Definitions

Question 1

Functional legal personality

Answer 1

A principle to assess international legal personality which states that if the exercise of the funciton conferred upon an international organization by its Member States requires legal personality, an international legal personality is implied.

Question 2

Implied Powers Doctrine

Answer 2

A principle to assess international legal personality which states that an international organization has the international legal personality to undertake actions that are reasonable necessary to carry out its stated objectives or functions, even if those actions are not explicitly authorized by its charter or other founding document.

Question 3

Declaratory Theory

Answer 3

An approach of state recognition which states that statehood is a fact and that the existence of international personality of a state does not depend on its recognition as such by other states

Question 4

Constitutive Theory

Answer 4

An approach of state recognition which states that the act of recognition itself is a necessary precondition of statehood and therefore international legal personality.

Question 5

Unilateral act

Answer 5

A self-declaration of a state to commit oneself to a certain principle as an international obligation.

Question 6

Reservation

Answer 6

An unilateral statement, expressed by a state, underlying the intent to modify or exclude an otherwise binding treaty obligation in order to sign and ratify a treaty without a specific clause becoming applicable in its country.

Question 7

Ratification

Answer 7

The act when a state decides to let the treaty enter its national legislation and therefore become applicable.

Question 8

Reciprocity of reservations

Answer 8

The concept that a state having raised a reservation concerning an article of a treaty cannot hold that very article against another country.

Question 9

General State Practice

Answer 9

The objective condition of CIL which states that there must exist a consistent, uniform, and general established state practice.

Question 10

Opinio Iuris

Answer 10

The subjectie condition of CIL which is the belief that certain conduct is required under international law.

Question 11

Persistent Objector

Answer 11

A state that has consistently rejected a practice before it became CIL and will therefore not be bound by it.

Question 12

Secession

Answer 12

A way for a state to change in which the old parent state continues to exist under toe same name and with the same legal identity, but with a reduced territory.

Question 13

Principle of Self-Determination

Answer 13

It is a principle of international law that holds that all people have the right to determine their own political status and to pursue their own economic, social, and cultural development.

Question 14

Internal Self-Determination

Answer 14

It is the basic understanding of the principle of self-determination and referst to the right of a people to govern themselves within the framework of an existing state.

Question 15

External Self-Determination

Answer 15

Refers to the right of a people to form their own independent state which is applied in cases of alien subjugation or if massive human rights violations breach the internal self-determination principle.

Question 16

Responsibility to protect

Answer 16

Principle of international law that holds that states have a responsibility to protect their populations from mass atrocities and that if the home state fails to protect its own population, the responsibility falls on the international community.

Question 17

Arbitration

Answer 17

Legally binding decision by an arbitration tribunal in a dispute settlement between two states constituted on an adhoc basis.

Question 18

Direct effect

Answer 18

The fact that an individual can directly apply the rights given by these treaties even while not being a subject of IL.

Question 19

State of necessity

Answer 19

A legal principle that allows a state to take actions that would otherwise be prohibited by international law in order to protect its citizens from an imminent threat or harm.

Question 20

Principle of approximate application

Answer 20

In the event of a termination of a treaty, the other party is entitled (obliged) to bring the implementation of the treaty, as if the treaty hadn’t been terminated.

Question 21

Ius ad bellum

Answer 21

The legal order that governs when force is used lawfully or not and prohibits resort to force as means of settling inter-state dispute.

Question 22

Ius in bello

Answer 22

The law applicable in situations of armed conflict which guarantees a minimum of humanity and limits suffering and destruction.

Question 23

Principle of Distinction

Answer 23

A cardinal principle of IHL that prohibits the use of weapons that are incapable of distinguishing between civilian and military targets.

Question 24

Prohibition of unnecessary suffering

Answer 24

A cardinal principle of IHL that prohibits the use of weapons that uselessly aggravate the suffering.

Question 25

Principle of proportionality

Answer 25

A general principle of IHL that claims that attacks need to weighted up against the damage they will cause.

Question 26

Objective Legal Personality

Answer 26

Claims can also be brought by an international organization against non-member states due to the fact that a vast majority of states recognizes it to have legal personality to do so.

Question 27

Principle of Military Necessity

Answer 27

Targets of an attack need to be indispensable to the enemy with the sole purpose of winning a conflict.

Question 28

Right to Self-Defense

Answer 28

Right which may be used as a counter response to an armed attack if it is directed against the state responsible for the armed attach and as long as the act observes the conditions of necessity and proportionality.

Question 29

TWAIL

Answer 29

A third world approach to international law that emphasizes the perspectives and experiences of colonized and otherwise marginalized peoples and states.

Question 30

Ius cogens

Answer 30

Ius cogens includes peremptory principles of public international law which must not be
violated under any circumstance, e.g. the prohibition of torture or the prohibition of a war of
aggression, and are considered binding for all states.

Question 31

Pacta sunt servanda

Answer 31

Every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith.

Question 32

Soft law

Answer 32

Rules of International Law that do not stipulate concrete rights or obligations for those whom they address but guidelines or principles that might become IL in the future.

Question 33

Travaux preparatoires

Answer 33

Preliminary drafts, minutes of conferences, and the likes, relating to the conclusion of treaties.

Question 34

Clausla rebuc sic stantibus

Answer 34

Legal doctrine, which is the exception to the general rule of pacta sunt servanda, allowing for treaties to become applicable because of fundamental change of circumstances.