Melland Schill Studies in International Law – serie

For nearly forty years, The law of the sea has been regarded as an authoritative and standard work on the subject, combining detailed analysis and relevant, practical examples with a clear and engaging style. Completely revised and updated, this new edition will be a vital resource for anyone with an interest in maritime affairs.The book provides a rigorous analysis of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the many other legal instruments that regulate human activities at sea, as well as taking full account of the numerous decisions of international courts and tribunals in recent years. It also traces the historical background to the law and its broader political, economic and environmental context. The new edition includes substantially expanded coverage of contemporary threats faced by the marine environment from human activities, such as the loss of marine biodiversity, the effects of climate change on the oceans and the vast amounts of plastic polluting the sea.This volume is written by three highly qualified authors, drawing on their extensive experience of teaching and researching the law of the sea, as well as their practical experience in advising governments and acting as counsel and arbitrators in international litigation.This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life below water

This new edition considers the unifying legal attributes that span vastly differing inter-governmental organisations, from the UN to the EU. A law of international organisations has become established in certain areas, such as legal personality, powers, membership, finance, and decision-making. In other, newer, areas – accountability, responsibility and democracy – politics is still much rawer, and has not yet been fully converted into legal concepts and principles. As with the first edition, there are plenty of examples of organisations given in the text. Individual organisations dealing with issues such as security, health, civil aviation, finance and trade are scrutinised by way of example, to illustrate how different they can be, but also to show how it is possible to debate a set of legal principles that transcend each institution. This new edition of an established text will appeal to students and academics as well as individuals seeking a legal and political insight into international organisations.

This is a critical study of the key provisions of the law relating to the conduct of combat in armed conflicts on land, illustrated by reference to problems that have arisen during recent conflicts.It is an updated version of the successful first edition but with two additional chapters, dealing with rules relating to the conduct of combat against members of the enemy armed forces and in internal armed conflicts.The approach adopted is to take a proposition of the law of war, examine its historical origins and current exposition, deal with problems of interpretation and application, especially in the light of recent conflicts, and reach conclusions about how it should be applied in practice.

Can the use of children as soldiers be effectively regulated at an international level? 'Child soldiers in international law' examines how international law has developed to deal with this problematic and emotive issue.Happold looks at the rules restricting the recruitment of children into armed forces - rules which, though important, are often flouted - but also at the wider legal issues arising from child soldiering: to what extent can child soldiers be held criminally liable for their conduct? How should they be treated when captured? How are states obliged to demobilise and reintegrate them into their societies? It also identifies a move away towards enforcement, through the prosecution of those who recruit child soldiers, and proposals for Security Council sanctions against governments and groups who breach their international obligations by using children in armed conflicts.This study will be essential reading for those concerned with public international law, human rights, and the United Nations and peacekeeping.

The changing rules on the use of force in international law considers the main legal issues concerning the use of force by international organisations and states. It assesses the achievements and failures of the United Nations' collective security system, and discusses the prospects ahead. It also deals with the use of force by states in self-defence and on other legal grounds. The book discusses to what extent the rules on the use of force have evolved since the end of the Cold War in order to meet the needs of the international community. It focuses in particular on the military operations directed against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The research is developed from the standpoint of the sources of international law. It rejects a static vision of the rules on the use of force, including those enshrined in the UN Charter. Rather, it highlights the interaction between conventional and customary international law and the exposure of both sources to state practice.

Green’s The contemporary law of armed conflict has been acclaimed as one of the most significant works on the law of armed conflict to appear in recent years. The first edition was adopted as a basic text by military institutions and educational establishments throughout the world and is among the most comprehensive and readable works on the subject. This new edition brings the work up to date, examining the significance of the World Court’s Opinion on the legality of the nuclear weapon. It also considers the importance of such matters as the laser weapon agreement, the mines treaty and the jurisprudence of the two war crimes tribunals, that for the former Yugoslavia as well as for Rwanda, and assesses the role of the proposed International Criminal Court as it may affect the law of armed conflict.The book applies a practical as well as a theoretical approach, and draws on an extensive range of national and international practice. It is thus an indispensable reference for the armed forces and government defence organizations, as well as academics and students interested in the modern law of war.

