JJUB55081U International Law

Volume 2014/2015
Content

The teaching develops the students’ ability to identify, analyse and work with international law issues in a competent legal manner. It provides the students not only with the necessary skills needed to recognise international law issues, but also the ability to relate more broadly to such issues to the benefit of a competent treatment of the international law issue in question.

Content: The teaching covers: - basic theories on the origins and role of international law

  • Sources of international law
  • Treaty law, including regulations and principles for drafting treaties, provisos and cessation
  • Treaty interpretation
  • International law subjects
  • Principles of international law on jurisdiction and sovereignty
  • Rules and principles of immunity
  • Basic principles of law of the sea
  • Responsibility for breaches of international law, including the basis of state responsibility
  • Peaceful settlement of disputes, including the various fora for dispute settlement, such as the International Court of Justice
  • Regulation of the use of armed force, including the collective security system in the United Nations Convention
Learning Outcome

To obtain the grade of 12, the student must be able to;

  • Apply various theories of international law to concrete issues
  • Identify answers to various concrete issues with the aid of the different sources of international law
  • Interpret treaties
  • Apply principles of state sovereignty, jurisdiction and immunity to concrete issues
  • Apply state principles of state responsibility to concrete issues
  • Identify answers to specific law of the sea issues, such as problems in connection with the limits of fishing zones, straits and continental shelves
  • Identify proposed solutions for the peaceful solving of international disputes
  • Apply regulation, principally from the UN Convention, to concrete examples of the use of armed force
  •  

The teaching provides the students with the skills needed to establish an independent and critical attitude to concrete issues of international law and to relate, in a balanced and reflective manner, to the inherent tensions of international law and to the borderline between politics and law

Textbook:

International Law, Oxford University Press (Custom Publishing) (2013)

  • Introduction to public international law: Chapter 1 & 2 (Approx. 40 pages)
  • The law of treaties: Chapter 3 (excluding section 3.4.4.3. and  section 3.5 – 3.6) (Approx. 26 pages)
  • Treaty interpretation: Chapter 3.4.4.3. (Approx. 4 pages)
  • The subjects of international law: Chapter 4 (excluding section 5.4) (Approx. 20 pages)
  • Jurisdiction and sovereignty: Chapter 5 (Approx. 30 pages)
  • Immunity: Chapter 6 (Approx. 17 pages)
  • The law of the sea: Chapter 7 (Approx. 29 pages)
  • State responsibility: Chapter 8 (excluding section 9.2. – 9.6) (Approx. 13 pages)
  • The peaceful settlement of disputes: Chapter 9 (excluding section 4) (Approx. 14 pages)
  • The use of force: Chapter 10 (Approx. 30 pages)
  • The law of armed conflict: Chapter 11 (Approx. 30 pages)

Total number of pages: Approx. 250

 

Supplementary reading:

  • Extract from ICJ, LaGrand
  • Extract from ICJ, Arrest Warrant Case
  • Extract from ICJ, Hostages Case
  • Extract from PCA Rainbow Warrior (Approx. 16 pages)
  • Extract from the World Summit Outcome Document (2005) concerning “Responsibility to Protect” and extract from 2009 UN Secretary General Report on “Responsibility to Protect”
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 8
  • Preparation
  • 107,5
  • Seminar
  • 22
  • Total
  • 137,5
Credit
5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment, 24 hours
Processing of teaching material
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period
6-7 January 2015