International Law: A Very Short Introduction

International Law: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Vaughan Lowe

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2015-11-26

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 0191576204

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Interest in international law has increased greatly over the past decade, largely because of its central place in discussions such as the Iraq War and Guantanamo, the World Trade Organisation, the anti-capitalist movement, the Kyoto Convention on climate change, and the apparent failure of the international system to deal with the situations in Palestine and Darfur, and the plights of refugees and illegal immigrants around the world. This Very Short Introduction explains what international law is, what its role in international society is, and how it operates. Vaughan Lowe examines what international law can and cannot do and what it is and what it isn't doing to make the world a better place. Focussing on the problems the world faces, Lowe uses terrorism, environmental change, poverty, and international violence to demonstrate the theories and practice of international law, and how the principles can be used for international co-operation.


First Steps in the Law

First Steps in the Law

Author: Geoffrey Rivlin

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0198735898

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First Steps in the Law is an entertaining and insightful overview of the legal system. Geoffrey Rivlin, who boasts a wealth of experience as a former senior resident judge, barrister, and QC, leads the reader through the quirks of English law, offering fascinating details. Readers are regaled with lively descriptions of the workings of the legal system and vivid tales of the law in times gone by. Real life cases bring the book to life, enabling the reader to see the law in action, while descriptions of the participants in the legal system (including judges, lawyers, and police officers) root the book in the everyday reality of the legal profession. This is an essential read for anyone who is preparing for a law course or requires an understanding of the law in their working life.


The Individual in the International Legal System

The Individual in the International Legal System

Author: Kate Parlett

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-04-14

Total Pages: 463

ISBN-13: 1139499971

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Kate Parlett's study of the individual in the international legal system examines the way in which individuals have come to have a certain status in international law, from the first treaties conferring rights and capacities on individuals through to the present day. The analysis cuts across fields including human rights law, international investment law, international claims processes, humanitarian law and international criminal law in order to draw conclusions about structural change in the international legal system. By engaging with much new literature on non-state actors in international law, she seeks to dispel myths about state-centrism and the direction in which the international legal system continues to evolve.


Evolutionary Interpretation and International Law

Evolutionary Interpretation and International Law

Author: Georges Abi-Saab

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-09-05

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 1509929908

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This unique book brings together leading experts from diverse areas of public international law to offer a comprehensive overview of the approaches to evolutionary interpretation in different international legal regimes. It begins by asking what interpretation is, offering the views of expert authors on the question, its components and definitions. It then comments on situations that have called for evolutionary interpretation in different international legal regimes, including general international law, environmental law, human rights law, EU law, investment law, international trade law, and how domestic courts have, on occasions, interpreted treaties and other international legal instruments in an evolutionary manner. This timely, authoritative compendium offers an in-depth understanding of the processes at work in evolutionary interpretation as well as a prime selection of the current trends and future challenges.


International Law

International Law

Author: Vaughan Lowe

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2007-09-27

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0191027286

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International Law is both an introduction to the subject and a critical consideration of its central themes and debates. The opening chapters of the book explain how international law underpins the international political and economic system by establishing the basic principle of the independence of States, and their right to choose their own political, economic, and cultural systems. Subsequent chapters then focus on considerations that limit national freedom of choice (e.g. human rights, the interconnected global economy, the environment). Through the organizing concepts of territory, sovereignty, and jurisdiction the book shows how international law seeks to achieve an established set of principles according to which the power to make and enforce policies is distributed among States.


Is International Law International?

Is International Law International?

Author: Anthea Roberts

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0190696419

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This book challenges the idea that international law looks the same from anywhere in the world. Instead, how international lawyers understand and approach their field is often deeply influenced by the national contexts in which they lived, studied, and worked. International law in the United States and in the United Kingdom looks different compared to international law in China and Russia, though some approaches (particularly Western, Anglo-American ones) are more influential outside their borders than others. Given shifts in geopolitical power and the rise of non-Western powers like China, it is increasingly important for international lawyers to understand how others coming from diverse backgrounds approach the field. By examining the international law academies and textbooks of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Roberts provides a window into these different communities of international lawyers, and she uncovers some of the similarities and differences in how they understand and approach international law.


Comparative International Law

Comparative International Law

Author: Anthea Roberts

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 641

ISBN-13: 0190697571

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Explains that international law is not a monolith but can encompass on-going contestation, in which states set forth competing interpretations Maps and explains the cross-country differences in international legal norms in various fields of international law and their application and interpretation in different geographic regions Organized into three broad thematic sections of conceptual matters, domestic institutions and comparative international law, and comparing approaches across issue-areas Chapters authored by contributors who include top international law and comparative law scholars all from diverse backgrounds, experience, and perspectives.


The Making of International Law

The Making of International Law

Author: Alan Boyle

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2007-02-22

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0191021768

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This is a study of the principal negotiating processes and law-making tools through which contemporary international law is made. It does not seek to give an account of the traditional - and untraditional - sources and theories of international law, but rather to identify the processes, participants and instruments employed in the making of international law. It accordingly examines some of the mechanisms and procedures whereby new rules of law are created or old rules are amended or abrogated. It concentrates on the UN, other international organisations, diplomatic conferences, codification bodies, NGOs, and courts. Every society perceives the need to differentiate between its legal norms and other norms controlling social, economic and political behaviour. But unlike domestic legal systems where this distinction is typically determined by constitutional provisions, the decentralised nature of the international legal system makes this a complex and contested issue. Moreover, contemporary international law is often the product of a subtle and evolving interplay of law-making instruments, both binding and non-binding, and of customary law and general principles. Only in this broader context can the significance of so-called 'soft law' and multilateral treaties be fully appreciated. An important question posed by any examination of international law-making structures is the extent to which we can or should make judgments about their legitimacy and coherence, and if so in what terms. Put simply, a law-making process perceived to be illegitimate or incoherent is more likely to be an ineffective process. From this perspective, the assumption of law-making power by the UN Security Council offers unique advantages of speed and universality, but it also poses a particular challenge to the development of a more open and participatory process observable in other international law-making bodies.


General Principles of Law and International Due Process

General Principles of Law and International Due Process

Author: Charles T. Kotuby, Jr.

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-02-15

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0190642726

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Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice defines "international law" to include not only "custom" and "convention" between States but also "the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations" within their municipal legal systems. In 1953, Bin Cheng wrote his seminal book on general principles, identifying core legal principles common to various domestic legal systems across the globe. This monograph summarizes and analyzes the general principles of law and norms of international due process, with a particular focus on developments since Cheng's writing. The aim is to collect and distill these principles and norms in a single volume as a practical resource for international law jurists, advocates, and scholars. The information contained in this book holds considerable importance given the growth of inter-state intercourse resulting in the increased use of general principles over the past 60 years. General principles can serve as rules of decision, whether in interpreting a treaty or contract, determining causation, or ascertaining unjust enrichment. They also include a core set of procedural requirements that should be followed in any adjudicative system, such as the right to impartiality and the prohibition on fraud. Although the general principles are, by definition, basic and even rudimentary, they hold vital importance for the rule of law in international relations. They are meant not to define a rule of law, but rather the rule of law.