Introduction to the course.
Modern global challenges give rise to three recurring and fundamental questions in
international legal practice.
1. Are existing international laws sufficient for addressing the challenges that currently
exist in the global context?
2. How do systems of international law interact?
a. How does th enature of international law facilitate and limite its ability to
address wicked problems?
3. Does the structure of international law facilitate or limit its ability to address wicked
problems?
a. How do and should international laws interact with one another in a particular
situation.
The course is divided in 5 sections based on these questions.
1: includes the following fundamental discussion in oublic internaitonal law:
1. Who are the actors and subjects of international law?
2. What are the sources of international law?
2: turns to the specific question of territoiral sovereignty both regarding land and swa.
3: examines aspects of international environmental law.
4: addresses questions of human rights, including refugees, statelessness, and business &
human rights frameworks
5: turns to the international humanitarian law, addresisng the scope of the law of war.
Throughout these topics, we focus on several over-arching questions
- What is the design of the relevant international laws. Are they well-suited to meeting
a particular challenge? if so, how? if not, what is needed?
- What are the interconnections that exist in different systems of international law?
The tutorials focus on the skills of debate and mooting. Each week you will be given a
position to prepare and then argue in the tutorial session with a team of other students.
Types of assessment
- treaty negotiation exercise (30%) TNE
- Final exam (70%) week 1-12
week 1 subjects & Actors in international law
reading notes:
Subjects of international law
Definition: international law, only some of the various actors on the international scene are
subjects of international law and thus possess international legal personality. States are the
most obvious and universally accepted subjects of international law. But there are many
other candidates ranging from international organisations to the individual. As a working
definition, subjects of international law may be defined as entities which are capable of
possessing international rights and duties.
The debate after World War II concentrated on groups' international legal
situation and other corporate entities as well as the individual. The decades after
World War II led to the creation of individual rights on an international level. The
,Nuremberg trials may be seen as an early step in developing → international
criminal law.
—----------------
States have been and continue to be the traditional and most important subjects of
international law. In addition, development during the 20th century has led to the recognition
og international governmental organisations as subjects of international law. While the legal
personality of NGOs still is an unsettled issue, it should be noted that they ar eincreasingly
recognised as relevant actors on the international scene.
The Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta traditionally have been accepted as subjects
of international law. The same holds true for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The government is the authoritative representative of a State. Hence, governments are
usually reluctant to admit a specific international status for non-self-governing peoples,
insurgents, or national liberation movements.
The process of decolonisation after World War II brought about a number of organised
groups which fought on behalf of their people against respective colonial powers.
indigenous peoples have been granted specific rights under the ILO Convention concerning
the protection and integration of Indigenous and other Tribal and Semi-Tribal Populations in
Independent Countries and Convention concerning indigenous and Tribal peoples in
independent countries. It has been made clear that the use of the term people does not
imply a respective general qualification under international law. until recent, current
international practice did not seem to include indigenous peoples in the rights to self-
determination. However, in 2006 the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the draft
for a united Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenus peoples, which contains art. 3
which expresses that indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination, which may
lead to their qualification as subjects of international law in the future.
The position of international law with respect to individuals has changed considerably in the
last 50 years. Individuals used to be mediated in international law by the States involved in
their nationality treatment in a specific situation and had no legal position of their own.
International law has undergone an evolutionary development in this respect. It is undisputed
that international treaties may create individual treaties and obligations. (The Nuremberg
tribunal consequently states that ‘international law imposes duties and liabilities upon
individuals as upon States.’
These developments lead to the conclusion that the individual today has acquired a legally
relevant position in international law. It has been granted rights and is made subject to
obligations which, in many instances, have a procedural corollary, eg. the individual
complaint mechanism in international human rights protection.
Multinational enterprises or transnational corporations, as they are also sometimes called,
are another candidate for functionality-limited international legal personality. States and
multinational companies are considered equal parties to a dispute once it has been brought
to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). This necessarily
implies an international legal position of the respective corporation.
—------------
The terms international legal personality and international legal capacity describe the same
characteristic: the fact that an entity is capable of possessing international rights and/or
duties.
,The capacity to possess international legal personality does not imply that each subject of
international law has the same capacity for action.
Current (2007) legal doctrine distinguishes between partial and full legal personality. Under
this distinction, only States are accorded full legal personality, which implies that, in principle,
States possess all international legal rights and are subject to all international legal duties.
By contrast, others are only considered partial subjects in the sense that their rights and
duties are limited by the founding documents in which the respective rights and obligations
are conferred upon the organisation by the founding States.
The predominant role of states in the international system is still reflected in the distinction
between objective and relative international personality. States enjoy objective international
legal personality, the international legal personality of other subjects of international law is
considered to be relative in the sense that it has to be recognised in order to come into
being.
A related distinction is the distinction between original, or born, subjects of international law
and derived, or created, subjects of international law.
A further distinction must be made between domestic and international legal personality.
International legal personality does not automatically imply national legal legal personality
and vice versa.
