Cayman Islands Winter Break Program Courses
Week 1
(Dec. 30, 2013 - Jan. 3, 2014)
EITHER
Confidentiality in Offshore Financial Regulation (1 credit)
Instructors: Stephanie A. Vaughan and Andrew Woodcock
Recent disclosure requirements implement by the United States legislature have highlighted the tension between the domestic interest of states in gathering information regarding their citizens, and the interest of foreign financial institutions in protecting the privacy of that data. This is not, however, a new problem. For in excess of two decades, there has been conflict between national investigative bodies and offshore banking institutions over access to financial information.
This course seeks to examine both the inherent common law duties of confidentiality, as well as the statutory regulation of those duties. The principal focus will be on the law of the Cayman Islands, with some comparative consideration given to such jurisdictions as the British Virgin Islands, Guernsey, and Jersey.
Finally, regard will be given to the exemptions applicable to the duty of confidentiality. A practical advocacy component will introduce students to the process of applying to the Court for authorization to release confidential information.
OR
International Law of the Sea (1 credit)
Instructor: Miller W. Shealy, Jr.
This course is a survey of the Law of the Sea and national, particularly United States, ocean policies. The Law of the Sea covers a range of highly diverse but related legal disciplines: admiralty and maritime law, international law, crime (including white collar crime, terrorism, and piracy) on the high seas, environmental law, commercial trade, and military. Starting with the historical development of the law of the sea, the course will deal with such topics as maritime boundaries, high seas freedoms, terrorism and crime on the high seas, piracy, nationality of vessels, sovereignty over internal waters and ports, territorial seas, management of ocean fisheries, protection of marine species and marine environmental protection, mineral exploitation of the seabed, and, time permitting, shipwrecks and underwater cultural resources. We will also examine the modern law of the sea as reflected in the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
Week 2
(Jan. 6-9, 2014)
EITHER
International Carriage of Goods by Sea (1 credit)
Instructor: Bruno Zeller
This course will first discuss the implications of a sales contract of goods and explain how it enlivens various other contractual obligations with different parties.
The first question addressed will be how charter parties affect the carriage of goods. Special attention will be focused on the specialist terms emanating from a charter party contract. The bill of lading and the rights and obligations of shipper and carrier will lead to the introduction of conventions such as The Hague Visby rules. In essence, the contractual obligation of carrier, shipper, and any affected parties in the supply chain will be discussed.
Once an understanding of the carriage contracts has been established, issues of marine insurance, special trade terms (Incoterms), and the payment options (UCP) will also be analyzed.
OR
Human Rights and Judicial Independence in the Commonwealth Caribbean (1 credit)
Instructors: Deborah Barker Roye and John C. Knechtle
This course will examine the linked concepts of human rights and judicial independence in the Commonwealth Caribbean. We will examine how certain human rights and judicial independence are defined in constitutions and laws, as well as reconcile the need to respect Caribbean practice and culture with the need to uphold more general and internationally recognized standards of human rights and judicial independence.
The course will focus on the following human rights:
- The Right to Life (including the death penalty, police killings, abortion)
- Freedom from Cruel and Inhuman Treatment or Punishment
- Freedom of Speech (including hate speech)
- Freedom of Religion
- The Right to Privacy
- The Right to a Fair Trial
- Freedom from Discrimination (including discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation)
- Economic and Social Rights
We will examine well publicized death penalty cases and events like the arrest and extradition to the U.S. of Jamaican drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke as well as economic and human rights reports and corruption indexes for the Caribbean. Judicial independence will include issues of separation of powers; judicial process; qualifications, selection and training of judges; conditions of service and tenure; professional secrecy and immunity; discipline, suspension and removal and corruption.
