Public International Law Overview

Public International Law

• Definition (Traditional): A branch of public law governing relations between states and other entities with recognized international personality.
• Definition (Modern): Regulates state and international organization conduct, and their relations with each other and individuals (natural or legal persons).
• Jurisdiction (S.S. Lotus case PCIJ 1927): A state cannot exercise jurisdiction outside its territory unless permitted by international custom or treaty. Within a state's territory, jurisdiction exists over any matter, even without specific international law.

Public vs. Private International Law

• Public International Law:
  • International law among nations
• Private International Law:
  • International law governing interactions between private citizens across national boundaries
  • Municipal law

Treaty of Westphalia

• Historical Context: Ended the Thirty Years' War (Catholics vs. Protestants) and Eighty Years' War (Netherlands' struggle for independence from Spain).
• Goals: Religious freedom, diplomacy, and state sovereignty.
• Conflict Resolution: Conflict involving land territories.

Historical Development of International Law

• Doctrines and Maxims: Guiding principles, including Jus Gentium (law between nations) based on customary law, international conventions, and treaties, applicable universally to nations and people.
• Jus inter gentes: Law between nations encompassing international agreements and conventions.
• Renvoi: In determining a question, the forum court must consider the law of other relevant jurisdictions, especially conflict-of-law rules.
• Borrowing Doctrine: Applying foreign statutes of limitation in cases with foreign legal aspects.
• Ubi Societas Ibi Jus: (Where there is society, there is law). A community requires law for functioning, hence the need for international law.

Principles and Doctrines

• Opinio Juris: States' belief of an obligation to follow a particular norm; not merely due to coincidence or expediency.
• Jus Cogens: Fundamental principles that cannot be overridden, including prohibitions of aggression, genocide, and crimes against humanity.
• Pacta Sunt Servanda: Agreements must be kept (fundamental principle of international law).
• Rebus Sic Stantibus: Allows a treaty to be terminated if fundamental circumstances change.
• Non Liquet: Not clear; a situation where a decision-maker is unable to determine how to make a decision in a given situation.

Bases of International Law

• Natural Law: Based on universal principles of right and wrong.
• Positive Law: Binding force derived from agreement among states.
• Eclectic/Groatian School: International law is binding because it's good and right, agreed upon by states.

Sources of International Law

• Primary Sources: International treaties and conventions, customary international law.
• Secondary Sources: Judicial decisions and scholarly writings.
• International court of justice: Judicial decisions, which inform and guide the interpretation and development of international law, especially the practice of states.

Formal Process

• Negotiation: Creating the treaty.
• Signature: Symbolic showing of agreement without full commitment.
• Ratification: Formal acceptance of the treaty.
• Exchange of Instruments: Official exchange of ratification instruments.

This quiz covers the essential aspects of Public International Law, including key definitions, contrasting public and private international law, and historical context like the Treaty of Westphalia. Test your understanding of how international relations and jurisdiction operate among states and organizations.