Public International Law Lecture 4
Jurisdiction and immunities
In the Kosovo-case, the ICJ determined that Kosovo had a right to remedial secession. This
means that they can separate itself from an existing State, in this case Serbia/Yugoslavia. The
Kosovo-case was about declarations of independence, not about rights to secession.
It is not necessary for a state to be recognized by other states, to exist as a state. This
depends on the theory that is used. The declaratory theory is dominant over the constitutive
theory.
ICJ, opinion Reparation for Injuries
- Does the UN have international legal personality?
o Guy got killed in Israel after Great Britain left it and the Jews and Arabs began
fighting each other. Guy was a UN diplomat.
- Does the UN have the capacity to submit a claim for damages?
o There is no article about it, not even about the international legal personality
of the UN. The main purpose of the UN is peace and security, this guy went to
Israel to provide peace and security. Israel was not a member state of the UN
at that time. You still have to accept the legal personality of the UN.
Concept of jurisdiction
- Authority
- Prescriptive
- Adjudicatory
- Enforcement
- Territorial
- Extraterritorial
- Non-intervention
- Lotus-case: 1927, Harvard draft said that the Lotus case was misguided, you need
permission.
- Permissive principles
Permissive principles (criminal law)
1. Territoriality principle: the criminal act was executed on the territory of the state
claiming jurisdiction
a. Objective: effect of act is in the same country as the act
b. Subjective: effect of act is in another country as the act
2. Personality principle
a. Active personality: national of a state committed a crime abroad
b. Passive personality: the victim has or had the nationality of the state claiming
jurisdiction
3. Protective principle
4. Universality principle: there is no link to the state claiming jurisdiction but the
criminal act committed was an international crime
a. Treaties
Jurisdiction and immunities
In the Kosovo-case, the ICJ determined that Kosovo had a right to remedial secession. This
means that they can separate itself from an existing State, in this case Serbia/Yugoslavia. The
Kosovo-case was about declarations of independence, not about rights to secession.
It is not necessary for a state to be recognized by other states, to exist as a state. This
depends on the theory that is used. The declaratory theory is dominant over the constitutive
theory.
ICJ, opinion Reparation for Injuries
- Does the UN have international legal personality?
o Guy got killed in Israel after Great Britain left it and the Jews and Arabs began
fighting each other. Guy was a UN diplomat.
- Does the UN have the capacity to submit a claim for damages?
o There is no article about it, not even about the international legal personality
of the UN. The main purpose of the UN is peace and security, this guy went to
Israel to provide peace and security. Israel was not a member state of the UN
at that time. You still have to accept the legal personality of the UN.
Concept of jurisdiction
- Authority
- Prescriptive
- Adjudicatory
- Enforcement
- Territorial
- Extraterritorial
- Non-intervention
- Lotus-case: 1927, Harvard draft said that the Lotus case was misguided, you need
permission.
- Permissive principles
Permissive principles (criminal law)
1. Territoriality principle: the criminal act was executed on the territory of the state
claiming jurisdiction
a. Objective: effect of act is in the same country as the act
b. Subjective: effect of act is in another country as the act
2. Personality principle
a. Active personality: national of a state committed a crime abroad
b. Passive personality: the victim has or had the nationality of the state claiming
jurisdiction
3. Protective principle
4. Universality principle: there is no link to the state claiming jurisdiction but the
criminal act committed was an international crime
a. Treaties
