PUBLIC

INTERNATIONAL LAW EXAM NOTES

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW EXAM NOTES ................................................................................................................... 1
NATURE, DEVELOPMENT & STRUCTURE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (wk 01) .................................................. 3
Nature Of International Law: ................................................................................................................................................ 3
The Enforcement Problem ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
Positivism ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction to the United Nations ..................................................................................................................................... 4
International Court of Justice (ICJ) ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Five methods of conferral (in depth) ................................................................................................................................. 6
International Law Commission ............................................................................................................................................ 9
SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (WK02) ................................................................................................................. 11
Statute of the International Court of Justice ................................................................................................................ 11
Formal & Material Sources .................................................................................................................................................. 11
Treaties ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 12
Custom ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Elements Of CIL ........................................................................................................................................................................ 16
1. STATE PRACTICE (objective element) ...................................................................................................................... 16
2. OPINIO JURIS (subjective element) ............................................................................................................................. 19
UN General Assembly Resolutions and Custom ......................................................................................................... 20
THE LAW OF TREATIES (Wk03 & Wk04) ......................................................................................................................... 23
Elements of a Treaty .............................................................................................................................................................. 23
Exclusions from VCLT ............................................................................................................................................................ 25
Conclusion of Treaties ........................................................................................................................................................... 25
Consent to be Bound .............................................................................................................................................................. 25
Ratification ................................................................................................................................................................................. 26
Entry into Force ....................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Reservations .............................................................................................................................................................................. 26
Incompatibility with object and purpose ........................................................................................................................... 28
Article 21 - Legal effects of reservations and of objections to reservations ....................................... 28
Article 22 - Withdrawal of reservations and of objections to reservations ....................................... 29
Article 23 - Procedure regarding reservations ................................................................................................... 29
Invalidity of Treaties .............................................................................................................................................................. 30
Termination ............................................................................................................................................................................... 31
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL & MUNICIPAL LAW ............................................................. 33
Monism v Dualism ................................................................................................................................................................... 33

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 Customary International Law In Municipal Law ....................................................................................................... 36
Custom In Municipal Law (Australian Approach) ..................................................................................................... 37
Custom Conflicting with Statute (Australian Approach) ........................................................................................ 38
Customary Crimes in Municipal Law .............................................................................................................................. 39
Customary Crimes in Municipal Law (Australian Approach) ............................................................................... 40
Treaties in Municipal Law ................................................................................................................................................... 41
‘Hard’ Transformation Treaty Approach in Australia ............................................................................................. 42
Treaties: Legitimate Expectation? ..................................................................................................................................... 42
PERSONALITY, STATEHOOD AND RECOGNITION ........................................................................................................ 43
TITLE TO TERRITORY ................................................................................................................................................................ 53
Essence of Title ......................................................................................................................................................................... 53
Transmission of Title ............................................................................................................................................................. 53
Modes of Acquisition .............................................................................................................................................................. 53
Other Regions ............................................................................................................................................................................ 55
STATE JURISDICTION ................................................................................................................................................................. 58
Concurrent Jurisdiction ........................................................................................................................................................ 58
Jurisdictional Limits ............................................................................................................................................................... 58
Civil Jurisdiction ....................................................................................................................................................................... 58
Criminal Jurisdiction .............................................................................................................................................................. 59
Territoriality .............................................................................................................................................................................. 60
Nationality .................................................................................................................................................................................. 61
Passive Personality ................................................................................................................................................................. 61
Protective/Security Principle ............................................................................................................................................ 62
Universality ................................................................................................................................................................................ 63
Piracy ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 64
Genocide ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 64
Torture ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 64
War Crimes ................................................................................................................................................................................. 65
Crimes Against Humanity .................................................................................................................................................... 65
Prosecute or Extradite .......................................................................................................................................................... 65
IMMUNITY FROM JURISDICTION .......................................................................................................................................... 66
STATE RESPONSIBILITY ........................................................................................................................................................... 81
Character and Basis of State Responsibility ................................................................................................................ 81
Attribution .................................................................................................................................................................................. 82
Breach ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 85
Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness ..................................................................................................................... 85
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 Consequences ............................................................................................................................................................................ 86
Invocation ................................................................................................................................................................................... 87
USE OF FORCE ............................................................................................................................................................................... 88












