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This is fantastic content, but I should caution that in general it is not a good idea to measure international justice , using US law as your standard. The US
by IG_Semmelweiss 6y ago
This is fantastic content, but I should caution that in general it is not a good idea to measure international justice , using US law as your standard.
The US is just simply centuries ahead of everyone else.
Take for example Ex Parte. The concept of ex-parte does not exist in Brazil, or in the vast majority of the world.
Case in point: Ecuador. Lawyer Danziger took on monster Texaco/Chevron and got a huge 10B judgement against them for environmental destruction. Now he's sitting in a US jail for doing something perfectly legal in the tiny andean nation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_Agrio_oil_field https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_Agrio_oil_field
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_R._Donziger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_R._Donziger
- TwoBit 6y ago"A U.S. district court later ruled in support of Chevron's allegations that the report had been ghostwritten by Mr. Donziger and his associates and an environmental consulting firm hired by the plaintiffs in addition to participating in the bribing of the deciding judge." Donziger looks like a crook according to your provided reference.
- IG_Semmelweiss 6y agoSure he does. But there is 2 sides to every coin. Hundreds of people living on less than $1 per day died from painful cancer with no access to treatment - in their mid 20's - because of the oil spilled by the Oil firms there. Donziger wanted to make that right.. against overwhelming odds. He represented the impoverished victims. He starts looking somewhat decent under that light, don't you think ? Was there another way? I'm not really sure. So I go back to the facts. The law in that country, is clear. Strictly speaking, that was not illegal. We have a judge, busy, perhaps even incompetent, wanting out from a complex opinion. He took the easy road out. To anyone in the US, this would seem bad. But that sense of justice is skewed to US law, which is unfortunate because US law and procedure is lights years ahead of other countries. What I am saying is that there is room for considerations outside what is appropriate, because other legal systems are not build to defend the powerless, only the powerful. US law procedure is very good at defending the powerless. That's almost always never the case elsewhere.