence that is of utility in forms of inquiry. It includes portals that can be sourced online, Lexis and Westlaw which have available software packages that are available for lawyers. The issue is if the technology is moving at excessive speed or is the momentum of digital technology sustainable within the profession. This article argues that legal software provides the means for artificial intelligence in an increasingly specialist field and it is necessary for professionals to stay equipped with knowledge updates on computer terminals in order to enhance their research or lose out in the information supply chain.

It is an honor to speak at the opening of this 38th Annual Course of the IALL. It was not difficult to accept the invitation to do so, not least because it was extended by Ms. Petal Kinder. Members of the IALL will know Petal because of her close involvement with the IALL as a Board member and as President; Petal was known to me as the Librarian of the High Court of Australia, a position she held when I joined the Court. She was highly valued and respected in that role, and popular amongst judges and staff. We were saddened to hear of her passing earlier this year.

International investment law, particularly the global backlash against investment treaties, has evolved recently. This article aims to clarify how international investment law evolved over history, from the early Arab traders in the 7th century to the Ottoman Empire, to understand its hidden aims. It investigates the practice of signing investment treaties, which appear first during the Fatimid Caliphate2 and Mamluk Sultanate3 periods. It then explains when control over foreign investment started to diminish during the Ottoman Empire period.4 Further, it explains the links between the USA Friendship, Commerce and Navigation treaties (FCNs), and current investment treaties, explaining the impact of colonization and imperialism on drafting treaty provisions. Within this historical context, this article illustrates the need to understand the roots of international investment law in order to urge Arab countries to terminate or renegotiate current bilateral investment treaties (BITs) as a number of developing and developed countries have done.

The law of parliamentary privilege in New South Wales is the sum of certain immunities, rights, and powers enjoyed by the individual Houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, together with their members and committees, as constituent parts of the Legislature. The law is complex. It is liberally interspersed with uncertainty and ambiguity. It is also distinctly different from the law of privilege in other Australian jurisdictions, including the Commonwealth, and also from overseas jurisdictions. It is singular in the degree to which it relies on the common law, without recourse to statutory expression or to the historical privileges of the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, in some respects, the Parliament of New South Wales has been remarkably successful through the courts, and through its own procedures, in asserting the powers and rights of members under the banner of parliamentary privilege, notably in relation to orders for the production of State papers.

The on-going global Coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) pandemic, has affected a countless number of people around the world, businesses, and the global economies alike and is certainly nothing short of a ticking time bomb. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic after noting that COVID-19 has increased 13-fold in countries other than China. A few state governments in India have also termed COVID-19 as an epidemic. In testing times like these, India, currently amidst an unprecedented nationwide lock-down, which has subsequently been extended until May 3, 2020 and has resulted in a temporary or partial shutdown of most business(es)-in India—whether they be small, medium or big business houses, with the exception of only a list of services notified by the relevant governmental authorities which have been deemed to be and are categorized as ‘essential services’ and allowing functioning of select additional activities (such as allowing manufacturing activities in certain sectors to take place), which have also only been permitted to start from April 20, 2020.

This article focuses on the trends of law journals published by law schools in India. The article comprises a short overview of the free access to law movement around the world, and it is an attempt to showcase the growing open access to law movement in India. The article visualizes results of the responses received over the publications of legal scholarship in journals by 23 Indian law schools. The article appends recommendations for greater visibility of AW journals published by law schools in India.