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Authoritarian, revisionist, and revanchist powers are exerting pressure on the liberal international order and challenging the United States' vital security interests across theaters. The United States will increasingly need to simultaneously tackle challenges in two critical theaters while also addressing global threats. To do so effectively, it will need to lean in and actively capitalize on its chief geostrategic advantage over its competitors and adversaries – its global network of alliances and strategic partnerships. However, alliance management faces both traditional and emerging challenges. These range from ensuring effective burden sharing, to providing alliance assurance and balancing interests and values along with allies' contributions across theaters and domains. In addition, because the United States is operating in a world where all instruments of power, military and non-military, are increasingly utilized in an interconnected way, it will also need to look at defense and security alliance management through the lens of issues ranging from industrial policy to economic security. This essay sheds light on these "old" and "new" challenges, providing insights into critical issues of alliance management that the United States will face in the emerging security environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How strenuously, and at what risk, should the United States resist China's efforts to dominate the South China Sea? An identification of three options along a continuum—from increased resistance to China's assertive policies on one end to a partial South China Sea retrenchment on the other, with current U.S. policy in the middle—captures the choices facing the United States. An analysis of China's claims and behavior in the South China Sea and of the threat that China poses to U.S. interests concludes that the United States' best option is to maintain its current level of resistance to China's efforts to dominate the South China Sea. China has been cautious in pursuing its goals, which makes the risks of current policy acceptable. Because U.S. security interests are quite limited, a significantly firmer policy, which would generate an increased risk of a high-intensity war with China, is unwarranted. If future China's actions indicate its determination has significantly increased, the United State should, reluctantly, end its military resistance to Chinese pursuit of peacetime control of the South China Sea and adopt a policy of partial South China Sea retrenchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When individuals are arrested or indicted for a crime, governments have legitimate interests in assuring that those individuals show up for future legal proceedings and also do not cause more social harm in the meanwhile. To serve those legitimate interests, governments may restrain the personal liberty of those presumptively innocent individuals--traditionally accomplished either by incarceration or by release subject to certain sureties and conditions. The choice, in short, is between jail and bail. Currently, governments skew that choice by subsidizing the costs of jail but not bail. The result--wholly predictable given the size and asymmetric nature of the subsidy--is that the United States maintains an inefficiently large jail population that both costs taxpayers too much and excessively limits the liberty of too many. Prior commentators and reformers have correctly identified the overuse of pretrial detention in jails as a major public policy crisis and have urged substantial reforms to current bail processes up to and including the abolition of state constitutional rights to bail (as one state has recently done). We believe that the hostility toward bail overlooks the root cause of the problem, which is the asymmetric subsidization of jail over bail. We propose a balanced subsidization system that can preserve the beneficial aspects of a traditional bail surety system while (i) reducing unnecessary and inefficient restraints on individual liberty, (ii) addressing the distributional inequities of current practices, and (iii) saving taxpayers billions of dollars per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/context. In 2008-09, nascent Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, agreed and formalized the creation of one of its most ambitious bodies, its Defense Council. The origin of this council was surprising as some rival states, as well as others whose security and defense interests were distant from each other, participated in it. Its performance was marked by this contradictory origin, which resulted in its failure a decade later, in 2018, with the division of UNASUR. This article proposes elements for a complementary explanation of the trajectory of the UNASUR Defence Council, pointing out geopolitical links. Methodology: This is an empirical case study that combines quantitative and qualitative analysis of both national capacities and contemporary geopolitical trends. It also includes the review of official documents and the presentation of processed results of semi-structured interviews with South American diplomats and military officers. Conclusions: The main contribution of this article is that it shows how global (de)concentration, the geostrategic (re)orientation of the United States and the contemporary geopolitical dynamics of the regional institutions, form an adequate set of causes for a structural explanation on the origin, performance and decline of the South American Defense Council. Originality: Unlike most of the giving explanations about the fate of the South American Defense Council, and UNASUR in general, focused mainly on domestic causes, this article presents a systemic and structural explanation that links institutional and institutional dynamics. South American security with global processes of greater scope. In addition, it reaches potentially replicable conclusions in other regions and periods from a combination of quantitative and qualitative research tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patent rights are territorial. A patent granted in the United States is only enforceable in the United States. Yet increasingly so, a successful launch of new technology or a product requires global strategy, and global strategy requires global patent protection. Seeking patent protection in multiple countries is routine for many companies. And while these multi-national teams of patent counsel and global administrative support are skilled at navigating different patentability requirements and processes, they are currently experiencing a new challenge: defending the priority date of their original patent application when seeking transnational patent protection. Companies are facing this challenge because of differences in patent assignment laws around the world. Patent assignment laws play a crucial role in patent protection, with the majority of patentable inventions around the world created by employees and assigned to employers. This Article demonstrates the interconnection of patent priority around the world by showing how the application of different rules regarding patent assignment law and patent priority currently lead to higher transaction costs and wasteful, if not abusive, litigation. This Article proposes two possible solutions to the global problem of proving patent priority: build a centralized recordation database modeled after the already-existing secured transactions recordation systems in place in almost every country worldwide, or, alternatively, include a disclosure requirement in the alreadyexisting transnational patenting processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the impact of the ratification rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in the United States. Importance of the treaty to the US and international security; Status of the stockpile of its nuclear weapons.

