Elgar International Law series – serie

Highlighting the close relationship between foreign relations law and international law, this impressive book places parliament and domestic courts’ engagement with treaties at the heart of its inquiry. It presents a timely assessment of the impact that different rules of constitutional law have on parliamentary and judicial approaches to treaties in four different states (Germany, India, South Africa and the US), thereby incorporating valuable comparative dimensions.With intellectual rigour, Felix Lange demonstrates how diverse conceptions of foreign relations law affect whether parliaments act as promoters, shapers or translators of human rights treaties, the Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court, and climate change treaties. Lange not only analyses the ways in which domestic courts rely on treaties through consistent interpretation and direct application, but also how they may dismiss treaty provisions as non-self-executing or employ the concept of non-justiciability in matters of foreign affairs. Ultimately, Lange embraces the view that parliaments and courts are being increasingly heard and suggests that their voices should become even louder.This book will prove indispensable to academics and students interested in law and politics, public international law and constitutional law. Legal practitioners with a keen interest in these areas will similarly benefit from the connections drawn between international law and constitutional law.

This incisive book examines how states bear responsibility for human rights protection when they cooperate. Focusing on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), it explores the challenges of international cooperation to international human rights law and uncovers how, nonetheless, human rights provisions may turn into an international human rights law of cooperation and regulate inter-state interaction.Prisca Feihle discusses the meaning of international cooperation to human rights law, engaging in detailed analysis of case-law to illustrate how the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) addresses cooperation between states in a range of areas including migration policies, surveillance measures or criminal investigations. Developing a comprehensive framework for states’ human rights responsibilities in international cooperation, she puts forward insightful recommendations on what human rights law under the ECHR demands of states beyond these specific subject matters. Suggestions concern the ECHR’s interactions with the law of international responsibility, interpretational method and the scope of application and content of human rights provisions in relation to inter-state interaction affecting individuals.This judicious book is a vital resource for students and scholars of public international law, particularly those with an interest in the law of international responsibility, human rights law and especially the ECHR and ECtHR. It will also benefit those studying international relations, as well as practitioners and policymakers in the field of human rights law.

For many years, hidden from view in the secure corridors of The Hague, Arusha, and Freetown, international prosecutors have worked to bring those accused of international crimes to justice. Drawing on first-hand interviews with prosecutors, this book reveals what motivated their decisions – from opening investigations and selecting charges, right through to deciding whether to appeal.The book explores the motivations and assumptions that underpin prosecutorial decision-making using in-depth analysis of interviews with current and former senior prosecutors from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The author examines the diverse factors that have informed discretion by treating it as a practice. Cale Davis advances our understanding of discretion and exposes the importance of different roles in decision-making.This book is an intriguing and beneficial read for both academics and practitioners of international criminal justice that directly challenges the contemporary perception of discretion. Featuring qualitative and empirical data, it is also useful for scholars interested in historical, sociological, and cultural anthropological perspectives on international criminal law.

How does international law entitle individuals to challenge violations of international law before domestic courts? Developing the novel concept of access rights, Leander Beinlich takes a thorough look at the domestic adjudication of international law through the lens of individual rights.Beinlich provides an in-depth survey of the main access rights: the right to a remedy and the right of access to a court. In an unprecedented analysis, he applies his findings to cases of external state action such as military operations abroad, a domain traditionally characterized by accountability gaps. Access to Domestic Justice for Violations of International Law presents crucial insights into the value, risks and limitations of individual rights at the intersection of international law and foreign relations law. It demonstrates how access rights put to a test the doctrinal hurdles and normative concerns impeding access to justice in this area, paving the way for further research.An essential read for students and academics in international law and human rights law as well as public law and foreign relations law, this book’s relevance for the growing case law will also greatly benefit practising lawyers, judges and NGOs.

