The Supreme Court Rules

in the majority opinion for the recent ruling involving the Alien Tort Statute, judge souter states "... that in the 18th century, there were three offenses that were seen as violating the contemporary concept of international law: violation of a promise to give 'safe conduct,', piracy and 'infringement of the rights of ambassadors.' Calling these offenses 'paradigms,' he said that the Alien Tort Statute should be interpreted today as applying to their modern equivalents: international norms with 'definite content and acceptance among civilized nations.'"

my oh my. read the rest of the article here.