Term
| Immunity Ratione Materiae |
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Definition
- immunity attached to official acts of state representative
- "official acts" are truly governmental in nature(jus imperii) and not commercial/private in nature( jus gestionis)
- international crimes cannot constitute official acts
- applies to acts of state/government/officials/agents- also constituent units of states
- also applies to acts of any governmental organ, depending on whether the entity carries out essentially government functions and to what extent the entity is subject to state control
- Context: Immunity and Jursidiction
- Relevant concepts:
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Term
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Definition
- people permanently occupying a fixed territory bound together by common habits and customs into one body politic exercising, through the medium of an organized government, independent sovereignty and control over all persons and things within its boundaries, capable of making war nd peace and of entering into international relations with other states
- Context: Subjects of International Law
- Relevant Concepts:
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Term
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Definition
- territory over which a state exercises all of the jurisdictional competencies permitted by international law
- Context: Territory, Jurisdiction, Immunities
- Related Concepts:Res Communis,Res Nullis, Jurisdiction
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Term
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Definition
- of his own accord
- used to distinguish that a person or body acts of its own accord and not on the request or direction of another
- Context: Use of Force
- Related Concepts: Statute of the International Criminal Court, crimes against humanity, war crimes
- Article 15 gives prosectutor proprio motu powers to initiate investigations not requested by SC or member states
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Term
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Definition
- immunity of the state from domestic courts of other countries
- sovereign immunity used to be absolute, but increased state involvement in commercial activity meant state-run Enterprises had unfair advantage
- States now have restrictive immunity- liable for commercial activities, liable for grave breaches of human rights
- Context: Immunities
- Related concepts: restrictive immunity
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Term
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Definition
- aggression is the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations
- iniatiation of war of aggression is an international crime
- Context:UN Charter Prohibition on Use of Force
- Related Concepts: jus cogens,
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Definition
- land which is capable of, but not presently subject to, state sovereignty
- Context: Soverignty, Jurisdiction
- Related Concepts: Res Nullius,Sovereignty
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Term
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Definition
- Either to deliver or to punish
- a principle to which a state may assume an affirmative obligation either to punish a person shown to have violated an applicable principle of law or to extend to another state for punishment
- Context: State Responsibility, Jurisdiction
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Term
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Definition
- convention setting out to define, rights and duties of statehood
- Population: no minimum nuber of permanent residents required, need not be nationals of state
- Territory:no minimum size requirement, need not be unitary or contagious, some territory must be effectively controlled
- Effective Government: absence of independent control may not be fatal, no particular type of government required, sometimes humanitarian issues arise presumption of continuence maintains statehood if this criterion disappears
- Capacity to Enter into International Relations State Must Be: sole legally constituted authority over territory and population, indeoendenet and exercise political/legal will free from control of another state, independence not compromised by political/economic pressure, nor compliance with international law, independence compromised if foreign control is overbearing
- Context: Subjects of International Law
- Related Concepts: Statehood
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Term
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Definition
- the formal acknowlegment by one state that another state exists as a seperate and independent government
- a state has no status among nations until it is recognized as a state
- Context:Territory,Subjects of International Law
- Related Concepts: Statehood
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Term
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Definition
- the official record of a negotiation
- often useful in clarifying the intentions of a treaty or other instrument
- reflected in Article 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
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Term
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Definition
- system of law that is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal
- natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature
- Universal and immutable
- a higher law than the law created by political authorities
- discoverable by reason
- rooted in universal reason it tends to be a monistic vision of law
- Context: History of International Law
- Related Concepts: Grotius, jus naturale
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Term
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Definition
- created by state- states are the source of all law
- International Law created by sovereign states acting together through treaties and customary practice emerges from consent and consensus, not a determinate sovereign will
- racilitates a realist view allowing states to ignore/repudiare their international obligations/duties
- Context: History of Public International Law
- Related Concepts: Naturalism
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Term
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Definition
- United Nations Charter
- sets out the UN Security Council's powers to maintain peace
- allows the Council to "determine the existence of any threats to the peace, breach of peace or act of agression" and to take military and non military action to restore international peace and security
- Context: Charter Prohibitions on use of force
- Related Concepts: use of force, nuremburg
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Term
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Definition
- treaties are formulated to replace or codify existing custom
- treaties can fall out of use and be replaced by new customary rules
- Context: Sources of International Law
- Related Concepts: jus cogens, erga omnes
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Term
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Definition
- theory of legal positivism
- the law is command issued by the uncommanded commander- the sovereign
- such commands are backed by threats of sanctions; and
- a sovereign is one who is habitually obeyed
- wrote the Providence of Jurisprudence Determined (1832)
- Context: History of International Law
- Related Concepts: positivism
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Term
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Definition
- allows states or International organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed, and regardless of the accused's nationality, country of residence or any other relation with the prosecuting entity
- crimes such as crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, apartheid, slavery, piracy, torture, international terrorism, genocide
- Context: Use of force, Pinochet (torture)
- Related Concepts: erga omnes, jus cogens
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Term
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Definition
- type of Succession
- part of predecessor state secedes, preserving predecessor and giving birth to new state- Sweden from Norway
- A--> A B
- Context: State Succession and Treaties
- Related Concepts: Seperation, Decolonization, Merger of Seperate States, Absorption, Annexation/Cession of Territory
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Term
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Definition
- any of the following acts committed with the intentto destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group as such: (a) killing members of the group, (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (c) deliberatley inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, (e) forcibly transfering children of the group to another group
- Context: Use of force, International Human Rights Recognition
- Related Concepts: crimes against humanity, crimes against peace