This book provides a critical analysis of the definitions of war crimes and crimes against humanity as construed in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.Each crime is discussed from its origins in treaty or customary international law, through developments as a result of the jurisprudence of modern ad hoc or internationalised tribunals, to modifications introduced by the Rome Statute and the Elements of Crimes. The influence of human rights law upon the definition of crimes is discussed, as is the possible impact of State reservations to the underlying treaties which form the basis for the conduct covered by the offences in the Rome Statute. Examples are also given from recent conflicts to aid a ‘real life’ discussion of the type of conduct over which the International Criminal Court may take jurisdiction.This will be relevant to postgraduates, academics and professionals with an interest in the International Criminal Court and the normative basis for the crimes over which the Court may take jurisdiction.

This book, now fully updated and in its third edition, explains the law relating to the conduct of hostilities and provides guidance on difficult or controversial aspects of the law. It covers who or what may legitimately be attacked and what precautions must be taken to protect civilians, cultural property or the natural environment. It deals with the responsibility of commanders and how the law is enforced. There are also chapters on internal armed conflicts and the security aspects of belligerent occupation.

This book provides a concise account of the principles and norms of international law applicable to the main-type of international organisation - the inter-governmental organisation (IGO). That law consists of principles and rules found in the founding documents of IGOs along with applicable principles and rules of international law. The book also identifies and analyses the law produced by IGOs, applied by them and, occasionally, enforced by them. There is a concentration upon the United Nations, as the paradigmatic IGO, not only upon the UN organisation headquartered in New York, but on other IGOs in the UN system (the specialised agencies such as the World Health Organisation).

This book provides a concise account of the principles and norms of international law applicable to the main-type of international organisation - the inter-governmental organisation (IGO). That law consists of principles and rules found in the founding documents of IGOs along with applicable principles and rules of international law. The book also identifies and analyses the law produced by IGOs, applied by them and, occasionally, enforced by them. There is a concentration upon the United Nations, as the paradigmatic IGO, not only upon the UN organisation headquartered in New York, but on other IGOs in the UN system (the specialised agencies such as the World Health Organisation).

Violence against women is characterised by its universality, the multiplicity of its forms, and the intersectionality of diverse kinds of discrimination against women. Great emphasis in legal analysis has been placed on sex-based discrimination; however, in investigations of violence, one aspect has been overlooked: violence may severely affect women’s health and access to reproductive health, and State health policies might be a cause of violence against women.Exploring the relationship between violence against women and women’s rights to health and reproductive health, Sara De Vido theorises the new concept of violence against women’s health in international law using the Hippocratic paradigm, enriching human rights-based approaches to women’s autonomy and reflecting on the pervasiveness of patterns of discrimination. At the core of the book are two dimensions of violence: horizontal ‘inter-personal’, and vertical ‘state policies’. Investigating these dimensions through decisions made by domestic, regional and international judicial or quasi-judicial bodies, De Vido reconceptualises States’ obligations and eventually asks whether international law itself is the ultimate cause of violence against women’s health.An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

Green’s The contemporary law of armed conflict has been acclaimed as one of the most significant works on the law of armed conflict to appear in recent years. The first edition was adopted as a basic text by military institutions and educational establishments throughout the world and is among the most comprehensive and readable works on the subject. This new edition brings the work up to date, examining the significance of the World Court’s Opinion on the legality of the nuclear weapon. It also considers the importance of such matters as the laser weapon agreement, the mines treaty and the jurisprudence of the two war crimes tribunals, that for the former Yugoslavia as well as for Rwanda, and assesses the role of the proposed International Criminal Court as it may affect the law of armed conflict.The book applies a practical as well as a theoretical approach, and draws on an extensive range of national and international practice. It is thus an indispensable reference for the armed forces and government defence organizations, as well as academics and students interested in the modern law of war.

