Siegfried Wiessner

Siegfried Wiessner

Associate Dean for Scholarship & Faculty Development
Professor of Law & Director of the LL.M./J.S.D. in Intercultural Human Rights & Professor of Law

Email: swiessner@stu.edu

Phone: 305.623.2305

Mail:

St. Thomas University School of Law
Intercultural Human Rights Suite (206)
16401 NW 37th Ave
Miami Gardens, FL 33054

Education:

J.D. (Equivalent), University of Tübingen, Germany
LL.M., Yale University
Dr.iur., University of Tübingen, Germany

Expertise:

Constitutional Law
Human Rights
Indigenous Peoples Rights
International Law
Professor Wiessner’s Curriculum Vitae

Siegfried Wiessner

Professor Dr. iur. Siegfried Wiessner is a Professor of Law at St. Thomas University School of Law and the Founder and Director of its LL.M. and J.S.D. Program in Intercultural Human Rights. He also is the Founder and Faculty Advisor to itsIntercultural Human Rights Law Review and the Susan J. Ferrell Intercultural Human Rights Moot Court Competition. He passed the First and the Second State Examination in Law in Germany in 1977 and 1981, respectively, and he earned the Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from the Yale Law School in 1983 and his Doctorate in Law (Dr. iur.) from the University of Tübingen in 1989. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Martinus Nijhoff’s Studies in Intercultural Human Rights. From 1997 to 2000, he was a Lecturer at the UN/UNITAR International Law Fellowship Program. In October 2009 and November 2010, he served as Visiting Professor of Law at the City University of Hong Kong. In fall 2009, he was a Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. From 2007 to 2010, he was a member of the Executive Council of The American Society of International Law. From 2008 to 2012, he served as the Chair of the International Law Association’s Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Professor Wiessner teaches U.S. Constitutional Law and International Law. He is the author of a number of books and articles in the fields of constitutional law, international law, human rights, the law of indigenous peoples, the law of armed conflict, arbitration, space law and refugee law. In 1989, he published a book on the function of nationality, and he is the co-author, with Michael Reisman of the Yale Law School, of a leading casebook on international law, International Law in Contemporary Perspective (2004). In 2017, he published General Theory of International Law, the introductory volume to the series American Classics in International Law. Developing Yale’s distinctive problem- and policy-oriented approach to law, he applied it to issues of mass atrocities as well as conflicts over the allocation of resources. In addition, Professor Wiessner made the initial argument, laid out in the Harvard Human Rights Journal in 1999, that customary international law protects indigenous peoples’ rights to land, their cultural traditions, and self-government. As Chair of the International Law Association’s Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples he led 30 experts from around the globe to a thorough review of this position, culminating in the organization’s approval of Resolution No. 5/2012[10] confirming those rights to their lands, culture and autonomy at its meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria in August 2012.

On March 14, 2013, Professor Wiessner received the Law Professor of the Year Award by the humanitarian organization Lawyers to the Rescue.

Scholarship & Research

Scholarship

Books:

Siegfried Wiessner, Mahnoush Arsanjani, Jacob Katz Cogan & Robert D. Sloane, eds., Looking to the Future: Essays on International Law in Honor of W. Michael Reisman (2011, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers).

W. Michael Reisman, Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Siegfried Wiessner, Gayl S. Westerman, International Law in Contemporary Perspective (2d ed., 2004, Foundation Press).

Siegfried Wiessner, Die Funktion der Staatsangehörigkeit (1989, Attempto Verlag).

Siegfried Wiessner & Claudius Hennig eds., Lager und Menschliche Würde (1982, AS-Verlag).

Book Chapters:

Siegfried Wiessner, “Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Heritage” in The Oxford Handbook of International Cultural Heritage Law (Oxford University Press, July, 2020)

Siegfried Wiessner, “Doctors of the Social Order”: Introduction to the New Haven Methodology, in Handbook on Human Trafficking, Public Health and the Law: A Spring School from the New Haven Perspective (2014, Georg Thieme Verlag).

