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15 Int'l L. News 1 (1986)

handle is hein.journals/inrnlwnw15 and id is 1 raw text is: INTERNATIONAL Vol. 15, No. 1 0 Winter 1986 W~ Seto of Ineraioa La and Prcie Amria Ba Asocato I Chairman's Column* In the Summer 1985 issue of the International Law News (Vol. 14, No. 3), Mont Hoyt's Chairman's Column described in detail the work and schedule remaining for final action on the Revised Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States. The Column pointed to the outstanding work done by the Reporters, and indi- cated as well certain controver- Arthur W. Rovine sial areas in the draft text. Chairman Section members were urged to participate in the continuing effort to resolve the principal outstanding controversies. As Mont noted, a period until December 2, 1985 was afforded by the American Law Institute for submission of comments and suggestions for amendment of the text. The final efforts are now underway by the Reporters and the ALl Council to finalize the text. There is one aspect of the draft Restatement upon which I should like to comment here. One of the central international legal matters of interest to the Section in recent years has been the reaffirmation by international tribunals of the tradi- tional international law standard requiring that full compen- sation be paid to a foreign investor whose property has been expropriated. Tribunals such as the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribu- nal at the Hague and several other international legal tribu- nals have confirmed the traditional rule in terms that leave little, if any, legal room for the non-international law and discretionary approaches set forth in certain U.N. General Assembly Resolutions. The Section has therefore viewed with some concern the text of § 712 of the new draft Restatement. The draft prefers the term just compensation to prompt, adequate, and effective, but defines the term just in a manner which makes it indistinguishable from the traditional international law standard. So far so good. However, the text of § 712 requires just compensation in the absence of exceptional circumstances. The latter phrase is not defined or limited in any fashion, and the sole example provided of such excep- tional circumstances is a program of agricultural land reform. It is clear from the wording of the black letter rule, Com- ments, and Reporters' Notes that land reform is not intended by the Reporters to be the sole exceptional circumstance. Section Holds Winter Meeting In Miami This year's Winter Meeting of the Section was held in Miami, from December 6 through 8. In keeping with past practices, the Meeting was held in cooperation with a local bar association, in this case the International Law Section of the Florida Bar Association. International trade was the subject receiving most atten- tion at the meeting. In a keynote luncheon address Sam M. Gibbons, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcom- mittee on Trade, commented on possible Federal legislation in the trade area, and analyzed the reasons behind the current U.S. trade deficit in general. Representative Gibbons was introduced by the Hon. Reubin Askew, former U.S. Trade Representative and former Governor of Florida. In addition, Xavier Suarez, Mayor of the City of Miami, spoke of Miami's role in international trade. There followed two panel discussions, one concerning trade and international finance, and the other concerning U.S. restrictions on imports. A highlight of the Meeting was the presentation of the Leonard J. Theberge Prize for Private International Law to Professor John 0. Honnold of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Professor Honnold was given this award, named in honor of former Section Chairman Theberge, in recogni- tion of his contributions to the unification and harmonization of the law of international trade, notably in his capacity as Chief of the International Trade Law Branch of the United Nations Office of Legal Counsel, as well as numerous other contributions in the development of private international law. Past recipients of this annual award of the Section have been attorney Philip W. Amram, Ambassador Richard D. Kear- ney, and Professor Willis L. M. Reese. The Section's Council acted on a number of matters. First, it adopted a resolution recognizing the need to renegotiate extradition treaties so as to exclude acts of terrorist violence from application of the political offense exception, and spe- cifically endorsed the Supplementary Extradition Treaty with the United Kingdom. However, the Council's resolution noted that the Supplementary Treaty fails to distinguish war crimes or acts of terrorist violence committed in situations Continued on page 4 Continued on page 6 * The views expressed in this column are those of Mr. Rovine and are not official positions of the ABA or the Section of International Law and Practice. CopyrightO 1986 American Bar Association

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