The article presents a brief history of cash bail and an overview of current pretrial practices in the U.S., as of June 2019. Topics discussed include ways in which growing rate of incarceration has been resulted in cash bail system; disastrous effects of the system on individuals, indigent and minority defendants, and the U.S. economy; and need of state legislatures should adopt bail reform laws for ending cash bail.

This paper argues that the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in the case involving confirmation of the cram down plan proposed by Sunnyslope Housing Ltd. Partnership in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, has failed in properly interpreting the Supreme Court's holding in Associates Commercial Corp. v. Rash and in understanding the text and structure of the Bankruptcy Code. Topics covered include collateral valuation in reorganizations and Sunnyslope as a lien priority issue.

The article focuses on the challenges surrounding the financial stability of secured transactions in the U.S. Topics discussed include enactment of secured transactions laws for protecting transacting parties and consumers; enactment of Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act for protecting for controling credit risks; and securing loans and investment securities.

The article focuses on the treatment of poverty tax inherent in criminal cases in the U.S. Topics discussed include policing practices that bring low-income people into the criminal justice system; use of individualized bail assessments by judges for supporting poor families; and analysis of collateral consequences of criminal convictions.

Explains why United States (US) Senator Richard Lugar voted against the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Goal of the treaty; Implications of the treaty to the US security.

This Article examines a characteristic of property entitlements fundamental to the structure of property systems that has received scant academic attention, a characteristic referred to as the mutual exclusivity principle. According to this principle, a property system does not allow for the existence of incompatible rights. Two people cannot separately be the owners of the same resource, for instance. By contrast, two people can each hold valid but contradictory contract rights to the resource. Although the existing property literature has stressed the “exclusive” nature of property, the various ways in which property is imagined to be exclusive, such as by conferring “rights to exclude,” fail to capture the essence of property as a distinct legal institution. Unlike these alternative conceptions of exclusiveness, the mutual exclusivity principle holds true across the range of different types of property entitlements, including not just fee simple ownership but also security interests and servitudes, and across the range of assets subject to property law, including not just land and physical objects but also intangibles like intellectual property and corporate shares. Recognizing the role of the mutual exclusivity principle yields a number of practical insights. It helps explain various institutional features of property law, such as the system of future interests, the use of possession-based rules, the role of recording systems, and the negative, thing-based structure of property entitlements. It illuminates connections between property and other fields like corporations law and it calls into question aspects of existing doctrine, such as the preferred status of exclusion rights under the U.S. Constitution’s Takings Clause. It also modifies the influential theory that property law is heavily shaped by problems of high information costs: while existing accounts seem to suppose that property law entails relatively high information costs because it imposes a relatively broad set of duties on others, many of the information cost problems identified in the literature actually result from the mutual exclusivity problem, rather than from the breadth of property duties. At a more general level, understanding the centrality of the mutual exclusivity principle suggests some change in direction is called for within the wider property literature. American property scholarship has been preoccupied with questions about the scope and strength of property rights, overlooking the separate problem of ascertaining who happens to hold a given right, a problem distinctive to property law. Property, this Article argues, is at least as much about title chains, patent searches, and creditor priorities as it is about trespass, remedies, and eminent domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an overview of recent data on discount-window transactions published by the U.S. Federal Reserve under the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. Topics include information about primary-credit loans, analysis of the collateral pledged by borrowing banks to their corresponding Reserve Banks and comprehensive list of discount-window loans made by Federal Reserve Banks between July 22, 2010, and June 30, 2015.

