Weblectures – Introduction to International and EU Law
Inhoudsopgave
Foundations and structure of International law..............................................................................................1
Subjects and ‘actors’ in international law....................................................................................................... 2
Origins and Foundationsof the European Union............................................................................................. 6
Union Institutions.......................................................................................................................................... 8
Union Competences..................................................................................................................................... 12
Foundations and structure of International law
What is ‘international law’?
- = Traditionally, a system regulating the relationships among sovereign States. Yet
other actors might have rights and duties under international law.
- Substance-wise, it covers a significant array of issues, ranging from the creation of
States to the regulation of trade in goods among countries, to the protection of
intellectual property, climate change and access to vaccine.
- Very different system from national legal systems.
o International law doesn’t have a centralized legislative or executive bodies,
absence of mandatory dispute settlement procedures, decentralized system
of norm creation and enforcement.
A long way to the current international legal system
- Roman Empire: the notion of ius gentium as a set of rules dictated derived from
‘natural reason’ common to all peoples. Natural law as such stems from assumptions
about the nature of man and society and as such has universal value.
- Middle Ages: coexistence of different normative levels and ‘communities’. The
‘international’ society was composed of a transnational network of diverse entities
and individuals. Overlapping layer: Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church.
Emergence of lex mercatoriaand maritime custom.
- Emergence of colonialism: Western European reigns subjugating native Indian
populations.
- 17th/18thcentury: first emergence of modern international law applying to
international relations 1648 Peace of Westphalia and consolidation of ‘nation
States’, State sovereignty and the principle of equality among States
From the 19thcentury to the present
- The positivist turn in international law: the primary source of law is State will, hence
State consent to be bound to an international obligation
- Ravaging colonialism and partition of Africa (Berlin Conference)
- Creation of the League of Nations (1919): maintaining world peace towards
peaceful dispute settlement and establishment of the PCIJ
, - Replacement of the League of Nations with the UN major introductions of the UN
Charter: outright ban on use of force; principle of self-determination of peoples;
equality of States; collective effort in maintaining peace and security via UNSC
- UNGA started the decolonization processes
- Emergence of multiple regional organizations -> most advanced example: the
European Union
- While originally international law was mainly concerned with the horizontal
relationship among States (coexistence), increasingly vertical and transnational issues
are taking center stage (cooperation)
Subjects and ‘actors’ in international law
Who or what is a ‘subject’ of international law?
- A subject of international law can be defined as an entity capable of holding
international rights and duties and having capacity to protect its rights by bringing
international claims. (international legal personality as a relative concept)
- Traditionally the only subjects were States
- Now also other entities such as:
o Entities which can potentially become States (de facto regimes)
o International Governmental Organisations such as the UN*
o Individuals and NGOs (rights through international human rights law / duties
through international criminal law)
*Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations – Advisory Opinion
‘subjects of law in any legal system are not necessarily identical in their nature or in the
extent of their rights’.
States Montevideo criteria (art. 1):
- Permanent population
- Defined territory*
- Government (authority over territory and population, ‘internal’ dimension of Effectiveness
sovereignty)
- A capacity to enter into relations with other states (independence and non-
interference, ‘external’ dimension of sovereignty)
- *North Sea Continental Shelf para. 46:
“The appurtenance of a given area, considered as an entity, in no way governs the
precise delimitation of its boundaries, any more than uncertainty as to boundaries
can affect territorial rights. There is [...] no rule that the land frontiers of a State must
be fully delimited and defined....”
Controversial matters around statehood
- Does recognition play any role?
o Constitutive view a State is such once recognized by other States of the
international community
, o Declaratory view a State is such when it fulfils the criteria (as set out above),
recognition only has practical consequences (leading view)
- What about ‘illegally’ created entities?
o Ex injuria jus non oritur – No legal rights can arise from wrongful conduct
o Yet.. Think of Bangladesh: ex injuria iusnon-oritur not always applied consistently
in practice
The relationship between self-determination and statehood
- Self-determination: the right of all peoples to freely determine their political status
and (economic, social and cultural development) (see art. 1 UN Charter and art. 1,
1966 ICCPR)
- Traditionally divided into ‘internal’ self-determination (exercise autonomy within the
framework of a mother State) and ‘external’ self-determination (claim to statehood,
to become a separate entity from the mother State )
- Yet, does the principle provide a claim for all peoples to secede and become an
independent State? great debate among scholars:
o Pacific claim for people under colonial rule and alien (i.e. foreign) subjugation
o Debated whether it also supports secession for other peoples: doctrine and case-
law seems to be open to the possibility of remedial secession only in extreme
cases of denial from meaningful exercise of internal self-determination
example of South-African apartheid
o Difficult balance of the right of people to have their own state vs the maintenance
of international peace and stability*
*ICJ Kosovo Advisory Opinion: international law does not preclude declarations of
independence but the Court made no determination as to the right to secede
The ‘vicissitudes’ of Statehood (1)
- Acquisition of new territory:
o Cession: purchase or ‘swap’ of territory
o Accretion: gradually created by nature (n.b. NO artificial accretion) / does not
equal erosion and avulsion
o Occupation: effective control over ‘terra nullius’
o Prescription: acquisition of territory with the consent of the sovereign state
o Forceful territorial acquisition: NO title to territory
Island of Palmas: ‘the continuous and peaceful display of territorial sovereignty is as good as
title’
The ‘vicissitudes’ of Statehood (2)
- State succession:
o What happens when a State is replaced with another? continuation of the
previously existing State or brand-new entity?
o In terms of treaties clean slate approach: the new State is not considered
bound by the treaties concluded by its predecessor but for uti possidetis juris in
relation to geographical boundaries and human rights & humanitarian treaties
Inhoudsopgave
Foundations and structure of International law..............................................................................................1
Subjects and ‘actors’ in international law....................................................................................................... 2
Origins and Foundationsof the European Union............................................................................................. 6
Union Institutions.......................................................................................................................................... 8
Union Competences..................................................................................................................................... 12
Foundations and structure of International law
What is ‘international law’?
