Eileen Servidio

An opinion piece by Eileen Servidio-Delabre, Ph.D.
Professor of International Law and President of the American Graduate School in Paris

One’s set of values should be the roadmap one uses to live by. This is true not only for individuals but Nations also. The notion of natural law with its corresponding natural rights was essential during the colonial period and certain values found their way into the Declaration of Independence such as the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. However, there are other values that Americans put importance on; creativity, efficiency, the spirit of adventure, honesty and so many, many more.

This piece will not attempt to demonstrate if these values are respected in today’s America. I will leave that up to the reader to judge. It rather would like to mention just one value that I hold dear and share with Francis Parkman; the value of education. Parkman, 19^th century historian, referred to formal higher education and its importance to a true democracy. [1]

I, on the contrary do not use the notion of education in the formal sense of the term but the importance of the responsibilty of citizens to educate themselves to make valid decisions be it through formal education or otherwise. I suggest that this essential value is not given the respect today that it merits and that ignorance is detrimental to a true democracy.

Parkman wrote about the harm that ignorance can cause:

“In a country where the ruling power is public opinion, it is above all things necessary that the best and maturest thought should have a fair share in forming it.”

He underlines the importance of “a class of strong thinkers” as the “palladium of democracy”. “They are the natural enemies of ignorant, ostantatious, and aggressive wealth, and the natural friends of all that is best in the heart”.

He envisioned the existing civilization of his time as “a creature with a small and feeble head, a large, muscular, and active body, and a tail growing at such a rate that it threatens to become unmanageable (…).

According to Parkman, what he refers to as “partial education” produces “a prodigious number of persons who think, and persuade others to think, that they know everything necessary to be known, and are fully competent to form opinions (…).”

These he proclaims are the “persons who make the most noise on the most momentous questions of the day, who have the most listeners and admirers, and who hold each other up as shining examples for imitation, their incompetence becomes a public evil of the first magnitude”.

The only solution for Parkman is to “infuse into the disordered system the sedative and tonic of a broad knowledge and a vigorous reason”.

This is of course assuming that the majority can be capable of a broad knowledge and a vigorous reason. Nevertheless, education in civic, social and political matters as early as possible can only permit and help public opinion to be as informed as each person can be.

One does not expect the great majority of the people to be what he refers to as “efficient thinkers”. However, it is only through education, formal or not, that one can hope to come close to this ideal.

Parkman blames the lack of increase in the number of what he refers to as “efficient thinkers” to the “ascendency of material interests among us (…) A prodigious number of persons think that money-making is the only serious business of life (…)”. He adds that the “drift towards material activity is so powerful among us that it is difficult for a young man to resist it”. Add to this today, “a young woman”. I could not agree more with him.

The public did not demand reason according to him but “elocution rather than reason (…) something to excite the feelings and captivate the fancy rather than something to instruct the understanding”. In other words the public want sensationalism and it is certainly receiving its share of it today.

As already mentioned Parkman referred mostly to higher education, a certain educated elite. However, this is not in my sense what one should be working towards. If taught as early as possible—most children and then adults can think for themselves. They do not need to “buy” what is given as facts but to constructively think through what they learn and take the time to question it and to discuss it and to keep their minds open. One does not have to be part of the educated elite to achieve this. But it takes work. Democracy is a gift. Democracy is not something that comes easy, it needs to be worked at; to be earned. I suggest that today we are far from earning it.

The second edition of Professor Eileen Servidio-Delabre's book on the US legal system and Common Law tradition was recently released:The legal system of a Common Law Country. The British Legal System - The American Legal System - Constitutionally protected Rights of the USA. It is published by Dalloz, France's leading publishing house for legal studies.

This book offers a thorough examination of the United States' judicial system, which is one of the most complex in the world. The first part of the book is devoted to the "Common law" tradition – which this system follows – through the examination of the British judiciary from which this tradition is inherited. The second part of the book focuses on the United States judiciary as it operates today, through a dual approach providing both a global analyses of its leading principles and a detailed examination of its components.

This book is designed for students as well as professional practitioners of law, for whom it will serve as both a reference book, and an analytical work allowing them to capture the mentality and culture of the US legal system.