The article examines the provisions of the U.S. Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (FASA) ushered in several reforms to the Federal Procurement System. It discusses how the FASA's reforms was a prohibition on protests of orders placed against task and delivery order contracts. It also reports the enactment of National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA).

The fast-moving events of Syria and Iraq in 2014 demonstrated the enormous risk to U.S. security interests when America and its allies have too little intelligence presence or operational agility in an area rife with insurgency and terrorist outfits. The United States cannot “fix” the region or eliminate the major challenges to security most dominant within Afghanistan. However, America can be better postured to support the already faltering Afghan National Security Force, better aware of the rapidly evolving jihadist militant milieu in the Af-Pak region, and better informed than it might otherwise be about the evolving nature of Indo-Pakistani proxy hostilities playing out across the border region. The promised post-2014 U.S./NATO military presence is insufficient to meet these major requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of boundless access to information, a group of rogue citizens is waging an antigovernment war of attrition. Trading firearms for securities documents, the Sovereign Citizens are wreaking havoc on a system designed to foster justice for all. By manipulating the infirm process of securing credit, these domestic terrorists threaten to topple the American legal and economic systems. The ability to secure debt is essential to the health and growth of a modern global economy. As the contours of lending transactions become increasingly complex, commercial law must adapt to address the mounting problem of fraudulent filings. Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code facilitates the creation of security interests in personal property. The American Law Institute and the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws on occasion revisit and amend the Uniform Commercial Code to ensure its continued effectiveness. The drafters must turn their attention to the infirmities of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. While Article 9 allows creditors to perfect their interests in personal property with ease, its prescribed methods have proven vulnerable to abuse. The instrument perfecting a creditor's rights in collateral requires no authentication, and Secretaries of State retain no discretion to invalidate even facially fraudulent filings. The Sovereign Citizens have seized upon this weakness in Article 9. Their campaign of paper terrorism has devastating consequences for the victims, necessitating an amendment to the Uniform Commercial Code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses several aspects of bank loans in the U.S. as of 2014, and it mentions loansharking (usury), the due diligence requirements of banks, and various issues that arise when art is used as collateral for loans. Secured loans and sub-prime moneylenders are mentioned, along with pawn shop regulations. The potential impacts of art-backed loans on art prices are examined, as well as the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), English artist Damien Hirst, and the role of art as an asset.

The article examines several environmental laws in the U.S. that exempt secured creditors from liability for contamination from properties for which they hold security interests, such as the Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Topics covered include requirements to be followed to ensure protections are not lost, the steps lenders should follow to protect itself from cleanup liability, and additional efforts to undertake before a loan is originated.

The article focuses on the evaluation of security interest law in issuing the licenses of Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. independent agency, considering bankruptcy code. It discusses bankruptcy court decisions in In re Ridgley Commc'ns, Inc., In re Cheskey, and In re Tracy Broad. Corp. cases that accentuate dubious conclusions. It informs that security interest in a broadcast entity is risky as the FCC license termination causes ruinous effect on the security interest.

