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Fascinating lecture:

Friday Lecture: ‘Adjudicating over Anarchy: Judicial Remedies, Compliance and Enforcement in International Law’ – Prof Geraldo Vidigal, University of Amsterdam Without the ability to mobilise coercive measures, international adjudicators must rely on their authority to influence real-world outcomes. This lecture considers the origin and conceivable uses of the authority of international adjudicators. International courts’ influence relies on their ability to mobilise, through mere authoritative communications, the different internal and external forces that shape state behaviour, influencing the views of individuals within states and shaping mutual expectations of cooperative and sanction-worthy behaviour. For this, international courts have at their disposal a variety of communicative instruments: their judicial remedies. Though all judicial remedies are, at their core, modalities of interpretation and application of norms, their varied focuses allow adjudicators to calibrate the exercise of their authority. The lecture develops on concepts outlined in Dr. Vidigal’s 2026 monograph, Adjudicating over Anarchy: Judicial Remedies, Compliance, and Enforcement in International Law (Cambridge University Press). The book establishes a fourfold typology of international judicial remedies – Mere Adjudication, Declaration of Breach, Consequential Duties, and Permissible Responses – each targeting a specific element of the international normative framework. Through different remedies, adjudicators interpret the normative framework, establish violations, and determine conduct required to restore lawful relations. The fourth category of remedies, often left untapped, encompasses judicial determinations of permissible responses to breach: what measures other actors may take to respond to violations, compelling wrongdoers to comply with their obligations and provide redress for injury. If fully explored, this fourth category might reshape the prevailing understanding of the relationship between international adjudication and coercive enforcement.

Geraldo Vidigal is Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam, where he coordinates the LL.M. in International Trade and Investment Law. He is Editor-in-Chief of Legal Issues of Economic Integration, sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of International Economic Law and the Latin American and Caribbean Journal of International Law, and is a member of the Executive Council of the Society of International Economic Law. He holds a PhD in Law (University of Cambridge), a Master’s in International Law and International Organisations (Sorbonne – Paris 1), and a Bachelor’s in Law (University of São Paulo). He has been a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Luxembourg, and a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute, and a Dispute Settlement Lawyer at the World Trade Organization. Besides Adjudicating over Anarchy, he is co-editor (with Kathleen Claussen) of The Sustainability Revolution in International Trade Agreements (Oxford University Press, 2024).

[continue reading…]

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Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 504. Cross-posted at PFS.

My appearance on Bitcoin Infinity #225, With Knut Svanholm.

Shownotes:

Stephan Kinsella joins the Bitcoin Infinity Show to talk about why you can’t legally own Bitcoin, what the difference between ownership and possession means for self-custody, and whether the July 2026 Coldcard hack was really theft. Knut and Stephan dig into Austrian economics, libertarian contract theory, why fractional reserve banking is harder on a Bitcoin standard, and how Bitcoin could limit the state’s ability to borrow and tax. They also look back at the Property and Freedom Society’s 20th anniversary in Bodrum, Murray Rothbard’s centennial, Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s split with the Mises Institute, and their Austrian economics panel at BTC HEL in Helsinki. [continue reading…]

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FYLR!

Blast from the past: from The Libertarian Standard, our old defunct group blog. But see:

FYHHH! FYMNR!

***

FYLR!

By / December 11, 2010

It started out as an in-joke among us here at TLS; now it’s set to become part of Internet lore, as ubiquitous on Web forums as LOL and “all your base are belong to us” jokes: FYLR!

Initialism for “FUCK YEAH LEW ROCKWELL!”

An exclamation of delight at some wondrous gift bestowed upon the world by the magic of the free market, or triumph at the erosion of some bullshit government department or program, in the form of a winking, semi-serious attribution to the ongoing efforts of heroic libertarian educator and advocate Lew Rockwell.

Alternatively, an informal pseudonym to be used when making adoring reference to Lew.

More generally, an exclamation in celebration of any occasion of total overwhelming pwnage, such as Lew consistently delivers.

Properly used with exclamation point, no matter where found in a sentence.

FYLR! is gonna be interviewed on Colbert next week, FYLR!!!!!

We’ll know this meme has truly arrived when it merits its own entry on Encyclopedia Dramatica (NSFW).  In the meantime, say it with us: FYLR!

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Why I Was Against Brexit

From my tweet:

That said, the question of Brexit it seems to me is a different one. I was leery of Brexit because one thing I like about being in the US is any young person in any state has the whole country open to him–to move to to work—and this was what a young British person had with the EU. He could move to and work in Spain or France or Amsterdam whatever if he wanted to. Sort of like in the US. So if I was a young person in Britain I would have opposed Brexit. Yes, yes, despite all the problems with centralization and Brussells.

Posted at Rothbard: The Current State of World Affairs, Texas State Libertarian Conference (Austin, 1989). [continue reading…]

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Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 503.

