Lawful Murder: Unnecessary Killing in the Law of War

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel G. Walker
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
The Law ◽  
Do So

The international law of war limits the use of violence, largely through protections afforded to civilians. However, the law provides no principled limit on the taking ofcombatantlife — soldiers may be killed even if to do so would contribute absolutely no military advantage. This permissive approach to unnecessary killing has deep historical roots in the philosophy of the law of war. Three justifications for unnecessary killing have been advanced: a robust notion of sovereignty that views the soldier as a disposable molecule of a greater being; the idea that soldiers are ‘guilty’ and deserve what befalls them in war; and a pragmatic approach holding that limits on gratuitous violence are both impossible to implement in practice as well as harmful. None of these arguments are persuasive in light of the contemporary consensus that there is a human right to life that ought to be respected at all times, even in war. A rule of “combatant proportionality” should therefore be formally incorporated into the law of war.

scholarly journals Culpability, Kingston and the Law Commission

2010 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cath Crosby
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Character Theory ◽  
Criminal Offence ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Law ◽  
Court Of Appeal ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
Do So

This article considers the basis upon which a person should be held to be criminally liable, and to do so, it is necessary to examine the leading theories of character and choice that underpin the State holding a person to be culpable of a criminal offence, i.e. the link between culpability and fault. The case of R v Kingston1 is used to examine the application of these leading theories and it is observed that choice theorists would not excuse such a defendant from criminal liability even though his capacity to make a choice to refrain from law breaking was made extremely difficult by external factors beyond his control. Only character theory could possibly offer exculpation in such circumstances on the basis that the defendant acted ‘out of character’ and his deed did not deserve the full censure and punishment of the criminal law. The Court of Appeal in R v Kingston would have been prepared to excuse, but the House of Lords, and most recently the Law Commission have adopted a pragmatic approach to the involuntarily intoxicated offender. This case serves as a reminder that while justice is the aim of the criminal justice system, it is not an absolute standard.

The Law of International Criminal Procedure and Domestic War Crimes Trials

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 605-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Göran Sluiter
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Procedure ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
National Courts ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
The Law ◽  
Do So

AbstractThis article deals with the question of possible effect of the law of international criminal procedure for domestic war crimes trials. With the increasing number of national prosecutions for war crimes this question will gain in relevance.The article starts with an exploration of the origin and development of the law of international criminal procedure, to reach the conclusion that because of the lack of a strong foundation it is difficult to discern firmly established rules in this field. Next, two areas are examined where the law of international criminal procedure is capable of producing effect for national trials: human rights and rules that have developed in the specific context of war crimes prosecutions.Whether rules of international criminal procedure are formally effective in the domestic legal order remains to be seen. There is no clear obligation under international law to do so. Furthermore, the law of international criminal procedure may be difficult to harmonise with domestic inquisitorial systems.In spite of these difficulties, the article concludes that national courts will increasingly face similar procedural problems in complex war crimes trials as international criminal tribunals and will be happy to learn from their experiences.

Questions of Guerrilla Warfare in the Law of War

1946 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 534-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. P. Trainin
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Guerrilla Warfare ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Moment

The history of war knows no such brigandage, fanaticism, or such craftiness as the German fascist usurpers practiced from the moment of their attack upon the peoples of other states. The rules and customs relating to the conduct of war, recognized by all civilized peoples, were rejected and trampled under foot by these usurpers. These rules and customs relating to the conduct of war, put together in the course of many centuries, have received the title “the law of war” and constitute an inseparable part of international law.

Sources in the Modern Tradition

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Gaurier
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Intellectual Context ◽  
The Law

This chapter observes that early writers on the law of war or on the law of peace offered their contributions in an intellectual context that was very different from our own. They were attempting to provide explanations for the questions related to war and peace, and in doing so drew upon interesting elements in Roman or canon law. Yet, none of the sources available to them were sufficient to offer a comprehensive response to related legal issues. Although these authors were all largely relying on the Bible and on ancient or contemporaneous history, some also drew information from their own life experiences. The majority, however, built their theories on the basis of their own readings and legal knowledge. Furthermore, only very few authors addressed the question of the sources of international law.

