Public International Law
Table of Contents
EXAM......................................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1 – History & Nature of International Law................................................................................1
A. A brief history of International Law................................................................................................1
1. Origin..........................................................................................................................................1
2. Intellectual currents in international law....................................................................................1
i. Pre-1500..................................................................................................................................1
ii. 1500-1648...............................................................................................................................1
3. Modern international law (1648-1815)......................................................................................2
4. Hugo Grotius...............................................................................................................................2
i. Distinction between just naturale and jus gentium.................................................................2
ii. Characteristics of the jus gentium...........................................................................................3
5. Dominance of positivism............................................................................................................3
6. The Concert of Europe (1815-1914)............................................................................................3
7. Colonialism and Empire..............................................................................................................3
8. United Nations............................................................................................................................4
i. World War I and the League....................................................................................................4
ii. World War II and the United Nations......................................................................................4
B. The scope and content of international law...................................................................................5
1. Defining international law today................................................................................................5
2. Basic principles of the international legal system.......................................................................5
3. Core concepts of international law.............................................................................................5
4. Is international law a system?....................................................................................................5
5. Contemporary debates in international legal scholarship..........................................................6
C. A definition of international law.....................................................................................................6
D. The function of international law...................................................................................................6
Chapter 2 – Sources of IL & Peremptory norms.....................................................................................6
A. On sources and validity of legal rules.............................................................................................6
1. Sources, States, and Consent......................................................................................................6
2. Distinguishing formal and material sources of international law................................................7
B. Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice........................................................7
1. Lex Arbitri or an authoritative general statement?.....................................................................7
i
, 2. Article 38.....................................................................................................................................7
C. Treaties...........................................................................................................................................8
1. Definition....................................................................................................................................8
2. Only binding on parties...............................................................................................................8
3. Characteristics............................................................................................................................8
D. Customary international law..........................................................................................................9
1. Understanding the concept of ‘custom’.....................................................................................9
2. The requirement for a ‘general practice’: State practice..........................................................10
i. Case law.................................................................................................................................10
ii. Evidence of State practice.....................................................................................................10
3. Evidence of ‘acceptance as law’: Opinio juris...........................................................................11
i. Definition...............................................................................................................................11
ii. Identifying.............................................................................................................................11
4. Limitations: the relativity of custom.........................................................................................12
i. Conduct as opinion juris.........................................................................................................12
ii. Three exceptions to binding customary law.........................................................................12
Persistent and subsequent objection....................................................................................12
Particular (“regional”) custom..............................................................................................13
E. General principles of law..............................................................................................................13
1. Definition..................................................................................................................................13
2. Finding general principles.........................................................................................................15
F. Subsidiary Sources: judicial decisions (non-formal sources).........................................................15
G. Other Sources of law or obligation...............................................................................................16
H. Soft law........................................................................................................................................17
1. Concept.....................................................................................................................................17
2. Effects of soft law......................................................................................................................17
3. Examples...................................................................................................................................17
I. Provisional conclusion on sources.................................................................................................17
Chapter 3 – Hierarchy of norms............................................................................................................17
A. Peremptory Norms in International Law......................................................................................17
B. The emergence of jus cogens in international law.......................................................................18
C. Hierarchy of norms and sources...................................................................................................18
D. Jus cogens in international law.....................................................................................................18
1. Definition..................................................................................................................................18
2. Origin of concept of jus cogens.................................................................................................19
3. Implications of jus cogens.........................................................................................................19
ii
, 4. Jus cogens as ‘super-custom’?..................................................................................................20
E. Obligations erga omnes................................................................................................................20
1. Concept.....................................................................................................................................20
2. Obligations erga omnes at the ICJ.............................................................................................20
3. Jus cogens and erga omnes compared.....................................................................................21
4. Legal effects of jus cogens........................................................................................................22
F. Categories of peremptory norms..................................................................................................22
G. Closing thoughts on peremptory norms.......................................................................................23
Special Topic: War – Russia against Ukraine.........................................................................................23
Chapter 4 – International and National Law.........................................................................................28
A. Overview......................................................................................................................................28
B. Interactions between legal orders................................................................................................28
1. Dualism.....................................................................................................................................28
2. Monism.....................................................................................................................................28
C. The relation between international and national law in practice.................................................29
1. Domestic law within international law.....................................................................................29
2. Municipal law must comply with valid international obligations..............................................29
3. Municipal law in international courts.......................................................................................30
4. Municipal law in international law............................................................................................30
5. International law within municipal law.....................................................................................30
i. Incorporation of customary international law into municipal law.........................................31
ii. Treaty implementation in municipal law...............................................................................31
6. Legislative implementation of a treaty.....................................................................................31
D. Practical issues faced by domestic courts in relation to international law...................................32
1. Separation of powers................................................................................................................32
2. Doctrines of judicial restraint....................................................................................................33
3. Acts of State..............................................................................................................................33
E. Conclusion: accommodating plural orders...................................................................................33
