I teach customary international law in Foreign Affairs and the Constitution, and a 
little bit in Federal Courts.  But I don't teach it in Con Law I.  I think it would be 
very difficult to do so when the students don't know anything about federal common 
law, and even harder in the many instances in which they won't have had Erie yet in 
Civil Procedure.  I would worry that without those subjects as background, students 
would have a hard time following the serious debate about customary law's domestic 
status.

Ernie Young


-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 06:26:21 PST
Subject: Teaching Customary International Law in Con Law I

With the discussion on the List about customary international law, I am
curious if anyone else teaches anthing about customary international law
as part of Constitutional Law I.  I will be teaching Con Law for the first
time this year -- after a ten year wait -- and plan to spend about 45
minutes of class time introducing students to customary international law
and its function as a type of federal law as part of about 90 minutes of
class discussing International Law and the Treaty Power.  While obviously
45 minutes is not much, I suspect that over half of our students graduate
without having even heard the phrase customary international law, and my
feeling is that Constitutional Law I has to at least mention the concept.
(Personally, I wish it were also part of the Bar Exam under the
Constitutional Law heading.)

Jonathan Miller
Professor of Law
Southwestern University School of
Law

---------------------------------------------
This message was sent using Endymion MailMan.
http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/

Reply via email to