In association with the International Commission of Jurists

General

24 Aug

[Isobel Roele is a Reader in the Department of Law at Queen Mary University of London, and the author of Articulating Security: The United Nations and Its Infra-Law (CUP, 2022)] The Sentimental Life of International Law makes a radical proposal: that we think of ourselves as living our lives when we do international law. The book invites readers to imagine a world where the professional is...

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23 Aug

Evropeyska Pravda is reporting that, although clearly not its first choice, Ukraine would be willing to accept an internationalized tribunal for the crime of aggression as long as it is based in another state's judicial system. Here are the relevant paragraphs, quoting the Deputy Head of the Office of the President: Ukraine decided on these concessions, Andriy Smirnov admitted for the...

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23 Aug

[Zinaida Miller is Professor of Law & International Affairs at Northeastern University.] In his wide-ranging exploration, Gerry Simpson demonstrates the fundamental tensions experienced within international law and by international lawyers as they simultaneously embrace and distance themselves from the individuals, sites, histories, modes of violence, and narratives at the center of their work. To approach international law through the sentimental, Simpson suggests, allows him to understand it...

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23 Aug

[Carl Landauer taught history at Yale, Stanford, and McGill Universities and international legal theory at UC Berkeley School of Law.] Gerry Simpson, in the final chapter of The Sentimental Life of International Law, urges international lawyers to follow the Voltairean advice, “Il faut cultiver notre jardin,” which Simpson means both figuratively and literally. Among the various garden images that Simpson marshals for the garden chapter...

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22 Aug

I am delighted to announce that this week Opinio Juris will be hosting a symposium on Gerry Simpson's wonderful new book "The Sentimental Life of International Law." Here is Oxford University Press's description: The Sentimental Life of International Law is about our age-old longing for a decent international society and the ways of seeing, being, and speaking that might help us achieve...

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20 Aug

To have your event or announcement featured in next week’s post, please send a link and a brief description to ojeventsandannouncements@gmail.com! Calls for Papers Symposium on Pop Culture & International Law: Opinio Juris will be holding its third annual Symposium on Pop Culture & International Law during the week of 30 October 2023. Pitches are due via email by this Friday, 25 August –...

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16 Aug

[Keshav Somani is as an Associate with the Dispute Resolution team of S&R Associates, New Delhi] Introduction The International Court of Justice on July 13, 2023, delivered its judgment in the case concerning Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia). The Court concluded by thirteen votes...

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14 Aug

[Stephen Lamony is an international lawyer] This essay benefited from comments by the Coordinator of the African States Parties to the ICC in New York, Mr Marvin Ikondere. Introduction In July 2010, International Criminal Court (ICC) President Judge Sang-Hyun Song and African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Jean Ping met and agreed to establish a Liaison Office to promote dialogue, information exchange, and mutual...

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13 Aug

To have your event or announcement featured in next week’s post, please send a link and a brief description to ojeventsandannouncements@gmail.com! Calls for Papers Young Scholar's Workshop - Canadian Yearbook of International Law & International Law Group, University of Ottawa: The Canadian Yearbook of International Law, Canada’s leading peer-reviewed international legal journal, will host a Young Scholar’s Workshop on November 1, 2023...

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11 Aug

[Barrie Sander (@Barrie_Sander) is Assistant Professor of International Justice at Leiden University – Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs] Reflecting on the narrative nature of law, James Boyd White famously observed how ‘[t]he text does not conclude the difficulties of the real world, but begins a process, a process of its own interpretation. This is the process by which the law is...

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11 Aug

[Marina Veličković is a Lecturer at the University of Kent, UK. In her research she explores the role of international law in (re)producing structures of violence in post-conflict settings.] Everyone has a moment of sheer panic during their PhD journey (or a few moments if your anxiety levels are that of an average academic) when they come across the thesis/article/book that...

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10 Aug

[Michelle Burgis-Kasthala is a Senior Lecturer in Public International Law, University of Edinburgh] It seems that history is repeating itself. Yet again Jenin refugee camp is under attack by Israel’s occupying forces. As in 2002 when the International Criminal Court (ICC) began sitting, the justification for this recent resort to lethal force centres on alleged Palestinian militant activity and the Palestinian...

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