The Paradox of “Just War” in Rousseau's Theory of Interstate Relations

2015 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
BLAISE BACHOFEN
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Just War ◽  
The State ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The Law ◽  
Utopian Theory

In theSocial Contract, Rousseau declares that he has given up the idea of discussing the “external relations” of states. Yet numerous texts—including a recently reconstituted work about the law of war—show that he thought very seriously about the question of the nature and origin of war and of the possibility of making war subject to the rule of law. Rousseau, in contrast to Hobbes, links war's appearance to that of the sovereign states; the state of war is therefore the necessary result of international relations. Moreover, he considers the international law as chimerical. How can he then conceive a non-utopian theory of “just war”? My hypothesis is that his conception of the law of war is deduced from principles of internal political law and arises from pragmatic necessity. The state that discredits itself in its manner of waging war weakens itself while believing that it is reinforcing itself.

Jus Pacis Ac Belli? Prolegomena to a Sociology of International Law

1943 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schwarzenberger Georg
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
The Law ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
Peace And War

The traditional system of international law is based on the distinction between the law of peace and the law of war. In the formative period of international law, thinkers were fully aware of the problems hidden behind this classification. Positivist writers took over these conceptions, framed against the background of a philosophical vista of society. Yet in their hands these terms lost their original significance. It is the purpose of this investigation to throw light on this process and to consider the relevance of this dichotomy into peace and war for the positivist and sociological approaches to international law.

scholarly journals The law of the global economy and the spectre of inequality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Venzke
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
International Law ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Economic Order ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Progressive Change ◽  
Inaugural Lecture ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Law ◽  
Do So

Abstract Drawing on my inaugural lecture, I argue that the spectre of inequality haunts international law. The presence of the spectre first of all draws attention to what is rotten in the global economic order: how the law of the global economy has contributed to high levels of inequality while, at the same time, abdicating responsibility for it. Second, like all spectres, international law’s spectre of inequality is animated by a spirit, the spirit of social justice. It points to forsaken paths, lost memories and conjures up past possibilities that were not realized. Third, the spectre endures unless we give in and break with current repetitions. It directs those in search of progressive change towards productive contradictions within global order. Those contradictions are indeed carriers of hope. They offer reason to believe that the future is open. Engaging with the spectre of inequality in international law turns out to be much less daunting than failing to do so.

Law of Peace and Children’s Right to have Rights

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-454
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Field
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
First Century ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Child Rights ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
The People ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right

International law’s affirmation of everyone’s right to have rights came into being through a peacemaking process. Its deprivation continues to typify the emergent context that brings peace processes into being – and for some cohorts of the people, namely children, the process itself. The right is intuitively seductive. It resonates as self-evident: an inexorable abstraction of having rights. Yet it is also enigmatic and challenging to concretise. What is its content? What substantive rights are expressive of this right? What is their scope in peacemaking? And why is it – above for example more corporeal rights – so fundamental? Guided by these questions, the paper begins by reflecting on the right as crystallised by Hannah Arendt: it then shifts to reflecting on, first, its expression in international law and, second, its interrelations with the law of peace. In doing so, it yields legal and political opportunities for ensuring the right in peacemaking, and imagines a framework of evolving measures for bringing the right to life in the staged process. The paper concludes by arguing renewing engagement with this understated right offers a beacon for guiding responses to the complex child rights challenges yielded by peacemaking – and our interdependent and fragile twenty-first century world more generally.

The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clooney Amal ◽  
Webb Philippa
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right

This book brings together the diverse sources of international law that define the right to a fair trial in the context of criminal proceedings. It aims to make the law accessible to counsel and meaningful to victims in courtrooms all over the world. By focusing on what the right to a fair trial means in practice, it seeks to bring to life the commitment made by over 170 states parties to the ICCPR. The book is subdivided into 14 substantive chapters each dealing with one component of the right to a fair trial. Each chapter collates and analyses international sources, highlighting both consensus and division in the international jurisprudence. The book aims to be the global reference for the most frequently litigated human right in the world.

The Right to Science

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
International Law ◽  
Life Extension ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Dual Use ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Ideal Tool ◽  
The Right ◽  
Do So

That everyone has a human right to enjoy the benefits of the progress of science and its applications comes as a surprise to many. Nevertheless, this right is pertinent to numerous issues at the intersection of science and society: open access; 'dual use' science; access to ownership and dissemination of data, knowledge, methods and the affordances and applications thereof; as well as the role of international co-operation, human dignity and other human rights in relation to science and its products. As we advance towards superintelligence, quantum computing, drone swarms, and life-extension technology, serious policy decisions will be made at the national and international levels. The human right to science provides an ideal tool to do so, backed up as it is by international law, political heft, and normative weight. This book is the first sustained attempt at turning this wonder of foresight into an actionable and justiciable right. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

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