Search: Symposium on the Functional Approach to the Law of Occupation
06 Apr Book Symposium: Interpretation in International Law–What’s In A Game?
VCLT rules, interpretation in international law has rarely been regarded as a distinct (and broader) field of inquiry. As new insights on interpretation have abounded in other fields, international law and international lawyers have continually granted an imprimatur to rule-based formalism. Given that interpretation is a pervasive phenomenon in international law that is irreducible to analysis of the VCLT rules, a greater methodological awareness of interpretive theory and practice in international law is imperative. We convened a conference on interpretation in international law at the Lauterpacht Centre and the Faculty...16 Jan The Meaning of Common Article Three
...of an armed conflict of international character – in other words, one that crosses the borders of the state – whether or not the place in which the armed conflict occurs is subject to belligerent occupation. This law constitutes a part of iue in bello. From the humanitarian perspective, it is part of international humanitarian law. That humanitarian law is the lex specialis which applies in the case of an armed conflict. When there is a gap (lacuna) in that law, it can be supplemented by human rights law This...16 Feb Conspiracy and the New Hamdan Argument
Jordan Response... And what would be the Exec. attempted justification for the extraterritorial reach of a so-called "U.S. common law" that quite obviously could not be binding under customary laws of war or treaty-based laws of war or other customary or treaty-based law on the foeign accused? No jurisdiciton still. John C. Dehn Jens and Jordan, I have never finished the companion article to my JICJ article explaining the U.S. "common law" approach to punishing war crimes. However, Jordan is on track regarding the focus of the article -- which...16 Jan Can the Security Council Displace Human Rights Treaties? (Al-Jedda, Part 2)
by inventing anything like a general rule of law, of whatever nature, to the effect that human rights cannot apply in armed conflict where they cannot be reconciled with the lex specialis of armed conflict. The derogation clause particularly of Article 15 ECHR is dead against this. It even acknowledges the existence of the laws of war in referring to 'deaths resulting from lawful acts of war', yet does not begin to subordinate the ECHR to that other body of law. Nor, of course, where the dicta of the ICJ...09 Feb Is International Law….Law?
board with Roberts’ overall project, I am enough of a practicing lawyer to wonder whether comparative international law can allow us to assess right and wrong interpretations of international law, and whether government intervention should affect such judgments of even relative legal correctness. While I was sympathetic to the argument that the South China Sea arbitral tribunal lacked jurisdiction, I was (and remain) deeply skeptical of the subsequent Chinese argument that the arbitral tribunal’s award is not binding. I think this is not just a different approach to international law...
21 Jun The Inadequacy of the US State Department Report on Arms Exports Assurances: Part I
the state is known to have a poor attitude to international humanitarian law and human rights law generally, especially if the state has ever previously used exported arms to violate international humanitarian law or human rights law.” The basis for this framework came from two sources: (1) international law and its interpretation by courts and other authorities, and (2) state practice making predictions of behavior from assurances generally. The reader is invited to consider the prior post for a more detailed explanation of how these two sources result in the...
20 Jan Q&A: The Times and Temporalities of Human Rights
An interview with Kathryn McNeilly and Ben Warwick, editors of The Times and Temporalities of International Human Rights Law (Hart 2022). Questions by Natasa Mavronicola. [Kathryn McNeilly is Professor of Law at Queen’s University Belfast School of Law. Natasa Mavronicola is Professor of Human Rights Law at Birmingham Law School. Dr Ben Warwick is a Reader in Human Rights Law at Birmingham Law School and a Co-Investigator on the Rights for Time Network+ grant.] NM: I wanted to begin by congratulating you, and all the authors, for weaving together such...
23 Jun Digital Clarity: Why International Law Needs Clearer Application in the Digital Space
distinction matters legally because different international law frameworks may apply with varying degrees of clarity to each domain. While cyber operations, as commonly referred to in texts such as the Tallinn Manual 2.0. or the Oxford Process on International Law Protections in Cyberspace, might trigger traditional security-focused international law (such as jus ad bellum and international humanitarian law), broader digital activities may primarily engage human rights law, trade law, tort law and other regulatory frameworks at regional levels, such as the EU digital regulatory frameworks, or national levels. The overlap...
16 Apr Symposium on Confronting Colonial Objects: International Law as Colonial Object – The Language/Materiality Dichotomy and the Coloniality of Cultural Takings
a colonial lens that justified colonial takings?” The answer to both questions can be yes without any risk of internal contradiction, as we approach them through different methodologies at different times: takings where unlawful, but not because the law was more pluralist than we think. The hegemonic position remained colonial, even if there was room for social transformation within that law for those counted few who gave no legal value to racist ideas. In fact, as Koskenniemi has shown, the formation of international law as a discipline is unavoidably tied...03 Nov Salvaging the Charming Betsy in ATS Cases: A Response to Rio Tinto
...U.S. A failure to afford such a remedy, or to punish the perpetrator of the act, would have made the U.S. “responsible” for the law of nations violation, and might result in reprisals by, or war with, an offended foreign nation. This is, unsurprisingly, very similar to the common law approach to individual punishment for law of war violations. As Colonel William Winthrop noted in his famous military law treatise, enemies who violated the laws of war and later came into U.S. custody could be punished. If they remained in...