WHY AND WHEN TO USE THIS DOCKET This book is for people acting for human rights and peace in the streets, the courts, the city councils, the Congress, and in the United Nations. It provides the facts and the law in court cases. It gives the background of administrative regulations and describes successful complaints. It digests military court actions and treaty negotiations. It describes important laws and pending bills.
This book tries to present accurate information about the law so that it can be used by everyone who needs it. We will never enforce human rights for all, and we will never live in peace as long as human rights law and peace law are known only to people trained in law schools.
So when you have tried all the traditional law and tactics to get some justice for yourself or to enforce your client's rights, thumb through the Docket. You will find a lot of cases won at the trial court level or before an administrative agency — using a theory you have never tried.
This edition digests almost 1,000 cases in which one side or another raised an issue of human rights or peace law somewhere in the world since 1945. It adds 300 cases to the 1991 edition, and updates hundreds of cases from that edition. In each section, we start with the cases that were won by the human rights advocate at the first step. Then we describe victories on appeal and the decisions of the highest court. We include all facts through June 30, 1993.
Another good place to start using this Docket is the extensive Subject Index, expanded in this edition. We have tried to include every issue, defense, and kind of law that was used in any of the "cases." For examples in your region, see the Geographical Guide that lists cases by nation, state, and International Court of Justice at the end of the book.
Of course, it is always possible to start reading a good book from the beginning. If that is your habit, you can begin by reading the text of the most basic formulations of human rights and peace law — in the United Nations Charter, Nuremberg Principles, and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. (All of these, incidentally, are now officially part of U.S. law, as well as the law of most other nations.) The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is domestic law of each signatory nation, based on customary international law, and the United States Constitution and amendments are known universally.
If you know the name of a case, look in the Table of Cases at the end of the Docket under the names of every party you know; each case title is listed at least twice, under the names of the Pl and Def.
We try to include the names of counsel and friends of the court in pending cases for easy consultation.
The system of annotating cases and statutes is explained in the next section, along with the steps in a typical case.
The Administrative Action section has been greatly expanded. We realized that most problems today go first to a hearing in an agency, and only later go to court. Then we realized that after many court decisions, the cases go back to the agencies for administration of the remedies. Our digests therefore include citations to administrative hearings and to court decisions, at several levels, often over several years.
The International section has also been expanded and revised as we realized that treaty-making is a primary function and should come first, before Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions. UN Specialized Agency Actions have also been expanded.
We made every effort to get accurate data on all cases from official and unofficial sources. However, some information never surfaced and some errors have undoubtedly crept in. They can all be corrected in the next edition in 1997, with your help. The location of the editors makes it easier to collect and get full citations for California and otherUnited States cases. We worked to overcome this situation by looking for cases in periodicals from all other states and nations, by seeking accurate citations in local libraries, and by correspondence. We welcome your help on coverage also.
The Acknowledgements attempt to thank the many individuals who worked on this edition of the as well as those whose work on earlier editions served as the roots of this edition.
Peace Law Packets
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute maintains a Brief Bank that contains briefs, motions, memos, unpublished opinions, affidavits, reports, ordinances, and ephemeral material from the cases in this We include the best materials from cases in Peace Law Packets on key issues (like First Amendment in State Cases, and the Right to Education). See Order Form at the end of the and phone or write for copies of these materials.