Siegfried Wiessner, The Cultural Dimension of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in International Law for Common Goods: Normative Perspectives on Human Rights, Culture and Nature (2014, Oxford University Press).

Siegfried Wiessner, Culture and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in The Cultural Dimension of Human Rights (2013, Collected Courses of the Academy of European Law, Oxford University Press).

Siegfried Wiessner, The State and Indigenous Peoples: The Historic Significance of ILA Resolution No. 5/2012, in Der Staat im Recht. Festschrift für Eckart Klein Zum 70. Geburtstag 1357. (M. Breuer et al., 2013, Duncker & Humblot).

Siegfried Wiessner, Indigenous Self-Determination, Culture and Land: A Reassessment in Light of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in Indigenous Rights in the Age of the UN Declaration 31 (Elvira Pulitano ed., 2012, Cambridge University Press).

Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Jacob Katz Cogan, Robert D. Sloane and Siegfried Wiessner, Introduction, in Looking to the Future: Essays on International Law in Honor of W. Michael Reisman xiii (Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Jacob Katz Cogan, Robert D. Sloane and Siegfried Wiessner, eds., 2011, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers).

Siegfried Wiessner, Michael Reisman, Human Dignity, and the Law, in Looking to the Future: Essays on International Law in Honor of W. Michael Reisman 21 (Mahnoush H. Arsanjani, Jacob Katz Cogan, Robert D. Sloane and Siegfried Wiessner, eds., 2011, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers).

Siegfried Wiessner, Founding myths, international law and voting rights in the District of Columbia, in Making Transnational Law Work in the Global Economy: Essays in Honour of Detlev Vagts 174 (Pieter H. F. Bekker, Rudolf Dolzer & Michael Waibel eds., 2010, Cambridge University Press).

Siegfried Wiessner, The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Selected Issues, in The Diversity of International Law: Essays in Honour of Professor Kalliopi K. Koufa 343 (Aristotle Constantinides & Nikos Zaikos eds., 2009, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers).

Siegfried Wiessner, Demographic Change and the Protection of Minorities, in Globaler Demographischer Wandel und Schutz Der Menschenrechte 155 (Eckart Klein ed., 2005, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag).

Siegfried Wiessner, Ethnic Groups, in Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity 304 (Dinah Shelton ed., 2005, Macmillan Reference).

Siegfried Wiessner, Legitimacy and Accountability of NGOs: A Policy-Oriented Perspective, in From Government to Governance – 2003 Hague Joint Conference on Contemporary Issues of International Law 95 (W.P. Heere ed., 2004, ).

Siegfried Wiessner & Andrew R. Willard, Policy-Oriented Jurisprudence and Human Rights Abuses in Internal Conflict: Toward a World Public Order of Human Dignity, in The Methods of International Law (Anne-Marie Slaughter & Steven R. Ratner eds., 2004, American Society of International Law).

Siegfried Wiessner, Exploring the Edge: The Personal Reach of Transnational Agreement to Arbitrate, in “In einem vereinten Europa dem Frieden der Welt zu dienen–” : liber amicorum Thomas Oppermann 453 (Thomas Oppermann, Claus Dieter Classen, et al., 2001, Duncker & Humblot).

Siegfried Wiessner et al., Faces of Vulnerability: Protecting Individuals, in Organic and Non-Organic Groups, The Living Law of Nations (Gudmundur Alfredsson & Peter Macalister-Smith eds., 1996, N.P. Engel).

Siegfried Wiessner, American Indian Treaties and Modern International Law, in Sovereignty Symposium VIII: Looking Ahead, Looking Back (Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission, ed., 1995, Supreme Court of Oklahoma).

Siegfried Wiessner & Myres S. McDougal, Law and Minimum World Public Order, in The International Law of War (Myres S. McDougal & Florentino Felician eds., 1994, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers).

