Course Documents

Each professor should make available to the students a syllabus of the course. This syllabus needs to include such information as an outline of the course topics, a listing of necessary assignments, a schedule of test dates, and the grading policy. Why? The syllabus serves as an ‘offer’ between the student and the professor. A syllabus does not remove the student’s responsibility for attending class sessions, nor does it constrain the professor from changing the specific elements of the syllabus.

With respect to the cases you will cite in this course, we will use the ALWD citation style. ALWD, an acronym for Association of Legal Writing Directors, is one of two generally-accepted citation styles for legal work in the United States. You can find the ALWD style online at http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/full_toc.htm.

With everything else, such as books and articles, we will use the Chicago style. You can find a simplified online version of the Chicago style at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html.

For your work in this class, you will need to create both footnotes and a bibliography. There are minor differences between how you are to format your footnotes and your bibliography. Be aware of this. Your bibliography (titled as a first-level section on its own page) needs to be in three (second-level) sections: Articles and Books; Court Cases; and Laws, Statutes, and Treaties. If you are not citing anything in one of the sections, there is no need to create the section. Remember to cite (and reference) your sources of information, not just your quotes. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism.

What information must be cited? There is no need to cite facts deemed ‘common’ knowledge. How do we define common knowledge? If the ‘common’ person knows it as a fact, then it is common knowledge. However, there are two exceptions to this rule: if your entire argument centers on a fact, or if the fact is contentious in the discipline (though not contentious to the common person). In both of these cases, cite the fact. It is better to over-cite than under-cite.

Wikipedia is a wonderful encyclopedia, and Dictionary.com is a fantastic dictionary—both are available online 24/7/365. However, neither are acceptable sources for any work you do in this course. The reason Wikipedia is not acceptable is identical to the reasons encyclopedias are not, in general, acceptable: they are excellent quaternary sources. A primary source is a first-hand account of an event. A secondary source is an analysis using primary sources. A tertiary source is summary or compilation of primary and/or secondary sources. Each level we move out introduces inaccuracies and blurring of the differences between terms and theories within the discipline. Encyclopedias are quaternary sources. As such, they give good general background on items, but do not successfully distinguish the fine shades of meaning. This is also the reason using dictionaries is not acceptable. The audiences are the general public. As such, words are used in different ways than we use them in the discipline.

I will not tell you which case to brief; I will allow you to make that decision. This allows you to focus on cases that you find relevant to your education. Two restrictions come with this freedom, however. First, no case can be done twice in the class. Second, the case you do must be relevant to the topic for that section. To deal with both of these constraints, you must email me before you start writing the brief to make sure that the case is appropriate and available.

The first chapter assignment focuses on an exotic dancer’s unwilling foray into International Law and the effects of both the Political Question doctrine and the Act of State doctrine. The second assignment explores what it takes to actually be a State in today’s international system. You are assigned a territory, and you must determine if the leader of that territory enjoys sovereign immunity. The third assignment corresponds to Slomanson’s Chapter Four; it focuses on the creaton and the effects of international minimum standards. The final chapter assignment asks you to take the position of lawyers for one side in a dispute to make the best argument possible. A word of warning: these assignments are harder than they may first appear. You must do some research into original documents. You need to check and double-check your facts and compare those facts to the original sources.

Each of these four Chapter Assignments is worth 25 points toward your final grade in the course. For each, make sure you answer the question, follow the directions, and write clearly and concisely.