Epistemic Forces in International Law presents a comprehensive examination of the methodological choices made by international lawyers and provides a discerning insight into the ways in which lawyers shape their arguments to secure validation within the international legal community.International law is defined in this book as an argumentative practice, articulated around a set of foundational doctrines and deployed through rhetorical techniques. Taking an original approach, Jean d'Aspremont focuses on five key foundational doctrines of international legal theory and five key techniques deployed in international legal argumentation. He argues that mastering these foundational principles and argumentative procedures shapes the discourse of international lawyers as much as these discourses shape these foundational doctrines and techniques of legal argumentation. This book is a pertinent contribution to the methodology and theory of international law, illustrating the rationale of the choices made by lawyers in the doctrines of statehood, sources, law-making, international organisations and effectivity.This accessible reflection on the conceptual, theoretical and methodological perspectives of international law will be a salient point of reference for legal academics, researchers and practitioners alike.

Epistemic Forces in International Law presents a comprehensive examination of the methodological choices made by international lawyers and provides a discerning insight into the ways in which lawyers shape their arguments to secure validation within the international legal community.International law is defined in this book as an argumentative practice, articulated around a set of foundational doctrines and deployed through rhetorical techniques. Taking an original approach, Jean d'Aspremont focuses on five key foundational doctrines of international legal theory and five key techniques deployed in international legal argumentation. He argues that mastering these foundational principles and argumentative procedures shapes the discourse of international lawyers as much as these discourses shape these foundational doctrines and techniques of legal argumentation. This book is a pertinent contribution to the methodology and theory of international law, illustrating the rationale of the choices made by lawyers in the doctrines of statehood, sources, law-making, international organisations and effectivity.This accessible reflection on the conceptual, theoretical and methodological perspectives of international law will be a salient point of reference for legal academics, researchers and practitioners alike.

International claims commissions have, over the last few decades, established themselves as important and permanent fixtures in international adjudication. This book provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the workings and mechanics of claims commissions to assess their success and predict their utility in the future. The book examines the legal framework of an international claims commission and the basic elements its processing procedure, as well as exploring the difficulties and challenges associated with operating costs, remedies and compliance with judgments. International claims commissions are created ad hoc to consider large numbers of complex legal claims resulting from an international upheaval, making them important international dispute resolution mechanisms. By focusing in large part on the examples set by the United Nations Claims Commissions, the Iran US Claims Tribunal, and the Eritrea Ethiopia Claims Commission, the authors assess the reasons to establish a claims commission by discussing their legal and operating structures, issues related to evidence and costs and the challenges and successes of creating them. The book concludes with a detailed analysis of lessons learnt to guide policy makers in the creation of future claims commissions. Written by two academics and a former practitioner this book is a practical resource for international law academics; counsel and judges in international courts and tribunals; policy makers in international organizations and foreign ministries, and diplomats.

This insightful book offers a comprehensive account of the conceptual challenges facing state consent in the framework of treaty making. It highlights the relevant discursive patterns and pinpoints the increasing antagonism between treaty bodies and state parties over the ownership of treaty evolution, with the author warning of the repercussions of treaty institutionalization. Showcasing the broad and encompassing nature of treaties, the author highlights the surrounding conflicts through chapters on the theory and concept of treaty and case studies on the flexibility of consent to be bound means, treaty withdrawal, the automatic succession doctrine and the law of reservations. The last part of the book explores how the invocation of the collective interest ideal, the institutionalization of treaties and the recurrence of formalism can endanger the legitimacy and effectiveness of treaty regimes. This book offers an original perspective on the role of state consent in the law of treaties and will be of great interest to academics, researchers and practitioners of international law seeking further knowledge about this complex topic.

Whilst the concept of jus cogens has grown increasingly more important in public international law, lawyers remain hugely divided both over what precisely confers a jus cogens status on a norm, and what this conferral implies in terms of legal consequences. In this ground-breaking book, Ulf Linderfalk clearly and succinctly explores the reasons for this divide in order to facilitate more rational and productive future discourse.Offering a new focus for jus cogens research, this insightful work moves beyond traditionally designed investigations of the application of jus cogens in international law and instead analyses the many implicit basic assumptions held by participants in international legal discourse, and the way in which these assumptions explain their various claims. Clarifying the precise relationship between submitted propositions and a legal positivist or legal idealist frame of mind, this captivating book will influence not only the future understanding and practice of international law, but also its codification and progressive development.Scholars and advanced students of public international law, and international legal theory especially, will find this book a stimulating and novel read. Practitioners and judicial bodies will also benefit from a deeper understanding of the many issues and influences surrounding the concept of jus cogens.

