Note that this covers only the International Law part of the course. European law notes are not covered in this document!
These are complete and extensive notes on the readings and lectures (theory). I have also uploaded a separate document on case law rules, which are helpful for hypotheticals a...
1 - Introduction to International law
- Subjects of international law
a. States + acuisition of territory
b. International Organizations: UN
2 - Sources of International law
- Regulation of Treaties and VCLT
- Customary International law
a. Objective element
b. Subjective element (State practice)
- Monism/Dualism of treaty ratification
3 - International organizations
a. Their powers
b. The UN
- Peaceful dispute settlement
- ICJ and its jurisdiction
a. Contentious jurisdiction
b. Advisory Jurisdiction
4 - Jurisdiction (p.83 Henricksen)
- Sources of Jurisdiction
- Immunity (p.99 Henricksen)
a. State Immunity
b. Diplomatic Immunity
1. Ratione Personae (personal)
2. Ratione Materiae (functional)
5 - State Responsibility
- Responsability of individuals in Int.
Crim. Law
- Circumstances precluding
wrongfulness
- Consequences of wrongful conduct
- International Criminal Law (p.303 H.)
- ICC Jurisdiction and Rome Statute
6 - International Human Rights
- Core Human Rights instruments
a. UDHR
b. ICCPR
c. ICESCR
- Enforcement of Human Rights
- Derogations and limitations
INTERNATIONAL LAW - NOTES
WEEK 1
Introduction from lecture (01/02)
,Structure of the Course
Why does International Law matter?
Int. Law is everywhere – from recent developments during the 70s
Law: standard scheme to identify law reference to an authority/institution that have legal
power to make the laws
1) Domestical law – law comes from centralized legal system (e.g. tribunals/police)
System with institutions that create, enforce and apply law
Hierarchical structure: Citizens are subjects to whom rules apply vs. institutions. Belief of
discrepancy between “official organs” and “the people”. Rules avoid abuse of powers.
2) International Law
- Made by States to guide interactions with each other
- Scope: domestic law is ill-suited for international relations between States
- Public International law: regulation of conduct of States
- Int. Law is not as centralized as domestic law – up to subjects (member states) to
create, interpret and apply the law. States create themselves for themselves.
States reluctant to have a superior authority above them (concept of sovereignty)
- Considered horizontal (no vertical body)
- No parliament, no executive (no world government)
- There is a Court and specialized courts. E.g. International criminal courts (for
Yugoslavia, Ruanda …)
Courts have very limited jurisdiction for states to bring other states to Court – States
must agree on the opening of proceedings.
Public Law (e.g. constitutional, criminal, administrative) – regulates relations between
state/citizens or the 3 branches of power. Vertical
Private Law (e.g. civil, commercial) – relations between equal subjects of law. Horizontal
Private International Law: body of rules that regulates relations between persons and
entities in different states
,E.g. Dutch citizen marries a French citizen what is the nationality of the children?
Different countries define nationality in a different way. International element involved:
rules decide this conflict of law. What if both apply? Do we apply Dutch/French law?
Public International Law: body of rules that regulates relations between States (also
referred to only as “international law”)
European Law: body of law developed within the EU (still regarded as part of Int. Law – EU is
an international organization)
- EU is a unique international organization not comparable to UN, degree of
centralization resembles supernational governance. Early 2000s discussions about
confederation
- Differs widely from international law.
International Law can be seen as through metaphor of a tree:
Trunk: unifies the system
Branches: particular areas that regulate specific matters, today many areas – result of
globalization.
(question for wg – Is there a necessity to add a branch for international internet/cyber law?
If so, will it happen in the near future? There has been a lot of debate as to how to regulate
sovereign territoriality in cyberspace or how to hold States liable for cybercrimes)
Henriksen chp. 1 Foundations and structure of International Law
1.1 Introduction
Public International law: system of law that regulates the interrelationship of sovereign
states and their rights/duties to one another*
- Reflection of society to which is applied
- More specialized and intertwined
Main topics:
- Creation of states
- State immunity
- Jurisdiction
- Peaceful settlement of disputes
- Prevention/regulation of armed conflict
- Governing of sea/oceans
Also covers:
, - Mundane aspects of life
Ever-expanding reach development of sub-disciplines (e.g. int. law of the sea, int.
law of human rights, int. economic law)
Sub-disciplines often need own distinct institutions + adjudicatory bodies
E.g. with establishment of international criminal tribunals there is the need to have expertise in
different spheres of int. law (human rights law + international criminal law)
*Not only applicable to states:
Existence of international organizations and individuals who possess rights/obligations
under international law.
Public Int. Law Private Int. Law
Public International law: deals with conflicts of law + establishment of rules for cases
involving foreign elements
International Law National legal systems
- No executive/legislative branch
- No mandatory/well-established procedure for settlement of legal disputes (however
there are courts)
- Decentralized legal system individual legal subjects create/interpret/enforce laws
1.2 Brief History of International Law
Invented in Europe
Late Middle Ages (15th – 16th century) a) Transnational nature of networks of
- Different knights/merchant
allegiances/rights/obligations - Populations felt closer sense of allegiance
- Universal political/religious forces to them
(Holy Roman Empire and Catholic b) Domination of natural law in ideas of
Church) normative structure of world
- EU in a pluralistic context: national Natural law (ius naturale) ideas of
states did not exist as political natural/social life
entities. Multiple legal orders - Also applied to states rulers were
overlapped each other. individuals subject to nat. law
- Bodies of law regulated c) Law of people/nations (ius gentium)
communities (e.g. of traders, sailors) - Inferior to natural law, derived from it
- Internal/External rules d) Presence of legal obligations and
- External: regulation between contracts
communities - Agreements on issues such as:
e.g. treatment of merchants, maritime traders,
conduct of war, exchange of prisoners of war.
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