From the United Nations to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the principles of international organizations affect all of our lives. The principles these organizations live by represent, at least in part, the principles all of us live by. This book quantifies international organizations’ affiliation with particular principles in their constitutions, like cooperation, peace and equality.Offering a sophisticated statistical and legal analysis of these principles, the authors reveal the values contained in international organizations’ constitutions and their relationship with one another. When these organizations are divided into groups, like regional versus universal organizations, many new, seemingly contradictory, interpretations of international organizations law emerge. Through elaborate network representations, radar charters, k-clusters analyses and scatter plots, this book offers an unprecedented insight into the principles and values of international organizations.

For nearly forty years, The law of the sea has been regarded as an authoritative and standard work on the subject, combining detailed analysis and relevant, practical examples with a clear and engaging style. Completely revised and updated, this new edition will be a vital resource for anyone with an interest in maritime affairs.The book provides a rigorous analysis of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the many other legal instruments that regulate human activities at sea, as well as taking full account of the numerous decisions of international courts and tribunals in recent years. It also traces the historical background to the law and its broader political, economic and environmental context. The new edition includes substantially expanded coverage of contemporary threats faced by the marine environment from human activities, such as the loss of marine biodiversity, the effects of climate change on the oceans and the vast amounts of plastic polluting the sea.This volume is written by three highly qualified authors, drawing on their extensive experience of teaching and researching the law of the sea, as well as their practical experience in advising governments and acting as counsel and arbitrators in international litigation.This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life below water

Longlisted for The Inner Temple Book Prize 2025While espionage between states is a practice dating back centuries, the emergence of the internet revolutionised the types and scale of intelligence activities, creating drastic new challenges for the traditional legal frameworks governing them.This book argues that cyber-espionage has come to have an uneasy status in law: it is not prohibited, because spying does not result in an internationally wrongful act, but neither is it authorised or permitted, because states are free to resist foreign cyber-espionage activities. Rather than seeking further regulation, however, governments have remained purposefully silent, leaving them free to pursue cyber-espionage themselves at the same time as they adopt measures to prevent falling victim to it.Drawing on detailed analysis of state practice and examples from sovereignty, diplomacy, human rights and economic law, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the current legal status of cyber-espionage, as well as future directions for research and policy. It is an essential resource for scholars and practitioners in international law, as well as anyone interested in the future of cyber-security.

Silent war reveals how silence functions as a crucial but often overlooked force in enabling and sustaining military violence. While war propaganda and discursive justifications have received significant attention, this book argues that military operations also depend on a hidden infrastructure of silence – through omission, secrecy, and tacit consent. Focusing on drone warfare and colonial counterinsurgency, it explores how regimes of (not) listening shape what can and cannot be heard. Drawing on a multidisciplinary framework and extensive empirical research – including analysis of Western parliamentary debates, UN documents, media coverage, and archival records – Silent war traces the enduring role of silence in legitimising imperial violence. It reframes silence not as absence but as a constitutive force in global power relations, offering critical tools for interrogating dominant frameworks of military violence and opening space for listening otherwise.

From the United Nations to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the principles of international organizations affect all of our lives. The principles these organizations live by represent, at least in part, the principles all of us live by. This book quantifies international organizations’ affiliation with particular principles in their constitutions, like cooperation, peace and equality.Offering a sophisticated statistical and legal analysis of these principles, the authors reveal the values contained in international organizations’ constitutions and their relationship with one another. When these organizations are divided into groups, like regional versus universal organizations, many new, seemingly contradictory, interpretations of international organizations law emerge. Through elaborate network representations, radar charters, k-clusters analyses and scatter plots, this book offers an unprecedented insight into the principles and values of international organizations.

Because maritime questions are often admixed with territorial sovereignty questions, parties sometimes seek to settle them together. Jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea—UNCLOS—according to the received view does not encompass disputes concerning territorial sovereignty. In this book, international law scholar and practitioner Thomas D. Grant argues that the received view overstates the exclusion of sovereignty disputes. In Coastal State Rights, UNCLOS Annex VII arbitrators overstated the scope of the term ‘sovereignty dispute’ as well, an error of definition compounded when they ignored evidence probative as to whether a sovereignty dispute exists. Examining UNCLOS, its drafting history, and decades of decided cases, Sovereignty Disputes and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea relates an important problem of international dispute settlement to the public order of which UNCLOS forms part.