Legal Legwork

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-190
Author(s):  
Julia Eichenberg
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Military Power ◽  
National Committee ◽  
World War ◽  
Academic Exchange ◽  
Second World ◽  
Foregone Conclusion

During the Second World War, London hosted eight European governments in exile as well as the French National Committee. For these politicians and diplomats their recognition as the legitimate and legal representatives of their respective countries was of supreme importance, yet no foregone conclusion. Such claims needed to be rooted in international law and supported by titles and documents, especially in those cases where rivalling bodies claimed the same status. Legal experts and jurists were indispensable to formulate these arguments, and the interplay of official channels, informal diplomatic avenues, and academic exchange was crucial. Scholarly expertise in particular proved a diplomatic resource. In the course of this protracted process émigré lawyers became an influential force in defining and preserving statehood, even in the absence of significant political or military power.

I

1986 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 896-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfred Lachs
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Society ◽  
Second World ◽  
Shed Light

To write of Philip Jessup means to survey the history of the teaching of international law in the United States throughout the last half century; to cover all important events concerning the birth of international organizations on the morrow of the Second World War; to visit the halls of the General Assembly and the Security Council; to attend meetings of the American Society of International Law and the Institute of International Law, where he so frequently took the floor to shed light on their debates; to attend sittings of the International Court of Justice in the years 1960-1969. I could hardly undertake this task; there are others much more qualified to do so. What I wish to do is to recall him as a great jurist I knew and a delightful human being; in short, a judge and a great friend whom I learned to admire.

Amnesties in the Light of Developments in International Law and the Establishment of the International Criminal Court

2002 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Gavron
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Tribunal ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

Amnesties presuppose a breach of law and provide immunity or protection from punishment. Historically amnesties were invoked in relation to breaches of the laws of war and were reciprocally implemented by opposing sides in an international armed conflict. The impact of the two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century, however, had considerable implications not only for the use of amnesties, but also for their legality under international law. The scale of the First World War precipitated a new phase of unilateral amnesty for the victors and prosecutions of war criminals for the defeated aggressor states.1 This precedent was followed after the Second World War,2 with the establishment of the first ‘international’3 criminal court, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. However, the horrors perpetrated during the Second World War also prompted the development of a branch of international law aimed at recognising and protecting human rights in an attempt to prevent such atrocities being repeated.

Building a Case against the War Criminals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Aszkielowicz
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Second World War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

Long before the Second World War ended, the Allies were planning to prosecute Axis war criminals, including both those in positions of leadership and the perpetrators of individual crimes. There was no standing war crimes court at the end of the Second World War, however, and the post-war trials were a watershed in international law. For the trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo, Allied planners drew on the development of international humanitarian law and international agreements signed by the combatants over the decades preceding the war. The vast majority of war criminals who were prosecuted did not face the court at Nuremberg or Tokyo: they appeared before national military tribunals which were conducted according to each prosecuting country’s war crimes law. The Australian War Crimes Act passed through the parliament in October 1945, shortly before trials began.

The Second World War and International Law

1946 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 742-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene A. Korovin
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
World War ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
The Sacrifice ◽  
Second World

The Second World War inflicted countless sufferings and misfortunes on mankind. At the same time the war put to the test, in the sacrifice and heroism at the battlefronts and in the rear, many peoples and states, social forms and political systems, doctrines and theories.

Efforts to eliminate torture through international law

1989 ◽  
Vol 29 (268) ◽  
pp. 9-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Haug
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Brute Force ◽  
Physical Pain ◽  
World War ◽  
Electric Shocks ◽  
The Will ◽  
Extreme Cold ◽  
Second World

The idea of “respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all” has been disseminated throughout the world since the Second World War and has influenced both international law and national legislation in many States. Nevertheless, torture, that most fundamental assault on the human person, has continued over the years to be practised, either systematically or occasionally, in many countries. Torture, in which a person is intentionally subjected to extreme physical pain or emotional distress, is used mainly to elicit information, break the will to resist, intimidate, humiliate and degrade. It is also used to mete out (illegal) punishment for real or supposed wrongdoings.2 Techniques of torture include withholding food and preventing sleep, abrupt alternation of extreme cold and heat or silence and noise, total isolation, causing mental confusion and distress through misinformation or other means, the use of brute force- sometimes resulting in permanent mutilation- rape, electric shocks, the application of chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, finally death threats.

scholarly journals Declared and Undeclared Wars

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31
Author(s):  
René Värk
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Armed Force ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
Application Of Law ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Extra Weight ◽  
Second World

AbstractOccasionally, people characterise foreign military interventions as “undeclared wars”. It is not entirely clear what is the meaning and value of such a qualification, but it seems that they want to add an extra weight to their condemnation. Still, does it have legal significance? At times, international law demanded that States issued a declaration of war before the commencement of hostilities but the obligation was mostly ignored for varied reasons. Notably, between two world wars, States avoided certain legal obligations (e.g. the prohibition to use war, the rules of warfare) by not declaring or otherwise recognising a state of war. After the Second World War, considering the earlier abuses, States redesigned the international legal regulations in a way that the declaration of war became practically irrelevant when it comes to the legality or illegality of the use of armed force, or to the application of law.

