Customary Law Case Study

Introduction One question that remains uncertain is whether the customary international law is applied by the federal common law of the United States. This paper, therefore, attempts to define the basic concept of international customary law and its application within the US legal system.

International customary law overview Defining what the international customary law is problematic, as the law itself is considered as a part of the international law rather than an individual codified law. The International Red Cross (2010) has assumed that “the international customary law is made of rules and general practices that fill the gap left by the treaties in both international and domestic dissension”.

Application in the U.S’ Federal common law system This article will go over some application of the International customary law within the Federal common law system. There have been several lawsuits solved under the usage of the customary law. Some common cases and related discussion will be reviewed as follows: The Paquette Habana Schaffer (2015) cited the Paquette Habana case in his book, that

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) special agent was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by a Mexican doctor, Alvarez Machain, in 1985. The DEA was unable to persuade the Mexican government to extradite Alvarez, so they paid Sosa, an anonymous Mexican national to kidnap and bring Alvarez back to the United States. However, when the case came to the district court, Alvarez was sentenced not-guilty due to a lack of evidence. After the liberation, Alvarez filed the civil suit in federal court against the DEA and Sosa, who kidnapped him, under the U.S Alien Tort Statute (ATS). The federal court, at first, ruled that the DEA was not liable for the suit, but Sosa was liable. On the appeal, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal overturned the district court and sentenced that the DEA should not permit the arrest in another country that way and also upheld the judgment on