Public International Law

[Carola Lingaas is an Associate Professor of Law at VID Specialized University in Oslo (Norway). She earned her PhD in November 2017 from the University of Oslo with a thesis on ‘The Concept of Race in International Criminal Law’, which is under contract for publication by Routledge.] Introduction In November 2018, the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts in Cambodia (ECCC) rendered its judgment in the case 002/02 against the former senior...

[Dr. Tamar Megiddo is a Research Fellow at the TraffLab Research Project at Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law.] To suggest in 2019 that international law scholarship remains statist may immediately lift some eyebrows. Although international law scholarship had traditionally embraced a state-centric approach, many have assumed that the field has long left statism behind. In my article Methodological Individualism, forthcoming in the Harvard International Law Journal, I...

[Raphael Schäfer & Kanad Bagchi are research fellows at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg Germany. This is part two of a two-part post. Part I can be found here.]   On the Question of Remedies Arguably, it is here that the case assumed critical importance not just for jurisprudence of international law as such but also for the parties...

[Raphael Schäfer & Kanad Bagchi are research fellows at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg Germany. This is the first part of a two-part post.]   As the International Court of Justice (ICJ/Court) began to hand down its decision on the Jadhav case, it became almost certain that the ruling will be on predictable...

[Alonso Illueca is a lawyer and adjunct Professor of International Law at Universidad del Istmo] On July 12, 2019, Panama announced its decision to withdraw its flag from any vessel violating “sanctions and international legislation”. This decision resulted in the removal of 59 ships (mostly tankers) from Panama’s shipping fleet due to their link with the Islamic Republic of Iran (“Iran”)...

Paula Baldini Miranda da Cruz is a Lawyer, LLM Adv. Studies in Public International Law at Leiden University (Netherlands). Ph.D. candidate at Leiden University (Netherlands) and Rafael Braga da Silva is a Lawyer, LLM University for Peace and United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) (Italy) and LL.M. Adv. Studies in Public International Law at Leiden University Netherlands). In...

Ernesto J. Sanchez is an attorney in Miami, Florida who concentrates his practice on appellate and international dispute resolution matters. He is also the author of The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Deskbook, published by the American Bar Association. As tensions between Iran and the United States continue, Opinio Juris readers will most likely consult the numerous superb legal commentaries on whether the United...

On 23 January 2019, Juan Guaidó, the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, proclaimed himself as the caretaker President of Venezuela in accordance with Article 223 of the Venezuelan Constitution. Guaidó’s Government falls foul of the criterion of effectiveness (control of at least some territory, habitual obedience of a majority of the population, and reasonable prospect of permanence), which remains with Maduro. The claim is purely...

The Kulbhushan Jadhav case – between India and Pakistan at the International Court of Justice – will be decided today. India initiated proceedings  before the ICJ on May 8, 2017 relating to the arrest, detention and sentencing to death of Jadhav.  While the facts are disputed, here are the basics: Pakistan alleges that Jadhav is a serving Indian naval officer, who at...

As expected, the OTP has asked the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) to grant leave to appeal its refusal to authorise the Afghanistan investigation. I'm in Kiev and don't have as much time to write as I'd like, so I just want to offer a few quick thoughts on the OTP's motion, which seeks appeal on three interrelated issues. First, I think it's...

[Mohamed S. Helal is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Mortiz College of Law and an Affiliated Faculty with the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. This is the second part of a two-part post; the first can be found here.] Second: Resisting Iranian Regional Policies and Responding to Indirect Iranian Aggression The U.S. National Defense Strategy states that “Iran is competing with its...

[Mohamed S. Helal is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Mortiz College of Law and an Affiliated Faculty with the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. This is the first part of a two-part post.] Over the past weeks, tensions have escalated in the Persian Gulf. On May 5, 2019, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton announced that “in response to a number of troubling and...