Part I Histories, Ch.10 Hans Kelsen and the Return of Universalism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
von Bernstorff Jochen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Deep Structure ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
Critical Methodology ◽  
Hans Kelsen ◽  
Second World

This chapter illustrates the deep structure of the Kelsenian approach to international law from an intellectual history perspective. Hans Kelsen (1881–1973) was a Viennese law professor in between the two world wars, who is seen by many as one of the most outstanding, if not the most outstanding, jurist of the twentieth century. Therefore studying the Kelsenian approach includes the political, doctrinal, and philosophical context in which Kelsen developed his fundamental critique of the then-prevailing German international law theory. Furthermore, the chapter reveals the subversive and revolutionary force of Kelsen’s critical methodology with a couple of examples, concluding with a few words on how German international legal scholarship dealt with Kelsen’s legacy after the Second World War.

The Temporal Jurisdiction of International Tribunals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gallus Nick
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Investment Treaty ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
International Tribunals ◽  
Second World

The period of an international tribunal’s temporal jurisdiction is the span of time during which an act must have occurred before the tribunal may consider if the act breached an obligation. There are many questions concerning this particular aspect of an international tribunal’s jurisdiction. Does a tribunal have power over acts that occurred after the entry into force of the obligation allegedly breached but before the tribunal’s jurisdiction was accepted? What about acts that began before the tribunal’s jurisdiction was accepted but continued after? To what extent can acts before the period of the tribunal’s jurisdiction affect its decision on whether or not there is a breach through acts afterwards?This book examines these questions in depth. Despite its importance, the temporal jurisdiction of international tribunals is not well understood. Tribunals often confuse different aspects of their jurisdiction and refuse to hear cases they should have heard, or agree to hear cases they should not. This book reduces this confusion by clarifying the different limits on the temporal jurisdiction of international tribunals and the important distinctions between those limits. The book examines the temporal limits resulting from the entry into force of the obligation allegedly breached, from the acceptance of the tribunal's jurisdiction, and from the period of limitation, as well as the effect of acts that occurred before these limits. The book comprehensively compares decisions from a wide variety of sources including the International Court of Justice Human Rights Courts World Trade Organization panels and investment treaty tribunals. It comments on decisions that arose from some of the most notorious events of the twentieth century including the ‘Katyn Massacre’ of the Second World War the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the ‘forced disappearance’ of American political opponents. It reviews these decisions and identifies common principles that help define the temporal jurisdiction of tribunals to decide breaches of international law.

Thailand

2019 ◽  
pp. 362-385
Author(s):  
Vitit Muntarbhorn
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Second World War ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
World War ◽  
Key Players ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
The Hague ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Second World

This chapter focuses on international law in Thailand. Siam was one of the original states from the Asian region that took part in the formation of the international legal system, notably the Hague Conference in 1899, which resulted in various treaties on the law of war, followed by the 1907 Hague Conference that resulted in a host of treaties on rules and regulations concerning the conduct of war. It was a member of the League of Nations and contributed to key international developments, such as the evolution of treaties against human trafficking. In the diplomatic juggle to set up the United Nations after the Second World War, Thailand sought membership, played its hand diplomatically, and gained admission. It was also one of the founders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967, and it was one of the key players that brought peace to Cambodia and the region in the 1990s.

The Legal Personality of Individuals in International Claims

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Diplomatic Protection ◽  
Foreign State ◽  
International Dispute ◽  
The Right ◽  
Second World

Chapter 4 discusses international claims, that is, claims arising out of injury inflicted upon an individual by a foreign State in violation of international law. Such claims may be enforced either through diplomatic protection or by granting the injured individual himself the right to bring a case against the foreign State before an international dispute settlement body. The common idea is that claims of individuals against foreign States were solely asserted through diplomatic protection before the Second World War, whereas the right of individuals to petition international courts independently is a post-1945 phenomenon. By studying international claims practice in three historical periods (before the First World War, the interwar period, and after the Second World War), the present chapter tests this account against positive international law, and inquires whether the concept of international legal personality played a role in the contracting States’ choice of one method of dispute resolution over the other.

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