Final Exam POLI 483 International Law Flashcards
Foundation International Law Opinions
- international law not as a legal system
- Nicolas Luhrman: modern law closed self referential system. international law lacks authority, operates through outside influences
- HLA Hart: itnernational law as a set of primary rules that lack secondary rules (constitutional legal provisions)
Ancient Rome
- jus civile: domestic civil law
- jus gentium: laws of nations. ideals of justice observe in all countries. Romans and foreigners. (foundation for international law)
- jus naturale: law of nature, implanted in free men and accessible through reason.
Midevil Period
- further development of jus gentium
- prior to protestant reformation, Catholic church as an institution provided supranational authority. Ecclesiastical law covered some international law issues such as right of conquest.
Peace of Westphalia
- end of 30 years war provided necessary foundation for international law through the rise of modern nation states.
- jus foederationis (states formally equal). states primary legal actors with full suite of rights
- lasting distribution of power in Europe and decline of the Catholic church as an international authority
First Evolutionary Stage of International Law
Cassesse (chief justice for international criminal tribunal on the former yugoslavia)
- 1648-1918
- Grotian: set of rules in pursuit of self interest. descriptive
- European domination , American isolationism and Latin American independence
- Must show: effective occupation, de factor control of territory, intent to appropriate resources to legally acquire colonial territories.
- Group 1: Siam (Thailand), Persia (Iran). capitulation system, unequal legal relationship. European nationals living in these states had special legal privileges that contravened state sovereignty.
- Group 2: seen as available for conquest, legal under international laws. terrae nullius: empty territory
Treaty of Paris
- any monarch removed by a revolutionary uprsiging gets removed from the concert and the treaty
- new revolutionary states not recognized as states by others
- use force to put down revolutions. military intervention
- dispure resolution meetings through concert of Europe. measure to enhance peace, security and economy.
Main Legal Features of International Law in Stage 1
- legal right sanction colonialism.
- no restraint on the use of force
- extraterritorial protection of nationals abroad
- emergence of humanitarianism 1899 Hague Conference: Martens clause in the preamble. resort to force needs to be in accordance with principle of humanity with respect to civilized nations. prohibition on weapons causing unnecessary suffering. laws of humanity and dictates of public conscience accepted as customary law without usus (general practice).
- Berlin Conference 1878 protection of minority rights for Christian Armenians in ottoman Empire.
Second Evolutionary Stage of International Law
Cassesse (chief justice for international criminal tribunal on the former yugoslavia)
- interwar years
- WWI strong motivation to restrict the use of force. end of colonial expansion and rise of the US
- Bolshevik Revolution, reject international law as it is capitalist and protects the bourgeoisie
- collective security: attack on one is an attack on all
- League of Nations: weak enforcement. Permanent Court of International Justice as a dispute resolution mechanism. arbitrate before armed conflict
- Pact of Paris/Kellogg Briand Pact: prohibition on aggressive war, only permissible for self defense. no enforcement mechanisms. GB wide definition of self defense. threat to the entire empire. Monroe Doctrine and American hegemony for US as well. Italy/Ethio walk away from Pact
Third Evolutionary Stage of International Law
Cassesse (chief justice for international criminal tribunal on the former yugoslavia)
- Kantian, principles ought to be upheld by international law: peace, human rights, self determination
- UN Charter to End of Cold War
- Immediate Post War Goals: end aggressive war, punish wrong doing, end colonialism
- UN Charter 1945. Declaration of Human Rights extend to all individuals. Cold War kneecaps Security Council
- London Charter (IMT) Nazi leadership Nuremburg
- UNGA venue for new states to advance self determination and racial equality.
- codification of customary rules in to treaty law
Fourth Evolutionary Stage of International Law
Cassesse (chief justice for international criminal tribunal on the former yugoslavia)
- End of Cold War to Now
- trend towards military alliances and regionalism. NATO
- transnational terrorism, legal modification of self defence post 9/11 controversial.
- slower pace of treaty proliferation
International Relations Theory and Law John Austin
- Command Theory of Law. not divine or moral, legal positivism only commands of the sovereign.
- hostile to international law. law as command of the sovereign, no supranational authority so IL not law.
Realism and IL
- rational actor, power maximization. treaty too high a cost. leave, don’t sign or defect
- realists who accept it exists: Morgenthau cynical legal agreements: only sign for national interest to defect bc not enough of a restraining effect. treaties only work in the short run. international law leads to security bc it reflects a states’ national interest. military power is the number one determinant.
- English School: IL useful it states have shared purpose and norms
- Waltz: relative power distribution, IL no capacity to impact behavior.
Liberal Institutionalism and IL
- international law as regimes
- rational actors with long term interests and a focus on absolute gains
- proliferation of IL post 1945, higher rate of compliance.
- reputation stakes
- Krasner: move away from IL bc negative connotations so use international regimes: rules norms, decision making procedures and collective expectations.
- practical reciprocity constrains use of force and treaty defection.
- Guzman: reputational stakes. signal to other states that you are a good international citizen to build reputation. modern treaties facilitate this through clear obligations, mandatory dispute resolution and monitoring.
Constructivism and IL
- Rendt
- accept anarchy, but states not rational cost benefit actors. actors engaging in social interactions-shared meaning, relationship and identity
- international drawn from and reflects shared meaning. see yourselves as partners. NATO based on shared meaning
- norm generation: international law responds to a situation which results in the creation of a norm. ex) Genocide convention.
- norm internalization is the ideal outcome, over time adopt the norm as part of state identity
Lotus Principle
1926 PCIJ Lotus Case
- France and Turkey on the high seas
- possible for LON members to register and refuse to apply or comply with a customary rule at the point of its inception.
