International Law As We Know It

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lianne J. M. Boer

International legal scholars tend to think of their work as the interpretation of rules: the application of a law 'out there' to concrete situations. This book takes a different approach to that scholarship: it views doctrine as a socio-linguistic practice. In other words, this book views legal scholars not as law-appliers, but as constructing knowledge within a particular academic discipline. By means of three close-ups of the discourse on cyberwar and international law, this book shows how international legal knowledge is constructed in ways usually overlooked: by means of footnotes, for example, or conference presentations. In so doing, this book aims to present a new way of seeing international legal scholarship: one that pays attention to the mundane parts of international legal texts and provides a different understanding of how international law as we know it comes about.

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-246
Author(s):  
Tilmann Altwicker

Abstract The paper argues that digitalization primarily presents a methodological challenge for international legal scholarship. Three developments are relevant in this context: the datafication of law, computerized information retrieval, and the differentiation of legal knowledge. International legal scholarship has benefited from treating legal texts, legal relationships as well as legal interactions and decision-making “as data”. Typically, quantitative methods used on this data include text mining, network analysis, cluster analysis, and regression analysis. While data-driven scholarship cannot replace a hermeneutic approach to international law, it is likely to change the dimensionality of legal research, require adaptations of the law school curriculum, and enhance the interdisciplinary connectivity of international legal scholarship.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-151
Author(s):  
J. Handrlica

The terms “atomic law” and “nuclear law” are regularly being (to a certain part as synonyms) used in both scientific and popular literature to refer to a body of legal norms, governing peaceful uses of nuclear energy and ionizing radiation, as provided by sources of international law (“international atomic law,” or “international nuclear law”), national legislation and a complex body of unbinding norms (soft law). Further, several other variations of these terms are also regularly used (such as “atomic energy law,” “nuclear energy law,” “international nuclear law,” “law of the atomic/nuclear energy,” etc.). This contribution aims to identify the origins of this terminological labyrinth and to deal with the perception of these terms in the legal scholarship. Further, this contribution deals with the recent perception of these terms in the legal science of major States, using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. This article aims to clarify the existing terminology, which is to large extent being used in the literature without an appropriate explanation. The author pleads for a consequent use of the term “nuclear law” (droit nucléaire, yadernoe pravo, Nuklearrecht, derecho nuclear, diritto nucleare) and presents arguments for such conclusion.


AJIL Unbound ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 389-393
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Appel

Sara Mitchell and Andrew Owsiak's examination of the impact of UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Article 287 declarations on the peaceful resolution of maritime disputes significantly advances the literature on the relationship between international law/international courts and maritime issues. To their credit, the authors employ a wide range of empirical tests in the article to provide readers with confidence in the empirical results. Nonetheless, there are some important limitations in their approach. Drawing on insights from the causal inference literature, I argue that Mitchell and Owsiak's empirical analyses suffer from two biases that both (1) raise concerns about the causal relationships identified in the article, and (2) suggest some important scope conditions in its empirical findings. I investigate the biases and propose suggestions for legal scholarship to produce more credible results.


Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 177-182
Author(s):  
Natalia Kurchinskaya-Grasso

This article examines the peculiarities of the legal English language as the object of translation studies. Currently, English language is dominant in international relations and business, and plays a significant role as legal language within the European Union. Legal English is a global phenomenon. This style of English language is used by the lawyers and other legal experts in their work. In the conditions of globalization of English language, it is necessary to be scrupulous about translation of the legal English in order to avoid inaccuracies in the entire system of international law. Therefore, the goal of this article consists in consideration of the unique characteristics of legal English associated with its origin, terminology, linguistic structure, linguistic peculiarities, and punctuation. The work employs descriptive method, comparative method, and method of applied comparative jurisprudence. The conclusion is made that legal English developed under the influence of languages previously used in the legal system, which is reflected in modern legal terminology and linguistic structure of the legal English language and requires attention in translation. Taking into account the aforementioned peculiarities would be of much help the legal translator in working with legal texts in English language.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-218
Author(s):  
MACHIKO KANETAKE

