14. The law of armed conflict

This chapter examines those parts of international law that regulate how military operations must be conducted — jus in bello. It begins in Section 14.2 with an overview of the most important legal sources. Section 14.3 discusses when humanitarian law applies. Section 14.4 examines the issue of battlefield status and the distinction between combatants and civilians. Section 14.5 provides an overview of some of the most basic principles governing the conduct of hostilities while Section 14.6 deals with the issue of regulation of non-international armed conflict. Finally, Section 14.7 explores the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law in times of armed conflict.

12. The peaceful settlement of disputes

This chapter discusses some of the more relevant methods for peaceful dispute settlement. It begins by introducing a number of non-adjudicatory settlement mechanisms and providing a brief overview of the role played by the UN. It then discusses the adjudicatory means of settling disputes, including international arbitration; the competences and powers of the International Court of Justice; issues of access to the Court and the Court's jurisdiction in contentious cases; the power of the Court to issue provisional measures; the effects of the Court's decisions; the relationship between the Court and the UN Security Council; and the Court's competence to issue advisory opinions.

10. International environmental law

International environmental law is an area of international law where states have decided to cooperate with each other in order to fulfil certain goals of common interest and, for the most part, its rules and principles belong in the category of the international law of cooperation. This chapter discusses the most important parts of international environmental law and its main legal sources. It presents the fundamental principles of international environmental law, including those that seek to prevent damage to the environment and those that seek to ensure a balanced approach to environmental protection. It provides an overview of the most important parts of the substantial regulation in international environmental law, including the legal regime for the protection of the atmosphere, the conservation of nature, and the regulation of hazardous substances. It also discusses features related to implementation and enforcement that are particular to international environmental law.

7. State responsibility

This chapter discusses the international law of responsibility as primarily reflected in the 2001 International Law Commission's (ILC) Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. It opens in Section 7.2 with an overview of some of the core principles and elements of state responsibility for wrongful acts. Section 7.3 discusses the issue of state attribution before Section 7.4 examines the various circumstances that may preclude the wrongfulness of conduct otherwise in violation of a (primary) legal obligation. Section 7.5 looks into the consequences of state responsibility while Section 7.6 discusses who may be entitled to invoke state responsibility. Section 7.7 provides a brief overview of the responsibility of international organizations.

6. Immunity from national jurisdiction and diplomatic protection

This chapter discusses the different forms of immunity from national jurisdiction enjoyed by a state and its representatives. It presents state immunity and the complicated distinction between sovereign (jure imperii) and commercial (jure gestionis) acts. It discusses the exception to state immunity for commercial acts; provides an overview of some of the additional exceptions to state immunity; and discusses the immunities of state representatives. It distinguishes between immunity ratione personae and immunity ratione materiae and discusses how the distinction is applied to different state representatives. It also discusses the immunities and protection of diplomatic representatives and diplomatic missions as well as the issue of consular protection and the immunities enjoyed by so-called special missions.

3. The law of treaties

This chapter examines the principles and rules of the international law of treaties as reflected in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). It discusses the treaty as a legal concept and provides an overview of the regulation of who can conclude treaties, how consent to be bound by a treaty is expressed, the rules on entry into force, treaty reservations, the interpretation of treaties, amendments and modifications, the invalidity of treaties, and the termination of and withdrawal from treaties. The VCLT is meant to be applied to all types of written treaties and it therefore governs treaties as diverse as a bilateral agreement to construct infrastructure as well as a multilateral document such as the UN Charter. In practice, however, the concrete application of the Convention may differ depending on the type of treaties.

9. International human rights law

This chapter discusses the system of human rights protection that has emerged since the end of the Second World War. It begins in Section 9.2 with the primary sources of human rights law before Section 9.3 discusses the different categories of human rights. Section 9.4 discusses the obligation on states to offer protection to individuals from the acts of other private individuals. Section 9.5 provides an overview of the enforcement mechanisms in the UN and Section 9.6 focuses on the regional protection of human rights. Section 9.7 discusses the territorial scope of human rights treaties and Section 9.8 concerns the application of human rights in times of public emergency.

5. Jurisdiction

This chapter discusses the international legal concept of jurisdiction as well as the content of the relevant legal principles. The term jurisdiction relates to the authority of a state to exert its influence and power — in practice make, apply, and enforce its rules — and create an impact or consequence on individuals or property. The chapter explains the difference between, respectively, the jurisdiction to prescribe and the jurisdiction to enforce and the main elements thereof. It analyses the different principles of prescriptive jurisdiction (the principle of territoriality, nationality, universality, protection, and so-called passive personality) and discusses the issue of concurring jurisdictions as well as jurisdiction on ships and aircraft. It also discusses the prohibition on enforcing jurisdiction on the territory of another state as well as the legal consequences of violating that prohibition.

15. International criminal law

This chapter looks at the purposes and principles of international criminal law. International criminal law seeks to ensure that perpetrators of certain heinous acts are criminally liable for their act, either before national or international criminal courts or tribunals. It is a fairly recent addition to international law and it was not until after the end of the Second World War that it became accepted that international law authorizes the criminal prosecution of individual perpetrators of serious offences. The chapter begins by discussing the most important sources of international criminal law. It then examines the prosecution of international crimes before international criminal courts, including the conditions for prosecuting suspected international criminals before the International Criminal Court. It also discusses the national prosecution of international crimes and the obligation found in a number of conventions to criminalize and prosecute certain conduct.

2. Sources of international law

This chapter provides an overview of the legal sources in international law. Sources of law determine the rules of legal society and, like national legal societies, the international legal society has its own set of rules. The discussion begins in Section 2.2 with article 38 of the International Court of Justice Statute. Section 2.3 discusses treaties, Section 2.4 covers customary international law, and Section 2.5 turns to general principles of international law. Attention then turns to the two additional sources listed in article 38. Section 2.6 discusses judicial decisions and Section 2.7 examines academic contributions. Section 2.8 discusses the role played by unilateral statements. The chapter then turns to the issue of a hierarchy of sources in Section 2.9 and concludes in Section 2.10 with a discussion of non-binding instruments and so-called ‘soft law’.