An Update to Gray Hall II

Greetings and welcome back to The Un-Zone, the only known site on the place called the Internet devoted to all things related to Un. It's time for the semi-regular feature of this blog that I like to call The Un-Update. It may not be much, but at least it is something.

I've got the newest chapter to Gray Hall II posted up. It's a rambling chapter about foodies, food, and the experience that women go through called the chocolate high, the almost-religious state of esctasy that women get while eating chocolate.

I'm still doing research for the research paper. This is going to be the worst part of the research process as it means doing a thorough search of the WTO documents website and finding out how many countries state they have or claim to have the right to "public morals" exemptions. Plus I need to find examples of "public morals" clauses in other trade agreements. And I have to download the Tuna-Dolphin cases and the Antigua Gambling case. For those who are not familiar with international trade, the WTO decisions are very long (sometimes, up to 500 pages), very complicated (multiple parts and fiendish legal analysis), and very complexly written (see previously mentioned items in this list). Let's just say that despite being written in English, Spanish, and French, their decisions don't make any sense in any of the three languages. And this is a complaint that comes from even the best international trade lawyers and scholars in the business. That includes my International Trade Law professor who has an impressive background in international trade law.
To sum up the research I have done so far, I can say the following about "public morals" as used in international trade with little hesitation.
Everybody uses the term "public morals" based upon the limited research I have done.

1. "Public morals" depends on the culture as evidenced by the many kinds of subjects that fall under "public morals," including, but not limited to the following: pornography, alcohol, the proper handling of corpses by undertakers (an actual law in a state in the US), non-kosher products (Israel), pistashios(no kidding), country music(no kidding as well), illegal narcotics, images of Buddha (several countries in Southeast Asia like Thailand), and gambling.
2. The WTO, in a recent decision, gives a defintion of "public morals" (most likely copied from a dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary) and a test for what is necessary.
3. Necessary is another one of those terms that can mean anything, but the test for what is "necessary" is even worse as it is just as vague as "public morals."
4. Nobody knows what "public morals" means and that includes the WTO.

It's time for me to do some more research on this topic and make some kind of effort into understanding the vagaries and contradictions and confusion raised by this subject. Why do I inevitably choose the Catherine's Wheel topic that promises to be painful, self-inflicted torture? Oh the joys of international trade law! All of this is just a tiny bit of what life as a 3L at KU Law is like.

That's all for now.