International Law
By definition, international law is “a body of rules which binds states and other agents in world politics in their relations with one another and is considered to have the status of law.”
International law is developed through cooperation and discussion between states. While international law seeks to govern all states, it must at the same time recognize the sovereign power that each state has over its property and possessions. To that end, law is created through discussion, and then must be ratified is sixty countries to be considered viable. There are two separate processes that can create an international law. Customary international law is slowly recognized in states as appropriate and correct. Because it was beneficial
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The first area concerns the obligation of the law, or the amount to which states are bound to obey the law. High-obligation rules “must be performed in good faith regardless of inconsistent provisions of domestic law.” Examples of high-obligation rules are crimes against crimes humanity, or the Geneva convention, and if a state were to breach the agreement with these laws, they are liable to give reparations to the injured party. Low-obligation rules are simply a suggestion to a state, or something they can aspire too, but will not receive any sort of penalty for not complying with the rule. Secondly, law differs in precision, or exact wording, that can allow or prevent loopholes for actors to get through. Some international law is extremely precise, to the point of a dozen subsections to explain the one law, while other law is extremely vague (“favorable conditions”). The final are is how the law varies in its degree of delegation for enforcement. Generally, enforcement falls to the International Criminal Court, in the decision of cases brought against a state by another, however, laws can be enforced by threat of lower rights in international institutions, or extremely specific international institutions may have the ability to heavily regulate states according to their area of
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an established court of law meant prosecute individuals accused of significant crimes, where national courts are unable or unwilling to (ICC, 2011). The ICC asserts itself as a court of last resort meant to supplement and strengthen national judiciaries. Being an international orga...
International law can go through substantial changes if the privileged legal subjects, states, share a common will. Whenever the circumstances are such, the actors can convene a conference and after a series of negotiations, they might conclude an international agreement among themselves resulting in a new setup of international law. From a procedural point of view, therefore, it is rather simple to ‘make’ international law. If the substantive elements significantly overlap (i.e. common denominator of state interests), international law can be altered in line with the will of the parties. This essay deals with four such fields which have significantly been modified during the post-1940 period: human rights, environmental law, law of the sea, and space law. The first two are of particular importance as they have overarching effects in relation to other legal fields.
... that would destabilize many reigns of the world” (Dan 2010). It is evident that “international law exists only in theory and not in practice “(John 2005, 267). This clearly proves that there is a major debate around the nature of international law as in some cases they do not abide by the rules but rather confront each case differently.
Law is a set of rules and boundaries that are established by authorities which must be obeyed, otherwise, a sanction may be given. Law was described by Sir John Salmond as ‘the body of principles recognised and applied by the state in the administration of justice’. John Austin described law as ‘a body of rules fixed and enforced issued by a sovereign political authority to an inferior and enforced by coercion’.
Members of The United Nations have a duty “to maintain international peace…in conformity with the principles of justice and international law.”[1] China, a core member of the United Nations since its formation in 1945, fails to comply with international human rights’ norms set forth by The United Nations Charter. This failure is noticeably prevalent in the practices of the Chinese Legal System. Its judicial proceedings in handling peaceful, political dissenters fail to provide the minimum protection of human rights guaranteed to all through international law. By examining accounts of Tibetans detained for such peaceful protests, this paper will set out to highlight the discrepancies between Chinese enforcement of international law in theory and in practice. Before this paper goes any further, the notion of international law must be explained. Providing a better understanding of international law will make easier the task of highlighting China’s struggles with enforcing such standards.
...th 2001). Roth argues that the concept of international jurisdiction is not a new idea but was exercised by the US government in the 1970 after an aircraft hijacking. Also the war crime courts established after the end of World War II exercised international jurisdiction. In fact the Geneva Convention states that is a person regardless of their nationality should be brought before the court of any state in which that person has committed grave breaches of law and convention. Roth states that the concept of international jurisdiction is not a new one but that only in recent years have states been willing to act on universal jurisdiction and go after criminals of the international community regardless of their stating or power within the international community. Roth believes in the ability and authority of international organizations and institutions (Roth 2001).
