Module 6 : International Law

Question 1

What is law?

Answer 1

• basic… law is about rights and contracts
• if A and B make a contract, they owe eachother rights & obligations… A’s right is B’s obligation and vice versa

Question 2

What is law?

Rights & Obligations

Answer 2

• right = a claim, a freedom, a power, an immunity
• obligation = a duty, a ‘no right’, a liability, a disability

Question 3

What is international law?

Answer 3

• the law originates in relations between nation states
• (1) law between sovereign states
• (2) accords legal personality to states, but also to other entities like international organizations
• (3) regulates some aspects of the relationship between states and individuals, setting international minimum standards of treatment that states must adhere to (e.g. basic human rights)

Question 4

Where do we look for international law?

Answer 4

• there is no international legislature… but in Art.38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice it says the following are formal sources of international law upon which there is no hierarchy…
• (1) international conventions (treaties)
• (2) customary international law (customs - as evidence of a general practice accepted as law)
• (3) general principles of the law (law recognized by civil nations)
• also judicial decisions and scholarly commentary can be interpretative sources of international law

Question 5

Treaties

What is a treaty?

Answer 5

• international agreement concluded between states in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument, or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation

Question 6

Treaties

Customary International law…

Answer 6

• (1) established, widespread and consistent practice on the part of states
• (2) the belief that the practice is obligatory as a matter of law

Question 7

Treaties

A treaty is… (according to vienna convention) (4)

Answer 7

1. an international agreement in writing
2. between states [or between a state and an international organization such as the UN]
3. formed with an intent to be bound
4. governed by international law

Question 8

treaties

Treaties may be… (3)

Answer 8

1. bilateral treaties (between Canada and one other country
2. multilateral treaties (between 3 or more countries, generally developed under the auspices of international organzations - any country open to join)
3. Plurilateral treaties (generally entered into between one State and a group of states)

Question 9

Treaties

As a legal matter, treaties may be…

Answer 9

1. ‘contractual’ (contract)… concluded between states where the force of the agreement is distinct between each party, usually the result of a bargain or ‘quid pro quo’ (bilateral)
2. ‘constitutive’… so that the obligations involved are owed absolutely regardless of any specific ‘quid pro quo’ among the parties (e.g. UN, Charter)

Question 10

Treaty signature and ratification

There are 2 steps that take place before a country becomes bound by a treaty…

Answer 10

1. signature - to express political support
2. ratification - to express agreement to be legally bound by the terms of the treaty