A critical introduction to international law

Paperback

Publication Date

26 September 2024

ISBN-13

978-2-8004-1884-1

Extent

Absolute page count : 573

Code

1884

ONIX XML

Version 2.1, Version 3

Google Book Preview

Contents

Foreword

Chapter I - The Ambivalences of the International Legal Order
   I. International law - A great story?
   II. Is internation law "law"?
   III. Who can interpret international law and how?

Part One - The Subjects of the International Legal Order

Chapter II - The Creation of States
   I. Is statehood a question of fact? The theory of constitutive elements and its ambiguities
   II. The creation of a state: a question of law?
   III. Declaratory or constitutive recognition of states?
   IV. State succession: what role does law play?

Chapter III - State Borders
   I. Agreement as the fundamental criterion for delimitation: the relative character of borders
   II. The principle of uti possidetis juris: a substitute for agreement?
   III. The case of maritime and spatial frontiers: sea and space, "common heritage of mankind" or spaces to be shared                    among states?

Chapter IV - The Exercise of Sovereignty
   I. Sovereignty framed by law: a paradox?
   II. The national jurisdictions of states confronted with requirements of cooperation
   III. The principle of non-intervention: a general limit to states' exercise of their sovereignty?
   IV. Immunities as specific limits on the exercise of sovereignty: between the interests of states and aspirations to a                        universal morality

Chapter V - International Organizations
   I. The definition of international organizations and their legal personality: institutions per se or merely the product of                    agreements among states?
   II. The powers of international organizations: attributed by states or autonomous?
   III. The United Nations, embodiment of the international community?

Chapter VI - Private Persons
   I. The development of human rights: the scope and limits of universality
   II. The mechanisms of implementation: beyond the state?
   III. The development of obligations for individuals: a law of the "international community"?

Part Two - The Sources of International Law

Chapter VII - Custom
   I. The place of custom in the system of sources of international law: the tension between voluntarist and objectivist                    approaches
   II. The constituent elements of custom: how can fact become law?
   III. The evolution of custom: the paradoxes of a source that is both dynamic and stabilizing

Chapter VIII - Treaties
   I. The definition and validity of treaties: is agreement a construction?
   II The conditions of conclusion, termination, or suspension of treaty obligations: an objective regime?
   III. The principle of the relativity of treaties and its limits

Chapter IX - Other Sources of International Law
   I. Unilateral declarations: an autonomous source?
   II. The acts of international organizations: secondary law?
   III. The “general principles of law”: an autonomous source?
   IV. Judicial precedent and legal writings: “subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law”?

Part Three - The Implementation of International Law

Chapter X - International Law and War
   I. The scope of the prohibition of the use of force: jus contra bellum or jus ad bellum?
   II. Self-defence as an “inherent right”?
   III. The law of armed conflict (jus in bello): can war be humanized?

Chapter XI - International Responsability
   I. Difficulties in attributing conduct to a state
   II. Recognition of “circumstances precluding wrongfulness”: the primacy of politics?
   III. The random implementation of international responsibility
   IV. The limited responsibility of international organizations

Chapter XII - Peaceful Settlement of Disputes
   I. An autonomous legal principle?
   II. A sovereign right: a free choice between peaceful means of settlement?
   III. Limitation by law? The International Court of Justice as a universal court
   IV. The development of means of dispute settlement and areas of international law: towards a fragmentation of international law?

List of Maps and Illustrations

Selective Bibliography