AbstractThis editorial aims to foster debate on the possible roles of implicit social cognition in international law. The editorial is in part inspired by a book entitled Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, written by Banaji and Greenwald, researchers of social psychology. According to them, a large set of implicit biases reside in our minds, which may influence our behaviour towards ourselves and others. It is safe to argue that international judges, arbitrators, diplomats, domestic officials who apply international law, and international legal scholars are not immune from implicit bias. Within international legal scholarship, some relevant experiments have already been conducted in unveiling decision makers’ intuitive and automatic thinking. While implicit bias is hard to identify and remedy, this editorial encourages international legal practitioners and scholars to diversify their own experiences and engage in the imagination of counter-stereotypes.


Author(s):  
Anne Peters ◽  
Heike Krieger ◽  
Leonhard Kreuzer

The introductory chapter sets the scene for this book and establishes an analytical framework for the sector-specific chapters. It traces the etymological roots of the notion of due diligence and discusses its scope of application, normative functions, and contents in various areas of international law. It furthermore highlights recurring issues which the sector-specific contributions of the book address, including the key question from which legal source due diligence obligations can be derived and to what extent these obligations are binding. The introductory chapter also maps the commonplace diligence requirements in international legal texts and briefly outlines the book chapters.


Author(s):  
Giovanni Distefano ◽  
Robert Kolb

This chapter deals with the contribution of Italian scholarship to public international law. Its approach is two-fold. First, adopting an “external” perspective, the contribution of Italian scholars to the highly esteemed series of Hague Courses of the famous eponymous Academy may shed some light on what the Italian conception brought to international legal scholarship but also on how Italian scholars were perceived by their foreign brethren, and in what context they were quoted. Second, selecting a specific issue, the chapter focuses on the influence of Italian legal thinking on the shaping of doctrines of State responsibility. Among all the many areas of international law, this is one where the Italian school is constantly viewed as pioneering (together with the German school). For example, the writings of Anzilotti or Cavaglieri are often quoted as astonishingly modern exposés of that branch of the law, providing thus a test-case to verify the contribution and influence of the Italian doctrine of international law.


Author(s):  
Giulio Bartolini

In 1931 Lauterpacht described the Italian scholarship as characterized by a ‘rigid and frequently uncompromising positivist school in international law’. While his statement has some merits, this chapter seeks both to illustrate how this trend emerged from previous approaches and, conversely, to emphasize the multifaceted perspectives that were effectively present in those decades, thus partly circumscribing Lauterpacht’s assertion. Following a survey of the fluid approaches present at the beginning of the twentieth century, this chapter will introduce the pivotal role of Dionisio Anzilotti in favoring legal positivism, even if dissident voices were still present or subsequently emerged. After Anzilotti, other poles of attraction emerged, in particular through Santi Romano and other scholars, who, while still claiming to adhere to the lines of positive law, deprived this conception of several of its original theoretical attributes. Conversely, few attempts were made to elaborate doctrines aimed at reflecting the political ambitions of Fascism, which was unsuccessful in influencing the broad theoretical debate.


Author(s):  
Peters Anne

This chapter provides an overview of the state of the art of legal thought about the international organizations (IOs) as legal entities in a legal environment. IOs are legal communities in a threefold sense: they are created by law, they use law as a means of governance, and they should be governed by the rule of law. Accordingly, international law constitutes, enables, and constrains IOs. The chapter shows that legal scholarship until the 1990s was primarily concerned with the constituting and enabling function of the law (thus securing the effectiveness of IOs), while the more recent legal concern is the constraining function of the law (thus improving the accountability of IOs). In the procedural law of organizations, a tryptichon of accountability procedures has been built: transparency, participation, and access to information.


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