Chapter 5 – States................................................................................................................................33
A. Introduction: the nature of the State...........................................................................................34
1. Concept.....................................................................................................................................34
2. Capacity under international law..............................................................................................34
3. Personality – participants in the International Legal System....................................................34
i. States.....................................................................................................................................34
ii. Other participants.................................................................................................................34
B. The criteria for statehood.............................................................................................................35
iii
, 1. Defining....................................................................................................................................35
2. Criteria for statehood...............................................................................................................35
i. Permanent population...........................................................................................................36
ii. Defined territory...................................................................................................................36
iii. Effective government...........................................................................................................36
iv. Capacity to enter into legal relations...................................................................................37
3. Potential factors not in Montevideo?.......................................................................................38
4. Continuity and change in statehood.........................................................................................39
5. State succession........................................................................................................................39
C. Recognition of States and governments.......................................................................................40
1. Recognition...............................................................................................................................40
2. Declaratory theory of recognition.............................................................................................40
3. Constitutive theory of recognition............................................................................................40
4. Collective recognition...............................................................................................................41
5. Duty of non-recognition............................................................................................................41
6. Recognition of governments.....................................................................................................42
i. Concept..................................................................................................................................42
ii. De jure and de facto recognition...........................................................................................42
iii. Effects of recognition in domestic law.................................................................................43
D. Continuity and extinction of statehood: the emergence of new states.......................................43
1. 1990-2011 trend in non-recognition.........................................................................................43
2. Domestic criteria for determining recognition of a government..............................................43
3. Effects of non-recognition in domestic law...............................................................................44
4. A renaissance of de jure recognition.........................................................................................44
i. Libya, 2011.............................................................................................................................44
ii. Syria, 2011............................................................................................................................45
iii. Venezuela, 2019...................................................................................................................45
iv. Afghanistan, 2021................................................................................................................45
E. Conclusion: statehood and international personality...................................................................46
Chapter 6 – The Law of the Treaties.....................................................................................................46
What is a treaty?..............................................................................................................................46
A. The Creation of Treaties...............................................................................................................46
1. Concept.....................................................................................................................................46
2. Becoming party to a treaty.......................................................................................................46
3. Who may represent a State?....................................................................................................47
4. How does a State consent to be bound?..................................................................................47
iv
, B. Entry in Force of Treaties..............................................................................................................48
C. The Nature of Treaty Obligations – general principles.................................................................48
D. Treaty Interpretation....................................................................................................................48
1. Theory.......................................................................................................................................48
2. In practice.................................................................................................................................49
E. Reservations.................................................................................................................................50
1. Reservations.............................................................................................................................50
2. Objections.................................................................................................................................50
3. Effect of a valid reservation......................................................................................................51
4. Limitations on reservations.......................................................................................................52
5. Reservations to human rights treaties......................................................................................53
F. Invalid Treaties..............................................................................................................................54
1. General.....................................................................................................................................54
2. Grounds....................................................................................................................................54
G. Termination of Treaties................................................................................................................55
Chapter 7 – Jurisdiction........................................................................................................................56
A. Defining Jurisdiction in International Law....................................................................................56
1. Concept.....................................................................................................................................56
2. Forms of jurisdiction.................................................................................................................56
B. The exercise of Jursidiction...........................................................................................................57
1. Case of the SS Lotus (1927, PCIJ)..............................................................................................57
C. Prescriptive Jurisdiction................................................................................................................58
1. Territorial and Nationality Principles........................................................................................58
i. Territorial principle................................................................................................................58
ii. Nationality principle..............................................................................................................59
2. Contested principles: passive personality, the protective principle, the universal principle....60
i. The protective principle.........................................................................................................60
ii. Passive personality principle.................................................................................................61
iii. The universality principle.....................................................................................................61
3. Treaty-based extensions of jurisdiction....................................................................................63
i. Concept..................................................................................................................................63
ii. Case study: Guantánamo Bay...............................................................................................64
iii. Problems with traditional approaches.................................................................................64
D. Enforcement Jurisdiction..............................................................................................................65
Chapter 8 – Immunities........................................................................................................................65
A. State Immunity: Elements of a plea..............................................................................................65
v
, 1. Defining the Foreign State........................................................................................................65
2. Exceptions to Adjudication Jurisdiction....................................................................................66
i. Methods for avoidance..........................................................................................................66
ii. Acts of State..........................................................................................................................66
iii. Non-justiciability: substantive..............................................................................................67
3. Absolute State immunity: origins..............................................................................................67
i. Origin.....................................................................................................................................67
ii. Early judicial decisions..........................................................................................................67
iii. Applicability of immunities to State acts..............................................................................68
iv. Practice on restrictive immunity..........................................................................................68
B. Immunity of Certain Categories of Officials..................................................................................69
i. Key ICJ cases on State immunity & State officials’ immunity.................................................69
ii. UN Convention on jurisdictional Immunities, 2005...............................................................69
C. State Immunity in international Courts........................................................................................70
1. Principle....................................................................................................................................70
