Dr. Preedee Kasemsup of Bangkok, Thailand, visited Baylor Law School recently with his wife and two sons. Kasemsup, a former law school dean and law professor, served as a judge in the Thai judiciary for more than 20 years, including service as a Justice in the Supreme Court of Thailand. A law graduate of Thammasat University in Bangkok, Tulane University and the University of Bonn in Germany, Kasemsup addressed students in Professor Melissa Essary's International Trade Law class on the reception of Western Law in the East from a cultural and philosophical perspective. Citing examples of how the two occasionally clashed, he recalled the day a car accident lawsuit was filed in his court against the U.S. Army, which had been involved in the accident. The army argued that it was immune from prosecution because it had sovereign immunity - a correct legal argument always asserted in these types of situations.
Modern law recognizes the autonomy of the person and one's ability to own property.
According to Kasemsup, this case is apparently the only one in history in which the U.S. Army voluntarily waived its rights of sovereign immunity when sued in a foreign jurisdiction. Dr. and Mrs. Kasemsup's visit to Texas coincided with the graduation of their son, Vatram, from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he received an undergraduate degree in economics. He received an undergraduate degree in history and political science at Baylor. Originally from Enid, Okla.,he also attended Oklahoma Bible Academy. Maddux made the Dean's List numerous times and graduated in the top 10 percent of his spring 1998 class.