Siegfried Wiessner, Human Activities in Outer Space: A Framework for Decision-Making, in Space Law: Views of the Future (Tanja L Zwaan, et al., 1988, Kluwer).

Siegfried Wiessner, Vom “verwalteten Grundrecht” zum “verwalteten Menschen”?, in Politisches Asyl und Einwanderung 92 (Ulrich O. Sievering ed., 1984, Haag + Herchen).

Siegfried Wiessner, Die “Vorläufige Wohnheimordnung”: Anmerkungen zum Statut des Sammellagers Tübingen, Lager und Menschliche Würde, in Lager und Menschliche Wurde 77 (Siegfried Wiessner & Claudius Hennig eds., 1982, AS-Verlag).

Articles:

Siegfried Wiessner, The Rule of Law: Prolegomena, Zeitschrift für deutsches und amerikanisches Recht, German-American Law Review 82 (June 2018).

Siegfried Wiessner, Human Rights and Cultural Identity: The Case of Indigenous Peoples, Diritti Umani e Diritto Internazionale, Human Rights and International Law, Italy 333 (May-August 2018).

Siegfried Wiessner, El Estado y los pueblos indígenas: La importancia histórica de la Resolución No. 5/2012 de la ILA (Asociación de Derecho Internacional), 51 Ars Juris. Revista del Instituto Panamericano de Jurisprudencia [Mexico] 209 (2018 [2018]).

Siegfried Wiessner, Democratizing International Arbitration? Mass Claims Proceedings in Abaclat V. Argentina, 1 J. COMP. & INT’L L. 55 (2014). SSRN

Siegfried Wiessner, The Powers of the President, 1 LMU L. Rev. 103 (2013).

Siegfried Wiessner, Re-Enchanting the World: Indigenous Peoples’ Rights as Essential Parts of a Holistic Human Rights Regime, 15 UCLA J. Int’l L. & Foreign Aff. 239 (2012).

Siegfried Wiessner, The Cultural Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Achievements and Continuing Challenges, 22 Eur. J. Int’l L. 121 (2011). HeinOnline

Lorie M. Graham and Siegfried Wiessner, Indigenous Sovereignty, Culture, and International Human Rights Law, 110 S. Atlantic Q. 403 (2011).

Siegfried Wiessner, The New Haven School of Jurisprudence: A Universal Toolkit for Understanding and Shaping the Law, 18 Asia Pac. L.Rev. 45 (2010).

Siegfried Wiessner, Re-Enchanting the World: Indigenous Peoples’ Rights as Essential Parts of a Holistic Human Rights Regime, 15(1) UCLA J. Int’l L. & Foreign Aff. 239 (2010). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Committee Report), ABILA Newsletter (American Branch of the International Law Association), January 2009, at 7.

Siegfried Wiessner, The Cuban Embargo and Human Rights: Introductory Remarks, 4 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 5 (2009). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Activities Report, Chair, ILA Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ABILA Newsletter (American Branch of the International Law Association), January 2009, at 7 http://ila-americanbranch.org/newsletters/ABILANews2009-01.pdf.

Siegfried Wiessner, Law as a Means to a Public Order of Human Dignity: The Jurisprudence of Michael Reisman, 34 Yale J. Int’l L. 525 (2009) http://www.yale.edu/yjil/files_PDFs/vol34/Conference.pdf. HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Indigenous Sovereignty: A Reassessment in Light of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 41 Vand. J. Transnat’l L. 1141 (2008). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Council Comment: The U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision in Medellín v. Texas, ASIL Newsletter, April/June 2008, at 14.

W. Michael Reisman, Siegfried Wiessner & Andrew R. Willard, New Haven School: A Brief Introduction, 32 Yale J. Int’l L. 575 (2007). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Council Comment: The International Court of Justice’s Decision in Bosnia and Herzegovina V. Serbia and Montenegro, ASIL Newsletter, V. 23, No. 2, Spring 2007, at 9.