2. Possible exceptions to immunity..............................................................................................71
D. Immunity of State officials............................................................................................................72
1. General.....................................................................................................................................72
2. Heads of State immunity..........................................................................................................72
3. Head of government/Minister of Foreign affairs......................................................................72
4. Other State officials..................................................................................................................73
E. Scope of Immunities for Serious Crimes.......................................................................................73
1. Immunity ratione personae......................................................................................................73
2. Immunity ratione materiae.......................................................................................................74
F. Diplomatic and Consular Immunities............................................................................................76
1. Concept.....................................................................................................................................76
B. Diplomatic immunity................................................................................................................76
C. Consular immunity....................................................................................................................77
D. Special missions immunity.......................................................................................................77
Chapter 9. State responsibility.............................................................................................................78
A. Classification and characterization...............................................................................................78
1. Defining State responsibility.....................................................................................................78
2. General principles of State responsibility.................................................................................78
i. The ILC Articles on State Responsibility.................................................................................78
ii. Exclusions under State responsibility....................................................................................78
iii. Articles of State responsibility..............................................................................................79
vi
, iv. State responsibility and municipal law.................................................................................79
B. Breach of an international obligation of a State...........................................................................80
1. Conditions for a breach.............................................................................................................80
i. Overview................................................................................................................................80
ii. Time......................................................................................................................................81
iii. Intend, fault and damage excluded as a general rule...........................................................81
C. Attribution of conduct to a State..................................................................................................81
1. Organs of a State......................................................................................................................82
2. Other entities............................................................................................................................83
i. Private individuals..................................................................................................................83
ii. Revolutionaries and insurgents.............................................................................................84
iii. Complicity for acts of others................................................................................................85
Principle................................................................................................................................85
Shared responsibility?...........................................................................................................87
D. Defenses to State responsibility...................................................................................................88
1. Circumstances precluding wrongfulness...................................................................................88
E. Invoking responsibility of a State..................................................................................................89
F. Reparations and other remedies..................................................................................................90
1. Consequences of a breach........................................................................................................90
i. Cessation................................................................................................................................90
ii. Reparation............................................................................................................................90
G. Aggravated State responsibility....................................................................................................91
Chapter 10. Diplomatic protection.......................................................................................................92
A. Bases of diplomatic protection.....................................................................................................92
B. Legal interest as a pre-requisite to admissibility..........................................................................92
1. Principle....................................................................................................................................92
2. Actio popularis versus erga omnes: standing in the public interest?........................................93
3. Modalities for establishing legal interest..................................................................................93
4. Discretion of a State to espouse a claim...................................................................................93
5. From discretion to duty of protection?.....................................................................................93
C. Rules on nationality......................................................................................................................94
1. Individuals.................................................................................................................................94
2. International law and granting nationality................................................................................95
3. Further conditions for nationality.............................................................................................96
4. Nationality of corporations.......................................................................................................97
5. Diplomatic protection for shareholders....................................................................................97
vii
, D. Rule on exhaustion of local remedies...........................................................................................98
1. Principle....................................................................................................................................98
2. Exceptions (art. 15 ADP)...........................................................................................................98
3. Exhaustion of remedies in mixed claims...................................................................................99
4. Nature of rule...........................................................................................................................99
E. Rules on the treatment of aliens..................................................................................................99
Chapter 11. Dispute settlement............................................................................................................99
A. International disputes................................................................................................................100
1. History....................................................................................................................................100
2. What is a dispute?..................................................................................................................100
B. Diplomatic Methods of Dispute Settlement (art. 33)..................................................................100
1. Negotiation.............................................................................................................................100
2. Mediation...............................................................................................................................101
3. Inquiry.....................................................................................................................................101
4. Conciliation.............................................................................................................................102
C. Legal Methods of Dispute Settlement........................................................................................102
1. Arbitration..............................................................................................................................102
i. Concept................................................................................................................................102
ii. Alabama arbitration............................................................................................................102
iii. Post Alabama.....................................................................................................................103
iv. Permanent Court of Arbitration.........................................................................................103
2. Adjudication............................................................................................................................104
D. The International Court of Justice..............................................................................................104
1. Concept...................................................................................................................................104
i. The Court.............................................................................................................................104
ii. Role of judges......................................................................................................................104
2. Contentious function..............................................................................................................105
i. Concept................................................................................................................................105
ii. Special agreements.............................................................................................................106
iii. Compromissory clauses......................................................................................................106
iv. Optional Clause..................................................................................................................107
v. Preliminary objections: jurisdiction and admissibility.........................................................107
vi. Incidental proceedings.......................................................................................................108
3. Advisory function....................................................................................................................109
i. Concept................................................................................................................................110
ii. Can ICJ decline?...................................................................................................................110
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