5 www.loubar.org November 2025 derbycitylitho.com • duplicatorsales.net 1-800-633-8921 • 831 E. Broadway, Louisville, KY 40204 PRINT, CONNECT, SUCCEED Tailoring your Office Technology Solutions since 1959. Network Printers and Copiers Fleet and Managed Print Solutions Corporate Mailing Systems Computer Systems and Managed IT Document Management Professional Print has jurisdiction (because not all nation states are party to the ICC). The ICJ, or the World Court (https://www. icj-cij.org/), adjudicates cases between na- tions over a variety of matters as diverse as disputes over borders, conflicts over civil aviation rules, the movement of migrants and, at least recently, a claim by a state that another state has violated the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This area of ICJ law, which is still developing, comes out of a 2019 action by The Gambia (joined now by 11 other nations) against Myanmar over the treatment of the Rohingya people. The Genocide Convention allows any state to enforce its provisions, and as Myanmar is not a signatory to the Statute of the Inter- national Criminal Court, the ICJ ruled that the Court was the only competent body to judge the claim. More controversially, as the Myanmar case has slowly proceeded, South Africa filed a claim against Israel for its actions in the Gaza conflict. Decisions in the preliminary stages of these matters can be found on the front page and under the decisions tab. Since ICJ litigation usu- ally takes years if not decades to resolve, this will be an active area of humanitarian law for the foreseeable future. International Criminal Court (ICC) While the ICJ tries cases between nations, the ICC hears cases involving individuals charged with crimes against humanity. Its jurisdiction is limited to crimes by sig- natories to the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court or that occur on the territory of a signatory. The Court’s interpretation of its jurisdiction has been controversial, especially since it allowed the indictment of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of a non-signatory, for actions related to Israel’s prosecution of its war in Gaza, which, as part of the Palestinian Authority, is a signatory. (The U.S. has recently sanctioned ICC officials over this ruling.) The Rome Statute and its amendments can be found under Documents on the Core Legal Texts tab (https://www.icc-cpi.int/ publications/core-legal-texts), along with rules of court and professional ethics. De- cisions and Records of the ICC are found in the Court Records folder (https://www. icc-cpi.int/decisions). The ICC News tab is useful in following hearings, new rulings and other matters. Other Resources The Resources web page of the Ameri- can Society of International Law (ASIL) (https://www.asil.org/resources) has several beneficial resources, including news articles, podcasts and videos. Of particular interest, is found under Topics, Human Rights and International Criminal Law (https://www.asil.org/topics/human- rights-and-international-criminal-law). You can search by keyword, perhaps “Ukraine,” and add Tags like either “Sig- nature Topics: Atrocity Prevention” or “Use of Force, International Humanitar- ian Law” to pull up a number of on-point articles and other posts. LBA Human Rights Section Researching is one thing, doing as an- other. Members of the Louisville Bar Association interested in this area of law should join the Human Right Sec- tion to get active in this area. In its own words, it “seeks to educate the Bench and Bar on timely topics that are also the basis of new law and policy forming around them to keep up with the ever- increasing pace of the global village in which we find ourselves working and living to a greater degree every day.” The section often features speakers with expertise in human rights law, domestic and global, with recent programs in human trafficking, civil rights and im- migration law. Members with questions about joining Human Rights Section, should contact the LBA’s Professional Development and Leadership Director Lisa Murray, [email protected]. Kurt X. Metzmeier is the interim director of the law library and professor of legal bibliog- raphy at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. He is the author of Writing the Legal Record: Law Reporters in Nineteenth- Century Kentucky, a group biography of Kentucky’s earliest law reporters, who were leading mem- bers of antebellum Kentucky’s legal and political worlds. n (Continued from previous page) From the Office of the Circuit Court Clerk Following an ordinance passed by the Louisville Metro Council recently, court costs and filing fees in Jefferson County have been increased. This Court Facilities Fee took effect on Nov. 1, 2025. It will help fund an estimated $40 million in deferred maintenance and repairs to the Jefferson County- owned Hall of Justice, Judicial Center and the Old Jail Building for projects such as: • Escalator and elevator repairs • Roofing/leak repairs • Plumbing and security upgrades • Ongoing building maintenance It should be noted that 101 other Kentucky counties currently collect a Court Facilities Fee as passed by local ordinance, which the state legislature autho- rizes by statute. The Court Facilities Fee is now automatically applied to court costs and civil filing fees when either eFiled or conventionally filed. The new charges, which range from $10 to $25, apply to both circuit and district court cases. Specific fee increases: • Circuit Civil cases: The filing fee increased by $25. This also includes a $25 additional filing fee for appeals to the Court of Appeals. • Circuit Criminal cases: Court costs increased by $25. • District Civil cases: The filing fee increased by $10. • District Criminal cases: Court costs increased by $10 for traffic and by $20 for misdemeanor cases. n