The purpose of this article is to provide some guidance to practitioners and the judiciary in both Australia and New Zealand on the vital question: when is a sale in the 'ordinary course of business' for the purposes of the Personal Property Securities Acts of Australia and New Zealand? It is not uncommon for the courts to say that in any given case this is a question of fact. But, while not denying the importance of the particular factual circumstances in issue, the author seeks to demonstrate that the analysis will be facilitated by adopting a structured approach that initially recognises the primacy of security interests and that follows sound legal principles developed by the North American courts. Differences between the Australian and New Zealand legislative provisions are analysed to determine whether they lead to different outcomes on either side of the Tasman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Moscow recently has made development of its isolated eastern territories, especially the Russian Far East (RFE) a high national priority, and the success—or failure—of these efforts will have significant security implications for the Asia-Pacific community. The region''s vast size, rich resource base and proximity to ambitious Asia-Pacific powers accentuate its strategic importance, which seems likely to grow with time. How regional geopolitics interacts with Russian national policies will affect the RFE''s course of development as well as the power balance in northeast Asia. The United States has an historical and security interest in preventing the domination of the RFE by any outside nation, and in fostering stability, open access, and growth in this vital region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Despite the fact that they are used by millions of Americans, auto-title loans have received little attention in the legal literature about consumer credit. Friends and foes of title lending make confident statements about their net welfare effects, but we still lack empirical data on many of the central policy questions that title lending raises. This Article offers new evidence about the title lending transaction, paying special attention to the risks borrowers face when they use their vehicles as collateral for the loan. I gathered this evidence by obtaining new reports from state regulators about the title lending industry, examining public disclosure statements by title lenders, interviewing title lenders, and surveying a small group of title lending customers. Additionally, the Article organizes the different legal responses to title lending, creating a taxonomy of regulatory approaches. Based on the new data uncovered by my research, I offer tentative evaluations of these diverse regulatory strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the significant developments in the field of insolvency and international secured transactions during the year 2011 in the U.S. and Great Britain. The concerns related to international capital market and structured-finance markets and the Noteholder Priority provision in case of swap agreements are discussed. The decisions taken by the bankruptcy courts in the case of trials based on secured transactions and insolvency are also discussed.

This paper examines a significant legislative challenge in many jurisdictions around the world a decade on from the events of 11 September 2001. Using Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom as case studies, it aims to assess the relative effectiveness of regular and extraordinary review mechanisms at the national level in leading to the improvement of anti-terrorism laws. That such mechanisms often appear to meet with only muted success says something about their institutional weakness and also the tension that inheres in legislatures as simultaneously legal and political institutions. Further, it reflects the authority and legitimacy to which national security law quickly lays claim in a political culture. This makes it resistant to reform, even when aspects of it can be said to be part of the terrorist problem rather than its solution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Occasionally, criminals correctly interpret the law whilR courts err. Litigation pursuant to the federal Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) includes numerous examples. The ACCA imposes harsher sentences upon felons in possession of firearms with prior "vio!Rnt felony" convictions. Over time, courts defined "vio!Rnt" so contrary to its common meani17:g that it eventually came to encompass driving under the influence, unwanted touching, and the failure to report to correctional facilities. However, in a series of recent decisions, the Supreme Court has attempted to clarify the meaning of violent in the context of the ACCA and, in the process, excluded such offenses. The ultimate definition of vio!Rnt and resulting litigation also implicate career offender sentences imposed under the Sentencing Guidelines, because of similarities in the language of the Guidelines and the ACCA. This ArticlR is the first to examine the availability of collateral review of erroneously imposed career offender sentences resulting from the fluctuating definition of the term "violent. " The following offers an overview of the two traditional methods of collateral review availablR to federal prisoners, motions to vacate and habeas corpus petitions, and assesses the viability of each method. This Article argues for use of the relatively obscure writ of error coram nobis, a safety valve for those who are unablR to obtain relief through a motion to vacate or a traditional habeas proceeding. This ArticlR concludes that, despite the writ's disfavored status, courts should dust off the 16th century remedy. This would al!Rviate both the injustice of telling prisoners who correctly interpreted the law that they were right, but are now without remedy, and the social waste associated with unnecessary incarceration [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the proposal of eliminating the six-month cap as an attempt to rebalance the equities and economic incentives. It traces the development of association liens from the common law based on statutory schemes and those implemented in the modern practice. It offers an analysis over the weaknesses and ineffectiveness of limited super-priority in theory and in the real estate market. Moreover, proposed is the wholesale revocation of super-priority liens while discussed are the substantial benefits that it would give to lender and the concerned association.

