International Law Outline

International Law Outline
University of Maine School of Law, Professor Norchi, Fall ’10
Text: International Law in Contemporary Perspective
Table of Contents:
– Nuclear Weapons 2
– How National & International Actors Interact 3
– Establishment, Transformation, Termination of States & Actors 4
– Nationality 8
– Multiple Nationality & Claims to Control Persons 11
– Diplomatic Protection 12
– Exhaust Local Remedies 13
– Calvo Clauses 13
– Nationality Protection 14
– Citizenship & Terror 14
– International Human Rights 15
– Human Rights in US Courts 16
– Law of the Sea 17
– State Responsibility 19
– The Military Instrument 21
– Individual Criminal Liability in War 26
– International Agreements 26
Sources of International Law
– Customary: what a state regularly does that creates a legal obligation
– International Conventions
– Judicial Decisions and highly qualified Juristic Writings
– General Principles of law recognized in civilized nations:
– common law – socialist common law
– civil law – Islamic law
– hong kong

The International Court of Justice (ICJ)
-tribunal for states to resolve disputes, created 6/26/45
-established by UN charter as:
-body of 15 independent judges
-elected by the Security Council (SC) and General Assembly (GA)
-list of judge nominees comes from groups in the permanent court
of arbitration
* “permanent court of arbitration” still exists, sits in the Hague, has 4 members from each member state.
-parties CAN ask for not all of the 15 judges and instead have a “chamber” where the parties stipulate the judges.
-ICJ Art. 31 allows each party placement of 1 ad hoc judge from their country on the court for their case.
* UN (United Nations) was established at the San Francisco Convention on 6/26/45 and now has 192 members.
A.) Nuclear Weapons
-1945 – 1960: the U.S. claims the right to temporarily interfere with fishing and navigation on the high seas for self-defense.
-1960 – 1974: 1.) Treaty banning nuclear weapon tests (1963), 2.) UN GA resolution 2032 “need to suspend nuclear/thermonuclear tests, 3.) Treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons with goal of controlling their spread by banning transfers of nuclear weapons. (1970)
Australia v France (ICJ 1973) pg. 51
-France was testing nukes in French Polynesia from ’66 – ’72 and debris was falling on Australian territory.
-Australia (P) says ICJ has jurisdiction due to Art. 33 of the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes Act of 1928.
-France (D) says no jurisdiction because “permanent court” doesn’t exist and is now ICJ, which isn’t named in the 1928 act.
-Conclusion: ICJ issues a provisional measure ordering France to stop testing where it hit’s Australian territory BUT says there is no case because France has announced their intention to stop atmospheric testing.
Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (ICJ 1996) pg.76
-ICJ comes to no conclusion on legality of use of threat of use of nukes. They consider “lex specialis,” meaning specialized law, considered international norms.
-genocide does NOT prohibit
-environmental law does NOT prohibit
-armed conflict law does NOT prohibit
-UN Charter does NOT prohibit “per se
* the charter raises the issue of “proportionality” meaning the military actions of one state against another must be proportional.
-Conclusion: Nuclear weapons are not illegal “per se,” and neither are their use, however, only in “extreme circumstances of self-defense, in which a nation’s very survival is at stake” would their use be legal.
*opinio juris = legal opinion by necessity, erga omnes = obligations owed to all
B.) How National and International Actors Interact
Principles of jurisdiction in international law:
– territorial – passive personality
– nationality – universal
– protective
There are conflicting claims in the international community on the competence to make and apply law to a person or event.
– The US asserts it’s law (fiscal, criminal, etc.) everywhere, even outside it’s borders. It asserts broad compe