Summary of the book International Law, by Anders Henriksen.
Very exstensive, got a good grade making this summarty.
- third 3rd edition - 2021, English written.
Very extensive summary of all chapters of the third edition of the book International Law by
Anders Henriksen.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Foundations and structure of international law
Chapter 2. Sources of international law
Chapter 3. The law of treaties
Chapter 4. The actors in the international legal system
Chapter 5. Jurisdiction
Chapter 6. Immunity from national jurisdiction and diplomatic protection
Chapter 7. State responsibility
Chapter 8. The international law of the sea
Chapter 9. International human rights law
Chapter 10. International environmental law
Chapter 11. International economic law
Chapter 12. The peaceful settlement of disputes
Chapter 13. The international regulation of the use of force
Chapter 14. The law of armed conflict
Chapter 15. International criminal law
, Chapter 1. Foundations and structure of international law
Introduction
International law applies to issues that concern more than one state. Where national law is primarily concerned
with the interaction between individuals and individuals and the state, international law is concerned with the
interaction between states. Although international law is often associated with big issues, such as war crimes,
fighting climate change and international agreements, the scope is actually much wider and international law
apllies to a lot of different issues.
As a legal system international law is quite different than most national legal systems. For example, in
international law there is no legislative or executive branch. It is mostly up to national states to implement and
interpret the international law.
History of international law
The early origins of international law as we know it now can be found in the informal rules and common practices
countries abided by when they were engaging in cross-country trade in the late Middle Ages, somewhere
between the 15th and 16 century. These traditions, rules, practices and “ways of doing things” where necessary
to ensure predictability in international relations. At the very start these rules were mostly based on religious
considerations enforced by the Catholic Church.
Natural law?
In this time normative ideas could be mostly traced back to natural law (jus naturale), a holistic set of ideas about
natural and social life in the entire world. Natural law mostly applied to the relation between a person and the
world around him. Next to natural law there was general law or jus gentium, the law between people. Jus gentium
was concidered inferior to jus naturale and even seen as being derived from it.
Natural law was applied wherever there was no international legal structure yet. So it led to a lot of agreements
and rules on mercantile, maritime and diplomatic issues. When colonialism had increased significantly, the
Spanisch Francisco de Vitoria was the first to say that native populations of the 'New World' where part of the
global society and should therefor fall under natural law as well. This meant that everyone had certain rights
under natural law that should be protected. This was the first time people started to speak of a global society
rather than domestic ones.
The actual birth of national law is often traced back to the Peace of Westphalia (1648) that brought an end to a
long war. International order and structure by law were established in an otherwise unorderly Europe. Natural law
was used to diminish the overall chaos: thinkers like John Locke (1632-1704), Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and
the lawyer Jean Bodin (1530-1596) had already introduced the idea that there is one sovereign only accountable
to God who can break laws at his own discretion, which was an important idea for our conceptions of sovereignty
today.
The relation to war
These ideas were later used as a basis for e.g. the Declaration of Paris, which set a legal limit on the capture of
private property at sea and the Declaration of St. Petersburg which prohibited the use of explosive bullets. The
early start of international law as we know it now is related to colonialism and war. After the First World War The
League of Nations was installed by the US to maintain world peace. In 1928 the Treaty of Paris attempted,
unsuccessfully, to outlaw war. True achievements of international law were made in the period after the Second
World War. The reaction of the world to the crimes of the Nazis was an important precedent of what was to come.
The United Nations
The League of Nations was replaced by the United Nations, which is based on Westphalian principles. By means
of the Charter of the United Nations, maintaining peace became an international effort. The Security Council is
responsible for enforcing these principles and allowed to use force if this is needed. The UN was highly involved
with the worldwide decolonization process. The UN furthermore installed the International Court of Justice (ICJ),
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