'The field of international criminal justice owes its growth more to practice than to theory. Hugely important theoretical questions have often been given short shrift. But not by Gabriel Lentner. In an accessible style and on the basis of wide reading, he addresses head-on one of the most fundamental theoretical questions pertaining to the International Criminal Court: what is the legal nature of referrals made by the United Nations Security Council to the ICC of situations in states that are not parties to the Statute? He illustrates the significance of that question with supreme verve. A most promising debut.'- Sarah M.H. Nouwen, University of Cambridge and Pembroke College, UKDrawing on both theory and practice, this insightful book offers a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), centered on the referral mechanism. Arguing that the legal nature of the referral must be conceptualized as a conferral of powers from the UNSC to the ICC, the author explores the complex legal relationship between interacting international organizations.With a novel approach to the relationship between the UNSC and the ICC, this book addresses important questions raised in practice. In particular, Gabriel M. Lentner explores issues regarding any limits and conditions for referral under the UN Charter and the Rome Statute, and the legal effects on heads-of-state immunity, as well as the validity of jurisdictional exemptions for other specific categories of nationals. This is a persuasive study into the powers of the UNSC with respect to international criminal law.With its timely focus on an important topic, this book will be vital reading for academics in international institutional law, international criminal law, and human rights law. ICC judges and lawyers, as well as lawyers involved in the UN, governments, and non-governmental organizations will also benefit from this book.

Over recent decades, international humanitarian law has been shaped by the omnipresence of so-called expert manuals. Astute and engaging, this discerning book provides a comprehensive account of these black letter rules and commentaries produced by private expert groups and demonstrates why the general acceptance of these expert manuals is largely unjustified.This theoretically grounded book bridges the divide between theory and practice by linking legal theory to the doctrinal and practical concerns of the laws of war. The author innovatively links interdisciplinary insights to the needs of military lawyers in practice, showing the pitfalls of relying on private manuals as arguable restatements and interpretations of the law 'as it is'. At the same time, he explains why expert processes are so successful and why this should be of concern to all of us.Stimulating and challenging, this book will prove essential reading for students and scholars of public international law, legal theory, and those focussing on the laws of war more specifically. Its practical approach will also greatly benefit legal practitioners working in the field of military law.

Making a timely contribution to the legal literature, this important book discusses an under-analysed issue of great importance to international peace and security. It provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of the prevention of nuclear terrorism specifically through an international (arms control) law lens.Jonathan Herbach sets out a basis for better understanding how the international legal framework for nuclear security is structured and why it is structured that way, and offers a critical analysis of the component instruments that make up the framework. He highlights the strengths and analyzes possible gaps and weaknesses of these instruments and the legal framework as a whole, as well as explaining the framework’s key characteristics, approaches and rationale. As nuclear security is by no means a static topic, with changing circumstances a defining feature of the area, the book also offers ideas for the path forward and conceptualizes ways to further strengthen the nuclear security legal framework.Offering a fresh perspective on the prevention of nuclear terrorism, this book will benefit academics and students of public international law, counter-terrorism and conflict and security law. It will also be a useful resource for governmental legal advisors, think-tanks and diplomats to inform their work on means and mechanisms to help strengthen the global nuclear security regime and to provide guidance for decision-making.

This ground-breaking book challenges legal orthodoxy, presenting an original approach to the treatment of islands in international law. It offers a new perspective on how to define islands in international law, questioning how they differ from other maritime features. It focuses on the contextual factors that bear upon the legal treatment of islands, recognising that, in practice, islands have varied and unequal impacts and arguing that greater focus on context is needed to understand legal outcomes, particularly those concerning maritime boundary delimitation. Addressing the impact of rising sea levels on the interests and rights of islands and the increasing construction of artificial islands, the authors make the case for a major change in approach to the topic.This book offers international lawyers a thought-provoking reappraisal of a vital issue. It will be a useful resource for human geography and international relations scholars wishing to deepen their understanding of a key politically-contested and increasingly pressing debate in international law.

