When Wolfgang Friedmann died there was a great outpouring of grief, affection and admiration from his friends all over the world. These deeply felt sentiments were soon channelled into a number of projects to honor him. The initiative towards the preparation of this volume in tribute to Wolfgang Friedmann was taken by his colleague, Hans Smit, of Columbia University, who also arranged for its publication. Judge Philip C. Jessup was the chairman, and Professors John N. Hazard, Louis Henkin, Oliver Lissitzyn, Willis L. M. Reese and Hans Smit of Columbia University Law School, A. A. Fatouros of Indiana University Law School (Bloomington), and Gabriel M. Wilner of the University of Georgia Law School were members of the editorial committee. The authors of the essays are a group of distinguished legal scholars from many countries and who hold widely diverse views. All of them had many ties with Professor Friedmann, including those of friendship and shared interest in problems that were of the greatest concern to him. The number of eminent jurists from countries around the world, and particularly from the United States, who would have wished to participate in this tribute to Wolfgang Friedmann is large; however, several important considerations made it necessary to limit the number of contributions. Thus, for example, the work of several members of the editorial committee is not represented in the volume.
A comprehensive analysis of one of the most politically controversial issues in Australian law - the implementation of treaties by the federal government. Unique in Australian books on legal issues, this rigorous analysis of constitutional law examines relevant cases and legislation from Australia, Canada, the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Malaysia, and India. Including a comprehensive list of cases and a full index, this book will be of exceptional interest to practitioners, teachers and students of constitutional and international law.
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the law of State responsibility. It addresses fundamental questions such as: which subjects of international law are entitled to invoke the responsibility of the author state; the forms of reparation demands which may be made; and the means and counter-measures (including the use and level of force) which may be employed to enforce demands. Audience: Academics and researchers in international law.
Georges Abi-Saab began his writing and teaching at a time when the process of decolonization, and thereafter the quest for emancipation, began to make its far-reaching impact on the international scene, producing significant changes in the international environment, both quantitatively in increasing the number of nation-States and qualitatively in changing patterns of interests and claims. This was bound to result in new pressures on the international legal system itself and in a questioning of the traditional Eurocentric content of international law. In his work and teaching Professor Abi-Saab viewed the dynamics of international law as a function of two driving forces: the emergence of the third world and the sense of injustice. In his view, the first driving force - the emergence of the third world - raised the problem of exclusion: exclusion from participation in the elaboration of international law and the decision-making process, and exclusion as beneficiaries of the resulting rules of international law. At the same time, this new force introduced diversity into the international scene, reflecting the richness of the international community in its different facets. This process remains relevant today, reflecting the contemporary problem of exclusion of new actors as well as their quest for participation. The second driving force - the sense of injustice - posed a teleological problem for him, that of defining community values in order that they capture the different facets of justice, whether formal or distributive. So long as there is no effective organic structure, international law in his view will continue to remain effectiveness-oriented, reflecting rather than impacting on the structures of power. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there is an on-going process of development of community values and interests; as Georges Abi-Saab wrote with reference to international crimes: `law, like all social phenomena, is a continuous unfolding, a continuous process of elaboration'. He has also considered that the dynamics of the international legal process itself can be captured from the perspective of international organizations as vehicles for change in the international system. From his early writings, Georges Abi-Saab approached the United Nations Charter as a blueprint - both normative and institutional - for a certain type of international society. International institutions with all their imperfections, continue for him to be the means of realization of the law of cooperation which lies at the heart of his concept of the international system. The themes selected for this volume in honour of Professor Georges Abi-Saab are intended to reflect his unique and pioneering contribution to the field of international law. The contributors are drawn from what he has always considered to be his large `family' of former students: in his forty years of teaching, Georges Abi-Saab has acted as mentor to generations of students from all over the world who have benefited from his vision, insights, originality and creative and stimulating use of language. The contributors also include colleagues and friends who share a similar vision of the international legal system.