S. James Anaya & Siegfried Wiessner, The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Towards Re-empowerment, JURIST, October 3, 2007, at http://www.jurist.org/forum/2007/10/un-declaration-on-rights-of-indigenous.php (reprinted in Third World Resurgence, No. 206, Oct. 2007, at 15; UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, at 45; 3(2) Asian Human Rights Defender 44-46 (July-December 2007)).

Siegfried Wiessner, The Articles on State Responsibility and Contemporary International Law, 34 Thesaurus Acroasium 247 (2006).

Siegfried Wiessner, Dedication, 1 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 1 (2006). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Indigenous Peoples, 13 Y.B. Int’l Envtl. L. 249 (2004) (Previous editions: 12 Y.B. Int’l Envtl. L. 198, 2002; 11 Y.B. Int’l Envtl. L. 155, 2001; 10 Y.B. Int’l Envtl. L. 193, 2000).

Siegfried Wiessner, The Movement Toward Federalism in Italy: A Policy-Oriented Perspective, 15 St. Thomas L. Rev. 301 (2002). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Policy-oriented jurisprudence, 44 German Y.B. Int’l L. 96 (2001).

Siegfried Wiessner, Defending Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage: An Introduction, 14 St. Thomas L. Rev. 271 (2001). HeinOnline

John Carey and Siegfried Wiessner, A New United Nations Subsidiary Organ: The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, ASIL Insight, April 2001, at http://www.asil.org/insigh67.cfm.

Siegfried Wiessner & Marie Battiste, The 2000 Revision of the United Nations Draft Principles and Guidelines on the Protection of the Heritage of Indigenous People, 13 St. Thomas L. Rev. 383 (2000). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Joining Control to Authority: The Hardened “Indigenous Norm”, 25 Yale J. Int’l L. 301 (2000). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner & Andrew R. Willard, Policy-Oriented Jurisprudence and Human Rights Abuses in Internal Conflict: Toward a World Public Order of Human Dignity, 93 Am. J. Int’l L. 316 (1999). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Rights and Status of Indigenous Peoples: A Global Comparative and International Legal Analysis, 12 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 57 (1999) reprinted in International Law and Indigenous Peoples 257-328 (S. James Anaya ed., 2003, Ashgate/Dartmouth). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Professor Myres S. McDougal: A Tender Farewell, 11 St. Thomas L. Rev. 203 (1999) Reprinted in Myres Smith McDougal: Appreciations of an Extraordinary Man (Myres Smith McDougal, 1999, Yale Law School). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, ¡Esa India! LatCrit Theory and the Place of Indigenous Peoples Within Latina/o Communities, 53 U. Miami L. Rev. 831 (1999) Reprinted in Latinos and the Law, Cases and Materials 166 (Richard Delgado, Juan F. Perea & Jean Stefancic eds., 2008, Thomson/West). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, International Law in the 21st Century: Decisionmaking in Institutionalized and Non-Institutionalized Settings, 23 Thesaurus Acroasium 113 (1998).

Siegfried Wiessner, Marathon Oil Co. v. Ruhrgas AG: Amicus Curiae Brief by Professors of International Arbitration, 9 World Arb. & Mediation Rep. (BNA) 137 (1998).

Siegfried Wiessner, The Proposed American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 6 Int’l J. Cultural Prop. 356 (1997).

Siegfried Wiessner, Introduction, 10 St. Thomas L. Rev. 5 (1997). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, American Indian Treaties and Modern International Law, 7 St. Thomas L. Rev. 567 (1995). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, La Violencia y el Derecho en el Nuevo Orden Mundial, 3 71 (1994).

Siegfried Wiessner, Federalism: An Architecture for Freedom, 1 New Eur. L. Rev. 129 (1993). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner & Myres S. McDougal, Law and Peace in a Changing World, 22 Cumb. L. Rev. 681 (1992). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, The Teaching of Space Law Around the World, 56 Miss. L.J. 447 (1986). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Blessed Be the Ties that Bind: The Nexus Between Nationality and Territory, 56 Miss. L.J. 447 (1986). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Communications in the Earth-Space Arena: Translating Equity into Hertz and Degrees from the Greenwich Meridian, 52 ITU Telecommunication J. 304 (1985).