Challenging the view that sufficient gravity is mainly a tool for prosecutorial discretion, this book reconstructs the interpretation of this criterion and argues for its assessment in objective and legally grounded terms. Marco Longobardo expertly examines case law and prosecutorial practice pertaining to situations and cases under Article 17(1)(d) of the Rome Statute of the ICC to inform his criticism of the assessment of sufficient gravity.The book reviews the assessment of sufficient gravity to evaluate the decisions of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) and case law of the Chambers. Chapters explore case studies such as the Lubanga and Ntaganda arrest warrants and the boarding of the Mavi Marmara. Combining jurisprudential and international law perspectives, Longobardo analyses the rules of treaty interpretation and applies them as a methodological framework to assess sufficient gravity.Sufficient Gravity before the International Criminal Court is a crucial resource for scholars and students in international criminal law and justice and public international law. This book’s scrutinisation of sufficient gravity provides guidance to ICC organs and parties and contributes to the reinforcement of the ICC project. It is also beneficial for practitioners and NGOs working on issues pertaining to sufficient gravity before the ICC.

This insightful book analyses the issue of norm erosion in international law by examining arms transfers to non-state actors. Balancing empirical research with legal theory, the author dissects recent case studies, tracing individual changes in norms against a background of systemic transformation.Arms Transfers to Non-State Actors follows changes in the prohibition of arms transfers to non-state actors since the pivotal International Court of Justice's Nicaragua ruling in 1986. Hannah Kiel critically discusses the legal developments through relevant case studies, including Abkhazia, Bosnia, Congo, Eastern Ukraine, Kosovo, Libya, Northern Iraq, South Ossetia, Syria and Yemen. Adopting a customary law perspective while also placing the narratives of states in the context of international structural changes, Kiel emphasises the interplay between state practice and the strengthening of a human rights-based paradigm. Kiel ultimately shows that changes in norms at the individual level indicate a larger transformation in the international order, and while the arming of non-state actors remains formally illegal, the prohibition of this practice is informally eroding.Interdisciplinary in scope, this book provides valuable insights for scholars and researchers of public international law, human rights, international humanitarian law, and international relations. It is also of great benefit to human rights lawyers, policymakers, and diplomats.

Presenting a thorough examination of intelligence activities in international law, Sophie Duroy provides theoretical and empirical justifications to support the cutting-edge claim that states’ compliance with international law in intelligence matters serves their national security interests. This book theorises the regulation of intelligence activities under international law, identifying three layers of regulation: a clear legal framework governing intelligence activities (legality); a capacity to enforce state responsibility (accountability); and the integration of legality and accountability into responsive regulation by the international legal order (compliance). The empirical relevance of these three layers of regulation is demonstrated through in-depth case studies of state responsibility in the CIA-led war on terror and an analysis of the accountability of Djibouti, the Gambia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States for conduct in the CIA-led war on terror. Overall, the author shows that the most reliable path to long-term national security is the effective regulation of intelligence activities under international law. Making an original contribution to existing theories of compliance and regulation, as well as the law of state responsibility and its enforcement, this book will be essential for students and scholars of public international law, human rights, intelligence and security studies, and international relations. It will also be a valuable resource for practitioners of international law with an interest in intelligence, state responsibility, and terrorism and security law.

This timely book examines the responsibility of international organizations for complicity in human rights and humanitarian law violations. It comprehensively addresses a lacuna in current scholarship through an analysis of the mandates and modus operandi of UN peace operations, offering workable normative solutions and striking a balance between the UN s duty not to contribute to international law violations and its need to discharge mandated tasks in a highly volatile environment. Building on existing scholarship on State responsibility for aid or assistance, this incisive book is the first to focus on how the complicity of international organizations in human rights and humanitarian law violations can be established. Through a re-examination of classic legal notions such as due diligence and effective control, and their application to the problem of UN responsibility for complicity, Dr. Magdalena Pacholska provides a pertinent analysis of the complex issues surrounding the UN's legal exposure for its activities in the field of peace and security. Legal advisers working for the UN and other international organizations, national Ministries of Defence, and courts with jurisdiction in this area, will find this book's insights both valuable and useful in practice. It will also be of interest to scholars and employees of NGOs with a focus on international humanitarian law and the accountability of international organizations.