The article discusses the risks, benefits, and basic workings of Torrens-based Federal Bureau of Cultural Property Registration (FBCPR). It presents information that this system would provide a more universal and secure means of recording the collateralization of works of art and antiquities. It presents information regarding the solutions for title disputes, and securing lien holders.

The article examines the paternalistic regulation and rationale of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Particular focus is given to the change in FTC policies allowing potential debtors to collateralize their future earnings to obtain credit. It argues that the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) permit security interests in wage assignments to ensure availability of credit. A proposed compromise between those suggesting no limits on wage assignments and the FTC regulation proponents is also discussed.

Certain financial market practices, previously denied or disregarded by financial market regulators, are being redefined as candidates for active investigation and enforcement. This article contrasts the passive stance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission vis-à-vis the Madoff fraud with its relatively diligent but now settled Complaint against Goldman Sachs. The article also explores compromises in the EU's approach to market regulation of information asymmetry, suggesting that grounds for pessimism outweigh those for hope. The introduction sets the context, describing aspects of the first leg of the crisis (states bail out banks) and the second leg (states themselves come under strain). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to understand the doctrine of equitable subrogation as it functions within the context of mortgage refinancings in the U.S., outlining the basic mechanics of mortgages, mortgage recordation, and foreclosures as well as title searches and priority. It describes the development of equitable subrogation in order to identify the historical purpose and scope of equitable subrogation. It recommends a comprehensive reading of major New York cases to determine factors implicitly considered by New York courts in deciding when to use equitable subrogation.

The article discusses the use of visa as property and as collateral under the immigration law in the U.S. It examines the existing approach of the law in screening guest workers along with the proposal for visa bonds. It clarifies the efficient application of visa as collateral. The primary benefit of outsourcing the screening and enforcement function to bankers is also discussed.

The article discusses the case against the permission given to Virginia-based company Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. (MERS) to initiate foreclosure procedings in the U.S. courts. It discusses how the law treats mortgage assignments in foreclosure context and the action undertaken by MERS to alter the legal landscape. It discusses the basic principles of agency which prohibit MERS from foreclosure actions on behalf of an assignee. It demonstrates the impact of MERS' legal foreclosure standing on its foreclosure sales.

The article focuses on latest developments on international secured transactions and insolvency in the U.S., Italy, and Mexico during 2010. It discusses a case of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit involving foreign-law avoidance actions. It investigates Italy's Law Decree no. 78 on Urgent action on financial stabilization and economic competitiveness involving cross-border and domestic insolvencies. It highlights Ley de Concursos Mercantiles (LCM) Mexican Bankruptcy Law.

The article focuses on the development of online collateral auctions due to technological advancements in the U.S. It reports that there is a growth in the use of online auctions, however the Article 9 of the Revised Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) has failed to specify the availability of these types of auctions and has created doubt whether online auction is commercially reasonable. An overview of the Article 9 and the commercially reasonable standard is also presented.

