Review 1-5
(F) Day of the week: Friday Class: IS304 Created Time: January 22, 2021 3:23 PM Database: Class Notes Database Date: January 22, 2021 3:23 PM Days Till Date: Passed Last Edited Time: June 9, 2021 10:42 AM
Public International Law
Review for Final Exams
Chapters 1 - 5
I. Key terms Define the following key terms based on your own understanding in your own words.
- International law: Rules, principles, standards, customs, norms, Laws that govern states’ interactions
- Customary international law: A general and consistent practice that states follow, eventually turning into law due to feel of legal obligation or the incentive to fit in.
- Positive law: are human-made laws different to natural law
- Natural law: is a theory or system of law stating that every being is created by god to justify equality, justice, and morality between all humans upholding that Human beings should treat each other equally and fairly.
- jus gentium: The first traditional international law codified to govern interaction between Roman-people and non-Roman people
- Peace of Westphalia: The Peace of Westphalia treaties in 1618 ended the thirty years war which is the first treaty or framework for peace and cooperation in Europe. The foundations for multi-state diplomatic congress and negotiations were laid at the conferences Established a machinery for the settlement of disputes arising between the signatories
- State practice: widespread repetition by States of similar international acts over time
- Opinio juris: The belief that states react to an issue in a certain way from legal obligations
- Jus cogens: prohibits states from conducting genocide, war crime, crime of aggression, Torture, Slavery, Piracy, Crime Against Humanity.
- Effect control: is the degree to which the government or body can command the obedience of the majority of the population or members.
- Legal personality: Legal personality is the capacity to have all the rights and duties under International laws
- Monism: formal international legal order is what establish rule of law among nations.
- Dualism: prioritize the role of individual states, as self-deterministic with sovereignty
- Ratification: to formally accept the treaty and be bounded by the treaty in question.
- Accession: Method by which states consent to be bound by/join a treaty which has already been negotiated
- Reservation: A state may be a member state even if it doesn’t accept some article of the treaty, therefore, a statement made by a state to which article it accepts and which it does not accept.
- Amendment: changes made to accepted article.
- Declaration: A milder reservation that is a statement that the states will implement and perform the article they the way it sees fit, without interpretation from others.
- Pacta sunt servanda: ‘agreements must be kept’, members of a treaty must perform their duties in good faith with other members.
- Material breach: If a state violate article of the treaty, other member could request for termination/compensation of violator
II. Comprehension questions
Answer the following questions based on what you have learned in PIL course.
- What are the purposes of international law? International laws can be created for a wide range of objectives
- Promote international Peace and security
- promoting economic and social development
- Promote technological advancements
- What are the differences of international law and municipal law?
National Law
National Laws are the constitution
How is Laws made?
- From constitutional process
- legislative process
- administrative or judicial process
International Law
- International Law lacks a constitution that could act as a baseline for laws
- Lack Institution to spread application of the law
- No agency to produce regulations
- ICJ only legally bind involving parties in dispute, not indirectly involved
- What are the sources of international law?
- Sources of international law
- Primary
- International custom
- International convention
- General principle of law recognized civilized nations
- Secondary
- Judicial decisions and teaching
- Primary
- What are the two criteria of customary international law?
- General practice: how state react toward a certain issue
- Accepted as law (opinion juris):
- What are the four criteria of states in the Montevideo Convention?
- Defined territory
- Permanent population
- Effective government
- Capacity to enter into international relation with other states
- What are the criteria of international organizations?
- Must be created by a treaty/agreement (UN Charter, ASEAN Charter)
- Must have states as members
- Must be regulated by International Law (follow int’ laws)
- Endowed with legal personality
- Legal Personality: to have all the rights & duties to perform under international law.
- Creating conventions, agreements, with same rights as states
- Explain declaratory theory of recognition and constitutive theory of recognition.
- Declaratory theory of recognition: theorists contend that an entity is ipso facto a state once these conditions are met, regardless of what other states do or say
- Constitutive theory of recognition: theorists, however, contend that only when other states decide that such conditions have been met, and consequently acknowledge the legal capacity of the new state, is a new state actually constituted
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What are the subjects of international law? Explain briefly.
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What are the methods for states to give consent to be bound?
Ratification, Accession, Reservation and Declaration
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In what occasions can a state not be allowed to enter reservations? If state did not accept the important point of the treaty.
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How is a treaty interpreted?
- Look at it in a good faith
- Interpret in their interest
- What are the grounds of invalidity of a treaty? Explain briefly.
- How is a treaty terminated?
- Time Agreement of the parties
- Breach by parties
- Is it true that international law is not enforceable? Give at least one situation or example to support your answer.
- How would international law be made more effective?
- What are the flaws of international law? List three and explain with examples.