- = Traditionally, a system regulating the relationships among sovereign States. Yet
other actors might have rights and duties under international law.
- Substance-wise, it covers a significant array of issues, ranging from the creation of
States to the regulation of trade in goods among countries, to the protection of
intellectual property, climate change and access to vaccine.
- Very different system from national legal systems.
o International law doesn’t have a centralized legislative or executive bodies,
absence of mandatory dispute settlement procedures, decentralized system
of norm creation and enforcement.
A long way to the current international legal system
- Roman Empire: the notion of ius gentium as a set of rules dictated derived from
‘natural reason’ common to all peoples. Natural law as such stems from assumptions
about the nature of man and society and as such has universal value.
- Middle Ages: coexistence of different normative levels and ‘communities’. The
‘international’ society was composed of a transnational network of diverse entities
and individuals. Overlapping layer: Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church.
Emergence of lex mercatoriaand maritime custom.
- Emergence of colonialism: Western European reigns subjugating native Indian
populations.
- 17th/18thcentury: first emergence of modern international law applying to
international relations 1648 Peace of Westphalia and consolidation of ‘nation
States’, State sovereignty and the principle of equality among States
From the 19thcentury to the present
- The positivist turn in international law: the primary source of law is State will, hence
State consent to be bound to an international obligation
- Ravaging colonialism and partition of Africa (Berlin Conference)
- Creation of the League of Nations (1919): maintaining world peace towards
peaceful dispute settlement and establishment of the PCIJ
, - Replacement of the League of Nations with the UN major introductions of the UN
Charter: outright ban on use of force; principle of self-determination of peoples;
equality of States; collective effort in maintaining peace and security via UNSC
- UNGA started the decolonization processes
- Emergence of multiple regional organizations -> most advanced example: the
European Union
- While originally international law was mainly concerned with the horizontal
relationship among States (coexistence), increasingly vertical and transnational issues
are taking center stage (cooperation)
Subjects and ‘actors’ in international law
Who or what is a ‘subject’ of international law?
- A subject of international law can be defined as an entity capable of holding
international rights and duties and having capacity to protect its rights by bringing
international claims. (international legal personality as a relative concept)
- Traditionally the only subjects were States
- Now also other entities such as:
o Entities which can potentially become States (de facto regimes)
o International Governmental Organisations such as the UN*
o Individuals and NGOs (rights through international human rights law / duties
through international criminal law)
*Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations – Advisory Opinion
‘subjects of law in any legal system are not necessarily identical in their nature or in the
extent of their rights’.
States Montevideo criteria (art. 1):
- Permanent population
- Defined territory*
- Government (authority over territory and population, ‘internal’ dimension of Effectiveness
sovereignty)
- A capacity to enter into relations with other states (independence and non-
interference, ‘external’ dimension of sovereignty)
- *North Sea Continental Shelf para. 46:
“The appurtenance of a given area, considered as an entity, in no way governs the
precise delimitation of its boundaries, any more than uncertainty as to boundaries
can affect territorial rights. There is [...] no rule that the land frontiers of a State must
be fully delimited and defined....”
Controversial matters around statehood
- Does recognition play any role?
o Constitutive view a State is such once recognized by other States of the
international community
, o Declaratory view a State is such when it fulfils the criteria (as set out above),
recognition only has practical consequences (leading view)
- What about ‘illegally’ created entities?
o Ex injuria jus non oritur – No legal rights can arise from wrongful conduct
o Yet.. Think of Bangladesh: ex injuria iusnon-oritur not always applied consistently
in practice
The relationship between self-determination and statehood
- Self-determination: the right of all peoples to freely determine their political status
and (economic, social and cultural development) (see art. 1 UN Charter and art. 1,
1966 ICCPR)
- Traditionally divided into ‘internal’ self-determination (exercise autonomy within the
framework of a mother State) and ‘external’ self-determination (claim to statehood,
to become a separate entity from the mother State )
- Yet, does the principle provide a claim for all peoples to secede and become an
independent State? great debate among scholars:
o Pacific claim for people under colonial rule and alien (i.e. foreign) subjugation
o Debated whether it also supports secession for other peoples: doctrine and case-
law seems to be open to the possibility of remedial secession only in extreme
cases of denial from meaningful exercise of internal self-determination
example of South-African apartheid
o Difficult balance of the right of people to have their own state vs the maintenance
of international peace and stability*
*ICJ Kosovo Advisory Opinion: international law does not preclude declarations of
independence but the Court made no determination as to the right to secede
The ‘vicissitudes’ of Statehood (1)
- Acquisition of new territory:
o Cession: purchase or ‘swap’ of territory
o Accretion: gradually created by nature (n.b. NO artificial accretion) / does not
equal erosion and avulsion
o Occupation: effective control over ‘terra nullius’
o Prescription: acquisition of territory with the consent of the sovereign state
o Forceful territorial acquisition: NO title to territory
Island of Palmas: ‘the continuous and peaceful display of territorial sovereignty is as good as
title’
The ‘vicissitudes’ of Statehood (2)
- State succession:
o What happens when a State is replaced with another? continuation of the
previously existing State or brand-new entity?
o In terms of treaties clean slate approach: the new State is not considered
bound by the treaties concluded by its predecessor but for uti possidetis juris in
relation to geographical boundaries and human rights & humanitarian treaties