NATURE, DEVELOPMENT & STRUCTURE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (wk 01)
Nature Of International Law:
International law is a system of rules, principles and concepts that governs relations among states
and, increasingly international organizations, individuals, and other actors in world politics.
International law has grown and expanded at a rapid rate since World War II to encompass a diverse
range of issues and topics, including the preservation of the environment, the right to use force
against another state, territorial rights in Antarctica, and the rights of children. There us now no
aspect of world politics that can be fully understood without some knowledge of international law,
and an awareness of how it operates. – Scott, International Law in World Politics, 2004.
- International law is traditionally defined as the system of law governing relations between
States (Oppenheim, International Law: a treatise (1st ed, 1905) 3.
- Traditionally only states were considered subjects of international law, this is changing now.
- Natural persons were the subjects of municipal law (domestic)
- Private international law deals with international matters arising in domestic cornet (eg;
foreign marriage; contract)

The Enforcement Problem
- some theorists claim a problem with the perception of international law’s legitimacy is the lack
of effective enforcement mechanisms:
Ø the international order… has not yet made much progress in the enforcement of
international rights and obligations generally, or of international law as such. It now frowns
on self-help, without, however, as yet having put anything in its place. (Harris, Cases and
Materials (2010))
- however there are countervailing arguments:
Ø “almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all their
obligations almost all the time”: Louis Henkin, How Nations Behave 1979)
Ø “the record proves that there is a ‘law habit’ in international relations. It is not immaterial
to add that the instances in which judgments of international tribunals have been flouted
are so rare that the headline-reader may well place them in the man-bites-dog category.”
(Harris, Cases and Materials, 2010).
Positivism
- by 1700 people were starting to argue that law was ‘positive’ i.e man-made.; consequently, law
and justice were not the same thing, and laws might vary from time to time and place to place,
according to the whim of the legislator.

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 - Positivism was therefore an empirical method based on ascertaining objective, man-made
rules as the sources of the law (treaties, custom, etc).
- An attempt to combine naturalism and positivism was made by the Swiss writer Emerich de
Vattel … he emphasized the inherent rights which states derived from natural law, but said that
they were accountable only to their own consciences for the observance of the duties imposed
by natural law, unless they had expressly agreed to treat those duties as part of positive law.
(Peter Malanczuk, Modern Introduction to International Law (1997) 17)

Introduction to the United Nations
- Background & Formation after WWI
Ø US President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points delivered 8 January 1918:
• “14. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the
purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial
integrity to great and small states alike.”
Ø Paris Peace Conference: Treaty of Versailles contained Covenant of the League of Nations
- Structure
Ø Secretariat; Council; Assembly; Permanent Court of International Justice; International
Labour Organisation; other organisations created by Covenant
- Dissolution
Ø Ceased to function in 1938 as WWII escalated, but continued de jure until 1945

Establishment
Ø declaration by united nations 1.01.1942
Ø 21 August to 7 October 1944: Washington Conversations on International peace and
Security organisation; delegates concluded a set of Proposals for the Establishment of a
General International Organization; effective draft of the UN Charter
Ø UN Charter signed 26 June 1945
Ø UN comes into being on 24 October 1945, when the UN Charter is ratified

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General Assembly
- UN Charter Chapter IV
Ø Article 9: “General Assembly shall consist of all Members of the United Nations”
Ø Article 10: “may discuss any questions or matters within the scope of the present Charter
or relating to the powers and functions of any organs provided for in the present Charter,
and, except as provided in Article 12, may make recommendations to the Members of the
United Nations or to the Security Council”
Ø Article 12: “While the Security Council is exercising in respect of any dispute or situation
the functions assigned to it in the present Charter, the General Assembly shall not make
any recommendation with regard to that dispute or situation unless the Security Council so
requests.”
Ø Article 18: “Each member of the General Assembly shall have one vote … Decisions of the
General Assembly on important questions shall be made by a two-thirds majority …
These questions shall include: recommendations with respect to the maintenance of
international peace and security, the election of the non-permanent members of the
Security Council … the admission of new Members of to the United Nations … expulsion of
Members … and budgetary questions.”
Security Council
- UN Charter Chapter V
Ø Article 23: membership consists of 15 states: 5 permanent, 10 temporary
Ø Article 24: In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations, its
members confer on the Security Council primarily responsibility for the maintenance
of International peace and security”
Ø Article 25: The members of the UN agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the
Security Council
Ø Article 27: Each member of the SC shall have one vote … decisions on procedural matters
shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members…decisions on all other matters