Siegfried Wiessner, Barriers to Telecom Trade: A Caveat, 2 Telematics 1 (1985).

Siegfried Wiessner, The Public Order of the Geostationary Orbit: Blueprints for the Future, 9 Yale J. World Pub. Ord. 217 (1985). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner & Dieter Lange, Die Schiedsfähigkeit internationaler Antitrust-Streitigkeiten, 10 Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft 757 (1985).

Siegfried Wiessner & Rüdiger Jung, Das Völkerrechtliche Regime der Geostationären Umlaufbahn, 32 Austrian J. Pub. & Int’l L. 209 (1982).

Siegfried Wiessner, Die Rechtliche Problematik der Sammellager für Asylbewerber in Baden-Württemberg, 3 Informationsbrief Ausländerrecht 261 (1981).

Siegfried Wiessner, Asylverweigerung ohne Anerkennungsverfahren, 7 Europäische Grundrechte-Zeitschrift 473 (1980).

Siegfried Wiessner, Nevil Johnson: Die Institutionen im Studium der Politik, 6 Der Staat 1 (1977).

Book Reviews:

Siegfried Wiessner, Indigenous Rights and United Nations Standards:Self-Determination, Culture and Land by Alexandra Xanthaki, 103 Am. J. Int’l L. 188 (2009) (book review). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, The Reasons Requirement in International Investment Arbitration. Critical Case Studies by Guillermo Aguilar Alvarez & W. Michael Reisman, eds., 4 Global Arbitration Rev. 38 (2009) (book review).

Siegfried Wiessner, Die Schule Von New Haven: Darstellung und Kritik Einer Amerikanischen Völkerrechtslehre by Sandra Voos, 96 Am. J. Int’l L. 498 (2002) (book review). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, Staatsangehörigkeit im Wandel, 85 Am. J. Int’l L. 422 (1991) (book review). HeinOnline

Siegfried Wiessner, The Teaching of Space Law Around the World by Stephen Gorove, 15 J. Space L. 75 (1987) (book review). HeinOnline

Additional Publications:

Siegfried Wiessner, Final Report and ILA Resolution No. 5/2012 on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,International Law Association Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 75th ILA Biennial Meeting, Sofia, Bulgaria, August 26-30, 2012. (2012). http://www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/1024.

Siegfried WiessnerInterim Report, International Law Association Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ILA Biennial Meeting, The Hague, August 2010 (2010) http://www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/1024.

Siegfried Wiessner, Introductory Note, General Assembly resolution 61/295 of 13 September 2007 (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law, Historical Archives (2009)

Siegfried Wiessner, The Rights and Status of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law, Lecture Series (2009) http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ls/Wiessner_HR.html.

Siegfried Wiessner, Introductory Note, General Assembly resolution 61/295 of 13 September 2007 (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law, Historical Archives (2007)

Siegfried Wiessner, Non-State Actors and Their Impact on International Human Rights Law, AALS Workshop on Human Rights, Oct. 26-28, 2000 (2000) http://www.aals.org/profdev/humanrights/weissner.html.

Siegfried Wiessner et al., United States Agency for International Development, M/OP/ENI/DGSR, Evaluation of the Rule of Law Program in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States: The American Bar Association/Central and East European Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) – Final Report (1999).

Courses
  • Constitutional Law
  • First Amendment Law
  • International Moot Court
  • Rule of Law Seminar
News & Activities

STU Law News

Professor Wiessner’s Book “General Theory of International Law” Published
Professor Siegfried Wiessner, who is regularly consulted by foreign governments and other groups regarding human rights, has just come out with an important and already acclaimed new book, General Theory of International Law, which is the introductory volume of the “American Classics in International Law” series and will adorn the shelves of law libraries around the world.