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Term
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Definition
- the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, equality before the law
- Concept: International Human Rights Recognition
- Related Concepts: International Declaration of Human Rights, Commision on Human Rights
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Term
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Definition
- perscribe valid rules without having to undergo a long period of gestation , and custom can and often dovetail neatly within the complicated mechanisms now operating for the identification and progressive development of the principles of international law
- Context: Sources of international law
- Related Concepts: Customary Law
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Term
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Definition
- practice of extradition enables one state to hand over to another state suspected or convicted of criminals who have fled to the territory of the former
- based upon bilateral treaty law and does not exist as an obligation upon states in customary law
- Extradition crimes: double criminality must apply
- Concept: Jurisdiction
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Definition
- defines humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone and outlaws practice of total war
- customary international law
- Context:United Nations
- Related Concepts: treaties
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Definition
- second element along with state practice necessary to establish a legally binding custom
- denotes a subjective obligation, a sense on behalf of a state that it is bound to the law in question
- Context: Sources of International Law, North Sea Continental Shelf Cases
- Related Concepts: state practice
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Term
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Definition
- at this point of affairs; in these circumstances
- principle in international law providing that where there has been a fundamental change of circumstances since an agreement was conclude, a party to that agreement may withdraw from or terminate it
- justified by the fact that some treaties may remain in force for long periods of time, during which fundamental changes might have occured
- Context:Law of Treaties
- Related Concepts:jus cogens
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Term
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Definition
- no state is sovereign but all states can exploit the area for individual benefit(e.g. high seas, outer space)
- some states enjoy greater entitlements or jurisdiction (e.g. coastal)
- Context: Territory and Jurisdiction
- Related Concepts: Full Sovereignty, Common Heritage of Humankind, Terra/Res Nullius
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- De Jure Bell ac Pacis (1625)- On the Law of War and Peace
- brought together natural law, Roman Law, and State Practiec
- condemned war as self-defeating
- accepted sovereign states as a basic unit of International Law- governments should be left discretion to do what is opportune
- but normative imperatives of law still determinable by reason
- Context: History of International Law
- Related Concepts: State practice, naturalism, positivism
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- one of the founders of modern international law
- believed that the indian people should be regarded as nations with their own legitimate interests
- war against them could only be justified on the grounds of a just cause
- International Law was founded on the universal law of nature and this meant that non-Europeans must be included
- believed that the opposition of missionaries was just cause for war
- Context: History of International Law
- Related Concepts: Grotius
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Definition
- "superior force"
- frees both parties from obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond control of the parties
- Context: Invalidation of Treaties
- Related Concepts: rebus sic stantibus
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Term
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Definition
- concept of justice
- transcendental notion of justice(universalistic)
- rooted in natural law
- difficult to establish
- most famous decision:Diversion of Water from the Meuse Case
- been used as a way of mitigating certain inequities, not as a method of refashioning nature to the ddetriment of legal rules, may be used in the delimination of non-maritime boundaries
- Context: Sources of International Law
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Term
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Definition
- resorting to force to defend certain rights characteristic of primitive systems of law
- e.g. economic retaliation, use of violence pursuant to the right of self-defence
- Context:Use of force
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Term
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Definition
- 2nd type of non-consensual norm:peremptory norms from which no derogation is permitted
- closely related to natural law
- very controversial-what norms qualify as jus cogens?- candidates include prohibitions on force/aggression,torture, slavery, genocide, and apartheid
- Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: " a treaty is void if, at the time of its conclusion, it conflicts, with a peremptory norm of international law...[A] peremptory norm of general international law is a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of States as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having the same character"
- Context: Sources of International Law
- Related Concepts: erga omnes
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Term
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Definition
- norms of international law whose violation are deemed to be an offence not only against the state directly affected by the breach, but against all members of the international community
- all international crime are violations of erga omnes obligations, but violations of erga omnes obligations not necessarily international crimes
- Context: Sources of International Law
- Related Concepts: jus cogens
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Term
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Definition
- branch of international law dealing with legal consequences of change of sovereignty over territory
- concerns rights and duties of states coming into existence or ceasing to exist
- Types of Succession: Seperation, Merger of Seperate States, Secession, Absorption, Decolonization, Annextation/Cession of Territory
- Clean State Doctrine: if a new state comes into being as a result of succession, it is generally not bound by treaties binding its predecessor nor does it automatically acquire rights under such treaties
- Context: State Succession Treaties
- Related Concepts:Law of Treaties
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Term
| Customary International Law |
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Definition
- state follows a practice out of a sense of legal obligation
- rules or principles must be accepted by the state as legally binding in order to be considered rules of international law
- state must view it as obligatory to follow the custom, and they must not believe that they are free to departfrom it whenever they choose, or to observe it only as a matter of courtesy or moral obligations
- Context: International and municipal law
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Term
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Definition
- the legal right of people to decide their own destiny in the international order
- principle of self-determination originally articulated by Lenin/USSR; then Wilson/US
- evolved throughout 20th century(particularly during decolonization process)
- often resisted by states
- Scholars and States(practice) agree that in some circumstances there is right to Self-Determination enjoyed by entities known as "peoples"
- Context:Subjects of International Law
- Related Concepts: jus cogens
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Term
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- entities endowed with rights and obligations under public international law
- the term includes both human and non-human entities
- Generally, international legal entities are states, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and to a limited extent private individuals and corporations within a state
- Context:Subjects of International Law
- Related Concepts: Statehood
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- traditional definition arose out of the Caroline case
- in order to resort to self-defence, a state has to be able to demonstrate that it has been the victim of an armed attack and it bears the burden of proof
- contention as to whether self -defence can apply to attacks by non-state entities
- Context: Use of Force by states
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