I was a guest recently (Oct. 2, 2026) on The Bitcoin Group #505, on the World Crypto Network (Youtube channel), hosted by Thomas Hunt. (Apple podcasts; Madbitcoins). Panelists: Stephan Kinsella (@NSKinsella), Vlad Costea, Ben Arc, and Thomas Hunt. We discussed a variety of topics. See transcript below. [continue reading…]

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Fascinating recent lecture by Dr. Luke Dimitrios Spieker at Cambridge on the theory of democracy as interpreted by the CJEU, the Court of Justice of the European Union, where it considered Malta’s institutionalized “golden passport”/citizenship-by-investment scheme (the 2020 Citizenship by Naturalisation for Exceptional Services by Direct Investment scheme) and ruled that it violated EU law.

Abstract

The CJEU’s decision in Commission v Malta marks the summit of a long-standing, highly controversial debate in European legal scholarship. Considering the Maltese practice of “golden passports” incompatible with EU law, the Court expanded the reach of EU law and established constraints for the conferral of the Member States’ nationalities. At its heart, the decision developed a shared concept of nationality based on a “special relationship of solidarity and good faith”. To justify this bold step, the Court mobilized EU values: “Union citizenship” – we are told – “is based on the common values contained in Article 2 TEU”. In this talk, we will explore how EU values may require a shared concept of nationality and justify the genuine link-requirement established by the Court. At its centre are the notions of democracy and trust, solidarity and belonging. Ultimately, it seems that the Court embraced a communitarian understanding of citizenship – one that builds on belonging.

Biography: Dr Luke Dimitrios Spieker is a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt University Berlin and a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. His research explores EU law’s constitutional foundations, including its common values and structural principles as well as Union citizenship and fundamental rights. He has been awarded several prizes, such as the Heinz Meier-Leibnitz-Prize of the German Research Foundation, the UACES Best Book Prize, or the Common Market Law Review Prize for Young Academics.

In its Grand Chamber judgment of 29 April 2025 in Commission v Malta (Case C-181/23), the CJEU held that by operating a scheme that granted Maltese nationality (and thereby Union citizenship) in exchange for predetermined payments or investments—essentially commercializing nationality—Malta failed to fulfill its obligations under Article 20 TFEU (Union citizenship) and Article 4(3) TEU (sincere cooperation). The Court found that such transactional naturalization does not establish the required “special relationship of solidarity and good faith” between the state and its nationals. [continue reading…]

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Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 502.

Cross-posted at PFS Blog.

This is my conversation on Liquid Zulu’s Twitter Space (@PunishedZulu), recorded Oct. 12, 2026. Topics discussed include why property rights require scarcity, the case against IP as non-consensual negative servitudes, critiques of Locke, Rand, and utilitarian arguments, Objectivism and Atlas Shrugged, AI training and copyright liability, international IP treaties, and whether Bitcoin can be owned.

[continue reading…]

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Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 501.

This is my discussion with Mark Maresca, of The White Pillbox, about my recent travels: episode. (Previous episode: Kinsella as “White Pill”: Maresca, “From the White-PillBox: Part 29. Achilles Heel edition 3”; KOL473 | The Universal Principles of Liberty, with Mark Maresca of The White Pillbox.)

[continue reading…]

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Consistency: Point/Counterpoint: Emerson, Rand, Kinsella

Related

Emerson:

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with the shadow on the wall. Speak what you think [90]now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said to-day.—”Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.”—Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras[186] was misunderstood, and Socrates,[187] and Jesus, and Luther,[188] and Copernicus,[189] and Galileo,[190] and Newton,[191] and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. 1

[continue reading…]

  1. Self-Reliance, in The Project Gutenberg eBook of Essays, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. [↩]
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Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 500.

Jorge Muñoz, host of the Libertad Individual Youtube channel, interviewed me recently: The Case Against Intellectual Property (Sept. 3, 2026; recorded Sept. 1, 2026). Shownotes and transcript below. See also Hülsmann and Kinsella: Libertad Individual Interviews: The Ethics of Money Production , Rothbard’s Framework, Intellectual Property, Corporations … 

Shownotes:

Join us for a live conversation with renowned libertarian legal scholar, patent attorney, and author Stephan Kinsella. We dive deep into the foundations of libertarian legal theory, the fundamental flaws of Intellectual Property (IP), and how genuine property rights are rooted in natural rights and Austrian Economics. [continue reading…]

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Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 499.

I was invited by Knut Svanholm months ago (I appeared on his show earlier this year; see KOL484 | Praxeology, Property Rights & Bitcoin: Bitcoin Infinity Show #192, with Knut Svanholm) to participate in the Nordic Bitcoin Conference, or BTCHEL (perma) in Helsinki. I appeared earlier this morning on the panel “Why is Austrian Economics Important?” [bio], along with Knut and Rahim Taghizadegan, moderated by Thomas Brand of Coinmotion. Our panel topic description: [continue reading…]

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