Foundations & Evolution
This principle establishes that the law applies equally to individuals and governments and that no one is above the law.
What is the Rule of Law?
This theory considers international law and domestic law to be two separate legal systems.
What is Dualism?
This article of the Statute of the International Court of Justice provides the classic starting point for identifying the sources of International Law.
What is Article 38?
This Latin principle means that agreements in force must be performed in good faith.
What is pacta sunt servanda?
These remain the principal and most traditional subjects of Public International Law.
What are States?
This 1648 event is commonly used as a symbolic reference point for the emergence of the modern system of sovereign States.
What is the Peace of Westphalia?
According to this theory, international law and domestic law form part of a single legal order.
What is Monism?
Name the two elements necessary for the formation of customary international law.
What are State practice and opinio juris?
What is the main difference between a bilateral and a multilateral treaty?
A bilateral treaty involves two States, while a multilateral treaty involves three or more States.
Name the four classic elements associated with statehood.
Permanent population, defined territory, government, and capacity to enter into relations with other States. (International Recognition)
After 1945, these four developments significantly transformed Public International Law. Name three.
What are collective security, human rights, decolonization, and multilateral cooperation?
A State signs an international treaty today. Does the signature automatically mean that the State is fully bound by the treaty?
No. Signing and ratification are different legal acts, consent to be bound depends on the treaty and the applicable process.
Treaties, international custom, and this third category constitute the principal sources identified in Article 38
What are general principles of law?
Why can a treaty generally not impose treaty obligations on a State that has never consented to be bound by it?
Because treaties are generally binding only upon the parties that consent to them.
What is the fundamental difference between recognizing a State and recognizing a government?
Recognition of a State concerns its existence/status as an international person, recognition of a government concerns the authority accepted as representing that State.
International Law evolved from primarily regulating coexistence among sovereign States toward regulating areas such as migration, climate change, cyberspace, oceans, and outer space. What broader transformation of the international system does this illustrate?
The development of an increasingly complex system of global governance / international cooperation.
Country X requires international treaties to be incorporated through domestic legislation before courts can directly apply them. Which theoretical approach does this most closely resemble?
Dualism.
Judicial decisions and the teachings of highly qualified publicists do not generally create universal legislation. What role do they play under Article 38?
They are subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law.
States repeatedly refrain from a particular action. Is that behavior alone sufficient to establish customary international law? Explain.
No. There must also be opinio juris—the belief that the behavior is followed because it is legally required or permitted.
A multinational corporation has enormous economic power and can influence the behavior of several governments. Does that automatically give it the same international legal personality as a sovereign State?
No. Influence in International Relations is not equivalent to international legal personality.
There is no world government, global legislature, or universal police force comparable to those found within States. Nevertheless, international legal obligations exist. What fundamental characteristic of the international system makes International Law different from domestic law?
The international system is composed primarily of sovereign States and lacks a centralized superior authority.
Mexico has ratified an international human rights treaty, but a domestic rule appears to contradict an obligation contained in that treaty. What fundamental legal relationship must a court analyze?
The relationship between international obligations and domestic/constitutional law, including how treaties operate within the Mexican legal system.
A State publicly and clearly announces that it will permanently stop conducting a particular type of nuclear test. No treaty is signed. Under what concept could this declaration nevertheless produce international legal consequences?
A unilateral act of a State, provided factors such as intention, authority, clarity, and context support the creation of a legal commitment.
State X has never ratified Treaty A. However, one of the rules contained in Treaty A also reflects a sufficiently general and consistent State practice accepted as legally required. Could State X potentially be bound by that rule? Why?
Yes. The rule could bind State X independently as customary international law, even though the State is not bound by the treaty itself.
Territory X possesses a permanent population, defined territory, functioning government, and capacity to conduct foreign relations. Nevertheless, many States refuse to recognize it. Does satisfying the traditional criteria of statehood automatically guarantee universal recognition? Explain.
No. Statehood criteria and international recognition are related but distinct. Recognition also has significant legal, diplomatic, and political dimensions, and States may disagree over whether or how recognition should be granted.