- unless an act is prohibited, state free to do it. hyperlegal positivist decision.
General Principles for Treaty and Customary Law
- later law repeals earlier one in the same subject
- later general law does not derogate from an earlier special law
- special law prevails over a general one.
Customary Law Definition
- ICJ statue: evidence of general practices accepted as law
- general practics: show suffieint evidence. objective element
- general conviction or agreement: opinion juris or opinion necessitates. equally important, show one of the other. subjective element
- opinion juris: states believe they are bound by law. general conviction
- opinion necessitates: econ, social, pol, security necessity inherently.
- Hans Kelsen: unconscious and unintended law making
Features of Customary Law
- practice extensive and uniform (ICJ North Sea Continental Shelf 1969). narrow and high bar for usus (general practice).
- over rides 1969. practice not perfectly uniform. ICJ nicaragua 1986. more flexible. possible instances of non compliance does not mean the rule does not exist.
Development of Customary Law
- early practice: self interest/needs were the opinion necessitates. normal course of intl politics subjective element that first appears.
- later practice: opinion juris. no longer tied to specific circumstances. ex_ UN declaration of Human rights customary law due to longevity and acceptance. usus backseat now if customary law has yet to evolve enough. ex) US/USSR Space Arms Race. no nukes in space, became treaty.
- end of tacit agreement. the persistent objector thesis has been abandoned (if state can show that at no gimte it engaged in the stated practice, exempt).
- CL for all
- need tacit agreement (engage in practice = consent) for regional (state invoking must prove)
Customary Law in the Present
-retrenchment:
new states reject the old. prefer treaty law as it was not used to exploit or disadvantage them.
lack of responsiveness: new states need results asap
lack certainty: treaty making process. hard to clarity customary
-acceleration: new customary law develops quickly. role of UN and IO’s, greater interaction encourages new customary laws
greater agreement/pressure to come to consensus.
less formal process for issues that cannot be clearly settled by treaties
regulation without treaty
Codification of Customary Laws into Treaties
- laws of state responsibility, laws of state succession and law of the seas
- international law commission sixth committee of the UNGA
- declaratory effect: take what states have already been doing and make it in to a treaty
- crystallizing effect: customary rule that is forming, opinion necessitate calls for immediate codification
- generating effect: strong sense that a violation is a violation of core basic laws, ex Geneva Conventions
Nature of Treaties
- any written agreement between states. merger of wills. voluntary
- Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, regulate treaty formation to avoid disadvantaging the global south. democratization, great powers cannot impose on weaker states
- no perverted purpose such as forbidden activities
- jus cogens: principles that cannot be violated under any purpose
- must comply with all levels of international law, implemented 1980, customary law now.
Solemn v.s Simple form Treaty
In Solemn Form
-diplomatic negotiation/signature. someone with full diplomatic power
-final test, signature but treaty not in effect till ratification
In Simple Form
-often small bilateral or regional
-technical/specific issues, lower level diplomats and tech experts without full diplomatic powers.
-do not need ratification.
Reservations Traditionally
Traditional Era
- when sign the treaty, state don’t want to be bound by certain provisions
- conditions: different interpretation and application.
acceptance: all other states explicitly accept exclusions and conditions. gave all other states veto power to help ensure integrity of treaty (contrary to legal equality of states).
Reservations Currently
Current
- Vienna Convention
- states can reserve but in some cases it is expressly prohibited
- no reservations can be fundamentally incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaty
- can object to a reservation but cannot veto, more flexible. treaty can still be ratified
- respects state sovereignty and makes domestic ratification easier but undermines the treaty making process
Grounds for Invalidity of a Treaty Traditionally.
Termination
- gunboat diplomacy: ignore duress and coercion. not reason to invalidate treaty
- corruption of state officials, inducement, not reason to invalidate
- any content, even perverted content was permissible
- Termination: frequently abandoned, denounced in public statement
- earlier treaties had no termination clause, denunciation often results in diplomatic crisis
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and Termination
-termination clauses ( not the same as withdrawal)
Can revolve around:
Article 60 Material Breach
-repudiation: claim the treaty is not being upheld by critical mass in its entirety, need evidence of material breach
-violation: parties violating resulting in loss of structural integrity of the treaty. must be core object of treaty
Article 62 Change in Basic Conditions
-change in circumstances that formed the essential basis of consent
-the change must radically transform the extent of the obligations. not possible due to material conditions
-exceptions: border disputes, change due to state’s conduct
Peremptory Norms
- special class of customary norms from which there can be no derogation. no violation under any circumstances
- violation = gravest moral wrong. designed to have deterrent effect
- Emerges in the late 1960’s from new states and socialist states to preserve their gains post colonial rule
- Western states not so keen to accept, fear violations of their sovereignty
- domestic laws must also comply with jus cogens
Scope of Jus Cogens
Vienna Conventions 69 and 86
- Article 53: no derrogation, only modified by general norm of international law of same general character or evolve over time
- consent by important and representative states
- limited scope to dissent
- peremptory norms because they have the quality of jus cogens (compelling law)
- but still do not cause a massive threat to sovereignty so states still violate them
Instances of Jus Cogens and its Limitations
- no exhaustive lsit
- ILC Draft Article on State Responsibility
- prohibition on aggression. can use force to defend self
- Four Laws of Armed Conflict principles as peremptory norms: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide
- Invalidation of treaties only available to parties to treaty and Vienna Convention
- customary law: invalidation/termination of treaties. cannot even denunciate.