Volume IV, Issue II (April 2006) - Columbus School of Law

Letter from the EditorDear Readers,I am writing this letter as Lee and I prepare to move our operations on May 1 to South Africa for fourmonths, followed by the move to China for the remainder of 2006. The peripatetic life is becomingsomething of a habit, and it gives ICCSL and its affiliates in Africa and Asia secure bases of action forwork in those regions. Naturally it has made the editing of this issue of IJCSL a bit more hectic thanother issues, but the articles and other items included in the April issue are truly worth all the effort.The first of these is a marvelous piece written by Andrew White, an American lawyer who has beenstudying for an LL.M. in Asian and Islamic law at the University of Melbourne. Andrew has now beenelevated to the rank of Sessional Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, and he will be presenting his paper on“The Role of the Islamic Waqf in Strengthening South Asian Civil Society: Pakistan as Case Study”at the 4 th International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) Conference in Bangkok in July.As you will recall, we also publish student papers in our April issue every year, and this year is noexception. We offer two excellent articles, one by Slavica Chubric, who received her LL.M. fromCentral European University in 2005 and is currently working as an intern at the European Court ofHuman Rights. Her article addresses the Freedoms of Association, Expression, and Peaceful Assemblyfor the Macedonian minority in the Balkans. The other student article was written by Barry Rickert,who is due to receive his JD degree from Pace University this May. He describes the ways in which theInternal Revenue Code treats investment advisory fees and brokerage fees, suggesting that the differencein treatment may have a less than optimal impact not only on individual investors but also on charitabletrusts.In addition to the articles we also feature a Student Note by Jason Czyz, who is finishing his first year asan evening student at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Jason is DeputyDirector of International Programs for the National Association of Regulatory Commissions (NARUC).Jason’s contribution concerns the development of consumer associations in Bangladesh and theireffectiveness in advocating for regulatory reform.In addition to these fine articles and notes, we are also pleased to feature a Case Note by our friend andEditorial Board member from Canada – Terrance Carter – and Anne-Marie Langan, assisted by NancyE. Claridge of the Carter and Associates firm. Their piece discusses the recent case in the SupremeCourt of Canada holding that the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms requires protection forreligious practices that are outside the mainstream. In their words, the Supreme Court “has sent a strongmessage that Canada’s public education institutions must embrace diversity and develop an educationalculture respectful of the right to freedom of religion….[i]n its decision in Multani v. Commission scolaireMarguerite-Bourgeoys.This month we also are happy to report the changing of the guard on the Student Editorial Staff. Whilewe are sorry to bid farewell to Maureen, Alaina, Sarah, and Laura, we are pleased to have KevinSchwartz, Malinda Baehr, and Alison Shea joining us. This is Maureen’s last issue as Managing Editor,and we send her off with special thanks for all the hard work that job entails. Kevin will step in asManaging Editor in July.Finally, we wanted to bring to your attention the fact that this issue is the first one that we are publishingin both PDF and Word formats. We are doing the latter so as to make all the issues fully searchable onthe web. We are also creating an index so that they will be searchable in hard copy format (as they will3