See book on Amazon.fr

See author page ont he publisher's website with other books published by Eileen Servidio

Dr. Eileen Servidio-Delabre was on English language radio network Radio France International on August 27 to comment on proposals by the French government to strip foreign-born Frenchmen of their nationality in cases including commiting a crime against a public officer or practicing polygamy. Professor Servidio discussed the constitutional validity of these proposed amendments and their applicability, answering journalist Clea Caulcutt's questions.

Eileen Servidio's Interview on RFI website (to listen to the clip, click on the small pair of headphones top right)

View Eileen Servidio's profile

Following the recent demonstrations by French lawyers and magistrates against the proposed legal reform in France, Eileen Servidio-Delabre was invited to comment on the French judicial system on France 24 television on March 9, along with Frederick Davis, former prossecutor in the US and a partner at Debevoise and Plimpton LLP Law Firm in Paris. The discussion not only addressed the main point of contention raised by demonstrators, which is the elimination of the independent investigating magistrates, but also did a comparison of the French judiciary with that of the US.

Watch France 24's show: Face off: French Justice: Jury's Out on Legal Reform

Following the recent judgement in the Clearstream case which cleared former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin from his involvement in trying to smear his then rival in the upcoming Presidential campaign - now French President - Nicolas Sarkozy, Dr. Eileen Servidio-Delabre was invited on France 24 on February 4 to discuss the reform project of the French judicial system introduced a few months ago. The appeal of this decision by the prosecuting judge seems to have given new vigour to the critics of this project.

Dr. Servidio-Delabre explained and analysed the current French judicial system as well as the main points in the reform project, and the reason for the controversy around it. The focus was on the proposed suppression the French equivalent of US prosecuting attorneys, which in French are called investigating judges ("juges d'instruction").

Dr. Servidio-Delabre explained how in the current system they are independent from the Ministry of Justice and are able to carry out investigation and bring charges without bias or fear of political interference, and how the reform project may jeopardize that independence as many opponents to the reform argue.

View France 24's show "Focus": What Future For France's Investigating Judges"

Dr. Eileen Servidio was invited to give her analysis of the on-going trial against the former Khmer Rouge regime, on TV channel France 24 on November 24.

The trial is conducted by a hybrid Cambodian-International Court under the auspices of the United Nations and the Cambodian government against former leaders of Pol Pot's regime on charges of Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, and War Crimes.

The focus was on the first of five suspected former high-level members that have been indicted, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch.

View video here.

Dr. Eileen Servidio participated in an Extraordinary General Meeting of the French National Bar Council (Conseil National des Barreaux) held in Paris on September 25th in the presence of the French Minister of Justice Michèle Alliot-Marie.

Dr. Servidio contributed to a workshop about the reform of the French penal procedure and presented a study on the role of lawyers in the American procedure compared to the French procedure. She also shared with the audience composed of French lawyers the Anglo-Saxon perspective on the new reform project of the French judiciary (projet Léger) which proposes the abolishment of the investigating judges (juges d'instruction) who have been a specificity of the French legal system.

Dr. Eileen Servidio-Delabre was invited by the international news TV network France 24 on September 2 to comment on the project of abolishment of the French investigating magistrates (juges d'instructions). This project is part of a report released by the French Minisitry of Justice Committee in charge of making recommendations for a reform of the French judiciary.

Dr. Eileen Servidio-Delabre is working on a chapter on international jurisdiction in France for the encyclopaedia of law JurisClasseur which is published by LexisNexis. Her research covers crimes committed not only on French territory, but also those committed outside the French territory, over which France still grants itself jursdiction. The question of universal jurisdiction in the case of violation of international humanitarian law will be particularly discussed.

Dr. Eileen Servidio wrote an article on Capital Punishment in the U.S. for the next issue of the International Review of Penal Law, where she regularly does the chronicle on U.S. Law. The International Review of Penal Law is published by the International Association of Penal Law which was established in 1924 and "is open to all those who in the different countries devote themselves to the study of criminal law or are concerned with its application and tend to promote the development of legislation and institutions with a view towards improving a more humane and efficient administration of justice" (www.penal.org)