In the wake of the financial crisis a new wave of litigation looms. This paper presents an "aloof" analysis of legal arguments involved in securitisation cases. First, it identifies the relevant facts. Second, it focuses on key legal liability elements for fraudulent/negligent statements in securitisation litigation. In so doing, it identifies the aspects where public debate and legal argument differ, and where they concur; and it takes a broad view on the implications of tipping the balance one way or the other. It is concluded that the current wave of litigation has consequences for the long-term future of the financial industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author discusses the legislation formulated by fifty states in the U.S. that pertains to consumer protection. He scrutinizes the content of the Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) which governs security interests in personal property. He also examined the courts' definition of the statute which claimed to cause confusion for lenders and debtors.

The article analyzes a proposed environmental practices security interest (EPMSI) that could be added to Uniform Code (UCC) Article 9 to facilitate transactions that enable good environmental practices in the U.S. It assesses that it reflects an intuition that should not rely on government subsidized loans and tax credits to induce investments in sustainability. It adds that it presents the EPMSI concept to help investing in environmental sustainability.

The article reviews developments related to the international secured transactions and insolvency in 2009 for countries such as Brazil, Spain, Russia and the U.S. It notes that Labor Courts in various countries usually apply the law for the protection of their employees but are faced with limitations to their jurisdiction. It adds that recent amendments to the Insolvency Law takes account on certain provisions of the respective legislation of foreign and developed countries.

The article offers information related to the bankruptcy law in the U.S. It elaborates the significance of a purchase money security interest and the interplay between state and federal law. It explores some additional considerations in making the determination of whether negative equity financing can form the basis of a purchase money security interest.

Abstract: Sovereignty is the bedrock of international law. If security requires that the United States transgress sovereign borders to attack foreign fighters and their support networks hiding in third countries, then the U.S. should adopt a strategy to amend international law accordingly. One should not be too quick, however, to disregard a robust notion of sovereignty, a concept that has helped avert conflict among the world''s major powers. The United States needs a strategy for sovereignty''s future that is based in the emerging security context and a prioritization of American interests. Instead, the United States and the rest of the world are meandering toward a less robust sovereignty with weaker and more ambiguous international law. The U.S. and its global interests would be better served by strong and clear international rules that increase predictability and that confer legitimacy to action against dangerous enemies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This Note argues that a variety of "private police" forces, such as university patrols and residential security guards, should be held to the constitutional limitations found in the Bill of Rights. These private police act as arms of the state by supplying force in response to a public demand for order and security. The state, as sovereign, retains responsibility to allocate force, in the form of either public or private police, in response to public demand. This state responsibility-a facet of its police power-is evidenced throughout English and American history. When this force responds to a public demand for order and security, existing state action doctrine case law places both public and private force under constitutional scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the need of federal legislative policy-makers and judicial decision-makers to ascertain the impact of the transfer of risk and liability on furthering welfare and security interest and preserving organizational discretion in the U.S. Such requirement is said to be under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and public policy. It discusses why business organizations or employers transfer risk and liability to their employees and retirees especially when global business outcomes cause social consequences to the organizations. It also indicates the impact of the global business environment on domestic business outcomes. Also included are discussions on the decision of the Supreme Court on the interpretation of the transfer of risk and liability.

The article discusses the consequence and illegality resulting from foster care cost recovery through child support enforcement in the U.S. It notes that child welfare and child support agencies collaborate to pursue child support obligations against the poor parents concerned yet payments made for child support are not given to the children but directed to government coffers. Such practice allows for the reimbursement of the government costs of foster care services. It is said that foster children become collateral for debt incurred under foster care.

The article discusses the dealing of Federal Reserve's Fedwire to credit risk exposure to daylight overdrafts. Accordingly, extending daylight overdrafts by Federal Reserve expose central bank to credit risk, risk for lenders that borrower neglects to repay loan. Moreover, Federal Reserve manages the exposure by combining the tools of monitoring, bank reputation awareness, and collateral demands. The ways to lessen risk by the central bank's effective enforcement technologies is presented.