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is an important organ of the United Nations. Actually it is the UN's principal judicial arm used to foster international peace. It was established after the League of the Nation and its judicial organ the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) were dissolved after the Second World War, in 1946. Its main purpose is to support the UN (which was formed in 1945) in its endeavour in promoting international peace and law . Important to note is the fact that this court, although referred to in a non-technical context as the world court, does not automatically possess compulsory international jurisdiction. The treaty creating this court, referred to as the stature of international court of justice, provides an option for member states to chose whether to be subjected to the court international compulsory jurisdiction or not. A state once it decides to be subjected to this compulsory jurisdiction is still at liberty of setting condition that will shield it against adverse implication of the subjection. This provision gives mainly powerful states undue advantage over less powerful ones when it comes to international matters. For instance they can easily decide not to attend the court proceeding, and if they attend they refuse to abide to the court ruling without facing serious implications .
According to Article 38 of the 1946 Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Court shall apply “international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law” in its decisions (Kritsiotis 123). In other words, the International Court of Justice cites customs as a formal source of law. According to Roberto Unger, author of Law in a Modern Society, customary international law is best defined as “any recurring mode of interaction among individuals and groups, together with the more or less explicit acknowledgement of these groups and individuals that such patterns of interaction produce reciprocal expectations of conduct that out to be satisfied (Shaw 72-73). In other words, customary international laws are primarily concerned with how and why sates behave in a particular manner. Customs derive from the behavior of states (state practice) and the subconscious belief that a behavior is inherently legal (opinio juris). Evidence of state behavior is documented in the decisions of domestic courts, international courts, and international organizations. Unlike treaty law, customary laws are binding on all states. Additionally, if a treaty derives from a custom it is also binding on all states. Some of the international court cases that have been instrumental in the development of customary international law include the Nicaragua v. United States case, the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, the Scotia case, the Asylum case, the Paquete Habana case, and the Lotus case.
Von Galhn and Taulbee. 2013. Law Among Nations. An Introduction to Public International Law. Pearson Education.
In any kind of legal relations, subject always play an important role, and it is one of the signals to determine the relation that pertaining the adjustment of any legislation system. International law is a legislation system that is a set of thousands of documents from various sources. The research about the subjects is necessary since it helps to find out the source of law, which relation pertains the adjustment of law. The subjects of international law include sovereign states and analogous entities, intergovernmental organizations, the individuals, and multinational corporations.
The Rule of Law means that the state should govern its citizens, in a way which works with the rules that have been agreed on. The Rule of Law is simply a fundamental principle of our constitution. Britain and other Western democracies are different in that Britain has an unwritten constitution, meaning that our constitution is not found in a certain document but that we actually have a constitution from the rules about who governs it, and about the powers they entail and how that power can be passed or even transferred. The Constitution includes; Acts of Parliament, Judicial decisions and Conventions.There are three main principles around the Rule of Law being the separation of powers, the supremacy of Parliament and the Rule of Law. The
...onal human rights law and international humanitarian law, as well as the development within international criminal law needed to enforce IHRL and IHL and the international criminal law itself, and criminal law traditionally imposes obligation on individuals, and duties on states to sanction violations committed by individuals.
The rule of law requires compliance by the state with its obligations in International law.
Public International law International law contains of rules and principles, which preside over the relations and communication of nations with each other. International Law that is in most other countries referred to as Public International Law concerns itself only with questions of rights among more than a few nations or nations and the citizens or subjects of other nations. In dissimilarity, Private International Law deals with controversies among confidential persons, natural or juridical, arising out of situations having important association to further than one nation. In current years the line up connecting public and private international law have became more and more doubtful. Issues of private international law may also associate issues of public international law and numerous matters of private international law nave considerable meaning for the international group of people of nations. International Law consists of the basic, classic concepts of law in nationwide legal systems, status, property, responsibility, and tort. It also includes substantive law, procedure, process and remedies. International Law is rooted in receipt by the nation states, which comprise the system. Customary law and conventional law are primary sources of international law. Customary international law results when states trail convinced practices usually and time after time out of an intelligence of legal responsibility. Lately the customary law was codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Conventional international law derives from international agreements and may obtain any appearance that the constricting parties have the same opinion upon. Agreements may be complete in admiration to any substance except for to the leve...
In 2015, President Barack Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly and talked about the significance the United Nations has had since its creation in 1945, claiming: “This institution [U.N.] was founded because men and women who came before us had the foresight to know that our nations are more secure when we uphold basic laws and basic norms, and pursue a path of cooperation over conflict. And strong nations, above all, have a responsibility to uphold this international order.” President Obama argues that the U.N. is the glue which holds the international system together and promotes mutually beneficial outcomes for the world. The fact that an international organization (IO) such as the U.N. has endured for over 70 years is some