State;
(i) States have plenary competence to perform acts, make treaties, and so on, in the
international sphere: this is one meaning of the term sovereign as applied to states.
(ii) States are exclusively competent with respect to their internal affairs, a principle reflected
by Art. 2 (7) UN Charter.
(iii) States are not subject to compulsory international process, jurisdiction, or settlement
without their *consent* given either generally or in the specific case.
(iv) In international law States are considered as equal. This is a formal, not moral principle.
States may consent to unequal voting rights by becoming members of organisations with
weighted voting. Still less does it mean that they are entitled to an equal voice or influence. It
does mean that at a basic level, States have equal status and standing.
(v) Derogations from these principles will not be presumed: in case of doubt and
international court or tribunal will tend to decide in favour of the freedom of action of States,
whether with respect to external or internal affairs, or as not having consented to a specific
exercise of international jurisdiction.
These 5 principles constitute in legal terms the core of the concept of statehood, the
essence of the special position of States in international law.
……
Introduction lecture 1 notes:
Four subject areas
1. State succession / territory
a. What is sovereignty?
b. Territorial seas
c. Foundational understanding of the state
d. Recourses with territories
2. Environmental law
a. Small island states and climate change
, b. Ecoside?
3. Human Rights law
a. Statelessness / migration
4. Internaitonal Humanitarian law
a. Laws of peace, laws of war
b. Two particular case studies
i. nuclear weapons
ii. autonomous weapons systems
!!Article 38 of the statute of the ICJ (sources of international law)!!
Important for understanding international judicial agreements.
Weekly schedule
40-50 pages of reading
Submit an answer to the critique question
Practice exam, during midterm week
debates/ discussions based on case studies iin the tutorials
Open Book, final exam (USB stick)
Lecture 1
How do we approach international law as global lawyers?
- (Athena Roberts, Is international law International? (OUP 2017))
Every legal system defines who has
● Rights
● Obligations
The individual has rights derived from public international law. There are certain limitations to
such right, but, for the individual, there is not really obligations.
Human rights obligations fall upon statres.
Defining subjects and Actors
In International law…
Rights: capacity to make law by entering into treaties; ability ti be protected by international
law
Obligations: obligation to uphold commitments entered into
Subjects of international law “as entities which are capable of possessing international
rights and duties”
2 main subjects of international law
● States
● International organizations
What is a state?
1. Permanent population
2. Defined territory
3. Government
4. Capacity to enter into international relations with other states
(Montevideo Convention)
Modern global challenges give rise to three recurring and fundamental questions in
international legal practice.
1. Are existing international laws sufficient for addressing the challenges that currently
exist in the global context?
2. How do systems of international law interact?
a. How does th enature of international law facilitate and limite its ability to
address wicked problems?
3. Does the structure of international law facilitate or limit its ability to address wicked
problems?
a. How do and should international laws interact with one another in a particular
situation.
The course is divided in 5 sections based on these questions.
1: includes the following fundamental discussion in oublic internaitonal law:
1. Who are the actors and subjects of international law?
2. What are the sources of international law?
2: turns to the specific question of territoiral sovereignty both regarding land and swa.
3: examines aspects of international environmental law.
4: addresses questions of human rights, including refugees, statelessness, and business &
human rights frameworks
5: turns to the international humanitarian law, addresisng the scope of the law of war.
Throughout these topics, we focus on several over-arching questions
- What is the design of the relevant international laws. Are they well-suited to meeting
a particular challenge? if so, how? if not, what is needed?
- What are the interconnections that exist in different systems of international law?
The tutorials focus on the skills of debate and mooting. Each week you will be given a
position to prepare and then argue in the tutorial session with a team of other students.
Types of assessment
- treaty negotiation exercise (30%) TNE
- Final exam (70%) week 1-12
week 1 subjects & Actors in international law
reading notes:
Subjects of international law
Definition: international law, only some of the various actors on the international scene are
subjects of international law and thus possess international legal personality. States are the
most obvious and universally accepted subjects of international law. But there are many
other candidates ranging from international organisations to the individual. As a working
definition, subjects of international law may be defined as entities which are capable of
possessing international rights and duties.
The debate after World War II concentrated on groups' international legal
situation and other corporate entities as well as the individual. The decades after
World War II led to the creation of individual rights on an international level. The
,Nuremberg trials may be seen as an early step in developing → international
criminal law.
—----------------
States have been and continue to be the traditional and most important subjects of
international law. In addition, development during the 20th century has led to the recognition
og international governmental organisations as subjects of international law. While the legal
personality of NGOs still is an unsettled issue, it should be noted that they ar eincreasingly
recognised as relevant actors on the international scene.
The Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta traditionally have been accepted as subjects
of international law. The same holds true for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The government is the authoritative representative of a State. Hence, governments are
usually reluctant to admit a specific international status for non-self-governing peoples,
insurgents, or national liberation movements.
