Kiobel, Corporate Liability, and the Extraterritorial Reach of the ATS
19 Pages Posted: 10 Nov 2012
Date Written: November 9, 2012
Abstract
This online essay documents the fact that twenty Supreme Court cases have already recognized that corporations and companies can have duties and rights under customary and treaty-based international law. In view of that fact, one would expect the Supreme Court in Kiobel to reaffirm its many decisions that corporations can have duties under customary and treaty-based international law. The essay also addresses significant trends in judicial decision and other trends that can support a decision of the Justices to affirm that the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) is extraterritorial in its reach and that violations of international law resting on universal jurisdiction and customary and/or treaty-based international law are actionable under the statute in federal courts.
Keywords: accomplice, Alien Tort Statute, ATCA, ATS, Bowman exception, Charming Betsy, Corporate liability, Corporate rights, corporation, customary, extraterritorial Filartiga Framers Human right, Incorporation by reference, International law, Kadic, Kiobel, piracy, Substantive law treaty
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