JOURNAL: American Journal of Legal History LXII (2022), No. 2

 

(image source: OUP)

British Policy towards the Incorporation of the Baltic States into the USSR: A Dilemma of de facto and de jure Recognition (Evgeny Tikhonravov) (DOI 10.1093/ajlh/njac011)

Abstract:

Multiple viewpoints have been expressed regarding the British attitude towards the Soviet annexation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The vast majority of writers maintain that the United Kingdom extended only de facto recognition to this incorporation. A small minority of commentators, however, hold otherwise and argue that Britain recognised the annexation de jure. To address this controversy, which has previously received almost no consideration, this article traces the development of the British policy towards the incorporation of the Baltic republics into the USSR, giving wide scope to the statements of the British government and to the views of Members of Parliament. Careful attention is also given to judicial practice. This legal and historical analysis helps to identify the meaning of de facto and de jure recognition used by Britain in the Baltic case, as well as clarifies a number of other relevant questions (for example, whether a territorial annexation may constitute a separate object of recognition, and whether a military occupant may be equated with a government recognised de facto). After determining the correct approach to this academic debate, the article suggests how its findings may contribute to studies contrasting the position of the UK with respect to the Baltic annexation with that of other countries.

The Judicial Failsafe: American Legal Colonialism in the Philippines (Timothy J Foley) (DOI 10.1093/ajlh/njac009)

Abstract:

This article evaluates the history of the Filipino judiciary during the period of US rule. It argues that colonial officials used the legal system to ensure US control over the islands by initiating a judicial transition, which contained a series of procedures guaranteeing US officials the power to overrule insular courts or legislatures. The judicial transition refers to the long-term transformation of Filipino law from the Spanish civil law system to an Anglo-American common law system through implementing a new code of civil procedure, changing the official language of legal proceedings to English, and importing US judges to the islands during the first part of the twentieth century. This transition masked a failsafe, which ensured that colonial administrators would retain power despite promises to cede control to the local population. Elements of this failsafe included maintaining a US majority on the Supreme Court of the Philippines, empowering the US Supreme Court to review and overturn decisions of the Filipino Supreme Court, and barring Filipino courts from ruling on matters of importance to the US government such as admiralty cases. The article contends that when taken together, this transition and failsafe constitute a strategy for the United States to maintain substantial control over the Philippines while still maintaining the facade of the benevolent colonizer.

Amnesty and the Limits of Transitional Justice in Brazil: The Case of Expelled Low-Ranking Soldiers, 1964–2014 (Marrilia Corrêa) (DOI 10.1093/ajlh/njac005)

Abstract:

This article shows the continuities of the military dictatorship and the limits of transitional justice in Brazil, arguing that the violations the military regime inflicted on certain groups persisted over three decades after democratization. Between 1964 and 1985 the military officers who took power strived to eliminate opposition to their rule from all sectors of society. Inside the armed forces, they expelled over 6,500 officers and soldiers from their ranks after accusing them of subversion. Between 1979 and 2014 the state created policies to start a democratic transition and address the civil and human rights violations perpetrated during military rule. It offered amnesty and reparations to individuals who had their political rights stripped from them after their names were published in Institutional Acts, legal instruments created by the military government to justify the political persecution of its opponents. Yet, transitional justice policies failed to address different mechanisms the dictatorship used to eliminate opposition, such as Air Force Decree 1,104, which determined that soldiers would be hired on four-year contracts. Masquerading it as a tool to regulate the organization of the Air Force, military officers used Decree 1,104 to expel soldiers whom the regime saw as politically subversives. This article shows how the transitional justice policies created in Brazil were insufficient to deal with the multiple ways the dictatorship punished its political opponents.

Book reviews:

• Susan J. Pearson, The Birth Certificate: An American History (by Teal Arcadi)
• Inge Van Hulle, Britain and International Law in West Africa (by Joyman Lee)
• Anne Gray Fischer, The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification (by Marie-Amélie George)

Read more here.