From Genocide to the Rights of Whales: Is the Rule of LawEvolving or Unraveling?

From Nuremberg to the Mar Menor lagoon, the rule of law has been stretching — first to protect individuals from the state, then to defend entire ecosystems, and now to speak for future generations. But what happens when the same laws that inspire awe are ignored by those in power?

In this episode, I thread together three moments in the legal imagination — crimes against humanity, the rights of nature, and intergenerational justice — to ask whether we are entering a new transformation, or watching the fabric of law come apart.

Show Notes

• Philippe Sands on The Ezra Klein Show – On the legal invention of crimes against humanity and genocide after WWII
• Ocean Vision Legal – Anna von Rebay – Pioneering legal work on the rights of nature and ocean protection

• The Outlaw Ocean Project – Reporting on slavery in the high seas and the gaps in international law