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INTRODUCTION TO LAWLecture 1:
Law:
- The law is a set of legal rules that governs the way members of a society act towards one
another
- Behavioral codes that guide people into actions that conform to societal expectation
- Laws are norms supported by codified social sanctions
Sources of law:
• Constitution • Legislation (national& international) • General administrative decisions • International
treaties • Recognized custom • Case law/ Jurisprudence • Religious texts
Legal systems:
Civil law:
Romano-Germanic (continental)
Codified legal texts + scholars
Common law:
Anglo-American
Originally unwritten case law + precedent
Religious law
Law integral to religious sources
Sanctions are religious
Customary law
Unwritten law
Oral, informal and flexible
Related to culture
Mixed systems
National law:
• National boundaries
• Individuals
• Internal domestic affairs
• Law enforcement to protect legislature and court system
International law:
• Relationship state & other subjects
• External affairs of a State
• International Court System based on treaties
• No international law enforcement system
International Law includes the basic, classic concepts of law in national legal systems (i.e. statutes,
property law, tort law). It also includes substantive law, procedural law, due process, and remedies.
International economy, security, criminal, environment, diplomatic law, humanitarian, war, and
human rights law.
,International human rights law:
International human rights law, through treaties, acts upon states.
Documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaim the ideals of nations aspiring
to respect the human rights of people of all nations.
Legally, however, these documents do not bind countries.
• Under these treaties, nations agree to abide by certain restrictions on their conduct and to uphold
certain freedoms and basic needs for citizens.
• The enforcement of human rights treaties naturally requires nations to comply with the terms of their
agreements, and various approaches are used to enforce agreements
International humanitarian law:
International humanitarian law (law of war) is a field of international law regulating armed conflict
between states, and more recently, between states and informal groups and individuals.
IHL governs both the legality of justifications for war (jus ad bellum, or when states can resort to war)
and the legality of wartime conduct (jus in bello, or how states must behave themselves during war).
• Oldest fields of conventional international law.
• Core principles of international humanitarian law can be found in major international treaties such as
the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and the first Geneva Convention of 1864.
Sovereignty:
Power of a government to reign over its territory without any interference.
Rechtsstaat, rule of law:
Peculiar relationship between law and politics
Development of societal relations: function to bring about justice and order
Governance Triangle (Politics & Law)
Rule of law essentials:
Fairness • Rationality • Predictability • Consistency • Impartiality
Separation of Powers (Trias politica Montesquieu) • Independence of the judiciary • Access to Justice.
Fuller (1964): the Morality of Law:
1 . Rules should apply to everyone
2 . Rules should be made known
3 . Rules should only govern the future
4 . Rules should be clear to those who have to obey them
5 . Rules should be internally consistent
6 . Rules should not be impossible to obey
7 . Rules should be relatively stable
8 . Rules should not just be obeyed by public officials, they should be exemplified by them
Rule of law is about protecting people by the state AND protecting people from the state
• Everybody makes mistakes
• Abuse of power is not impossible
• Justice for everyone?
• National law and international law
• Citizen wants protection AND freedom
,Bedner (2010) Elementary Approach to the RoL
1. Procedural elements
2. Substantive elements
3. Controlling mechanisms
Rights:
Things that you are allowed to do because of nature or because of law.
John Locke Because of nature every human pursues three things:
• Life (survival)
• Liberty (freedom),
• Property (owning things to help us survive) NATURAL RIGHTS.
Because of law Parliaments can pass a law that gives people new rights!
Human rights:
• All-inclusive, supreme, and essential good claims, as they have a place with every individual, they
are basic and are fundamental to genuine living.
• Inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence , sex , national or ethnic
origin, color, religion, language, or any other status
• All equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination.
• All interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
• Often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law,
general principles and other sources of international law.
Fundamental rights:
• Traditionally, the term fundamental rights is used in a constitutional context
• Granted through the country's constitution and all individuals that fall under the ward of the
constitution are conceded these rights without assumption or cost of the benefit.
• Granted to all subjects according to the lawful arrangement of the nation with no conditions.
• It guarantees common freedom with the goal that every one of the natives of the nation can lead
their lives in the way they need.
1. Political, civil rights:
Right to life and physical integrity
Ban on slavery
Protection from torture Freedom of thought, conscience, and expression
Right to vote
Ban on discrimination
2. Economic, social and cultural rights:
Right to work and to a decent wage; form trade unions
Equality between men and women
Protection of families, pregnant women, mothers, and children
Right to a decent standard of living, including adequate food
Right to the highest standard attainable of physical and mental health
Right to education
Right to participate in cultural life
3. Rights of groups:
, Right to self -determination
Right to development
Right to a clean environment
Right to peace
Principle of indivisibility: none of these category may have precedence over the others they are
interdependent, they only function in tandem
Actors:
Countries held the main responsibility to prevent violations of human rights and create the conditions
for people to fully exercise their human rights
• UN
- HRC
– UNSC
– ICCJ
Global level:
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the ICCPR) (GA Resolution 2200A (XXI))
monitored by the Human Rights Committee
• United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel , Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (GA Resolution 39/46) monitored by the Committee against Torture
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) monitored
by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Regional level:
• European Court of Human Rights (European Convention of Human Rights )
• Inter -American Commission on Human Rights & the Inter -American Court for Human Rights
• African Court on Human and People's Rights
Remember:
• These mechanisms are tools of international and not of domestic law
• Concerns States responsibility
• Complaints can only be brought against the State or State bodies but not against individuals
• Requirement of exhausting domestic remedies
NGOs: International human rights movement
- Educating the public, organize transnational campaigns, producing shadow reports
- Provide expertise in drafting HR conventions and documents
- Monitoring through shaming and naming Operational tasks: training police and judges, victim
relief, etc.
Monitoring: UN-based approach 1503 procedure Universal Periodic Review Treaty bodies
Problem some states can harden their positions Regional level: only Europe has a strong record
Developments and controversies:
Politicization of human rights
• Right to self-determination
• Trade-off between human rights and economics
Complexity of our societies Accountability (state & non-state actors)
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