The process of decolonisation after World War II brought about a number of organised
groups which fought on behalf of their people against respective colonial powers.
indigenous peoples have been granted specific rights under the ILO Convention concerning
the protection and integration of Indigenous and other Tribal and Semi-Tribal Populations in
Independent Countries and Convention concerning indigenous and Tribal peoples in
independent countries. It has been made clear that the use of the term people does not
imply a respective general qualification under international law. until recent, current
international practice did not seem to include indigenous peoples in the rights to self-
determination. However, in 2006 the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the draft
for a united Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenus peoples, which contains art. 3
which expresses that indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination, which may
lead to their qualification as subjects of international law in the future.
The position of international law with respect to individuals has changed considerably in the
last 50 years. Individuals used to be mediated in international law by the States involved in
their nationality treatment in a specific situation and had no legal position of their own.
International law has undergone an evolutionary development in this respect. It is undisputed
that international treaties may create individual treaties and obligations. (The Nuremberg
tribunal consequently states that ‘international law imposes duties and liabilities upon
individuals as upon States.’
These developments lead to the conclusion that the individual today has acquired a legally
relevant position in international law. It has been granted rights and is made subject to
obligations which, in many instances, have a procedural corollary, eg. the individual
complaint mechanism in international human rights protection.
Multinational enterprises or transnational corporations, as they are also sometimes called,
are another candidate for functionality-limited international legal personality. States and
multinational companies are considered equal parties to a dispute once it has been brought
to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). This necessarily
implies an international legal position of the respective corporation.
—------------
The terms international legal personality and international legal capacity describe the same
characteristic: the fact that an entity is capable of possessing international rights and/or
duties.
,The capacity to possess international legal personality does not imply that each subject of
international law has the same capacity for action.
Current (2007) legal doctrine distinguishes between partial and full legal personality. Under
this distinction, only States are accorded full legal personality, which implies that, in principle,
States possess all international legal rights and are subject to all international legal duties.
By contrast, others are only considered partial subjects in the sense that their rights and
duties are limited by the founding documents in which the respective rights and obligations
are conferred upon the organisation by the founding States.
The predominant role of states in the international system is still reflected in the distinction
between objective and relative international personality. States enjoy objective international
legal personality, the international legal personality of other subjects of international law is
considered to be relative in the sense that it has to be recognised in order to come into
being.
A related distinction is the distinction between original, or born, subjects of international law
and derived, or created, subjects of international law.
A further distinction must be made between domestic and international legal personality.
International legal personality does not automatically imply national legal legal personality
and vice versa.
State;
(i) States have plenary competence to perform acts, make treaties, and so on, in the
international sphere: this is one meaning of the term sovereign as applied to states.
(ii) States are exclusively competent with respect to their internal affairs, a principle reflected
by Art. 2 (7) UN Charter.
(iii) States are not subject to compulsory international process, jurisdiction, or settlement
without their *consent* given either generally or in the specific case.
(iv) In international law States are considered as equal. This is a formal, not moral principle.
States may consent to unequal voting rights by becoming members of organisations with
weighted voting. Still less does it mean that they are entitled to an equal voice or influence. It
does mean that at a basic level, States have equal status and standing.
(v) Derogations from these principles will not be presumed: in case of doubt and
international court or tribunal will tend to decide in favour of the freedom of action of States,
whether with respect to external or internal affairs, or as not having consented to a specific
exercise of international jurisdiction.
These 5 principles constitute in legal terms the core of the concept of statehood, the
essence of the special position of States in international law.
……
Introduction lecture 1 notes:
Four subject areas
1. State succession / territory
a. What is sovereignty?
b. Territorial seas
c. Foundational understanding of the state
d. Recourses with territories
2. Environmental law
a. Small island states and climate change
, b. Ecoside?
3. Human Rights law
a. Statelessness / migration
4. Internaitonal Humanitarian law
a. Laws of peace, laws of war
b. Two particular case studies
i. nuclear weapons
ii. autonomous weapons systems
!!Article 38 of the statute of the ICJ (sources of international law)!!
Important for understanding international judicial agreements.
Weekly schedule
40-50 pages of reading
Submit an answer to the critique question
Practice exam, during midterm week
debates/ discussions based on case studies iin the tutorials
Open Book, final exam (USB stick)
Lecture 1
How do we approach international law as global lawyers?
- (Athena Roberts, Is international law International? (OUP 2017))
Every legal system defines who has
● Rights
● Obligations
The individual has rights derived from public international law. There are certain limitations to
such right, but, for the individual, there is not really obligations.
Human rights obligations fall upon statres.
Defining subjects and Actors
In International law…
Rights: capacity to make law by entering into treaties; ability ti be protected by international
law
Obligations: obligation to uphold commitments entered into
Subjects of international law “as entities which are capable of possessing international
rights and duties”
2 main subjects of international law
● States
● International organizations
What is a state?
1. Permanent population
2. Defined territory
3. Government
4. Capacity to enter into international relations with other states
(Montevideo Convention)
