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International law is the term commonly used for referring to the system of implicit and explicit agreements that bind together nation-states in adherence to recognized values and standards, differing from other legal systems in that it concerns nations rather than private citizens[1]. However, the term "International Law" can refer to three distinct legal disciplines:
- Public international law, which involves for instance the United Nations, maritime law, international criminal law and the Geneva conventions.
- Private international law, or conflict of laws, which addresses the questions of (1) in which legal jurisdiction may a case be heard; and (2) the law concerning which jurisdiction(s) apply to the issues in the case
- Supranational law or the law of supranational organizations, which concerns at present regional agreements where the special distinguishing quality is that laws of nation states are held inapplicable when conflicting with a supranational legal system.
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Public International law
Public international law (or international public law) concerns the relationships between subjects of international law, including sovereign nations, international organizations, and in some cases, movements of national liberation (wars of national liberation) and armed insurrectional movements (see insurgency). The norms of international law have their source in either custom (consistent state practice with opinio juris), or conventional agreements, i.e., treaties. Also, while infrequent, international law can be derived from academic and expert legal opinions (soft law) and globally accepted standards of human behaviour (peremptory norm sometimes known as jus cogens norms or ius cogens)
International law has existed since the Middle Ages (see Islamic international law), but much of its modern corpus began developing from the middle of the 19th century. The two World Wars, the League of Nations and other international organizations such as the International Labor Organization all contributed to accelerate this process and established much of the foundations of modern public international law. After the failure of the Treaty of Versailles and World War II, the League of Nations was replaced by the United Nations, founded under the UN Charter. The UN has developed new advisory standards, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Other international norms and laws have been established through international agreements; e.g. the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war or armed conflict, as well as by other international organizations such as the ILO, the World Health Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, UNESCO, the World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund. Thus later law is of great importance in the realm of international relations.
Conflict of laws
Conflict of laws, often called "private international law" in civil law jurisdictions, is less international than public international law. It is distinguished from public international law because it governs conflicts between private persons, rather than states (or other international bodies with standing). It concerns the questions of which jurisdiction should be permitted to hear a legal dispute between private parties, and which jurisdictions law should be applied, therefore raising issues of international law. Today corporations are increasingly capable of shifting capital and labor supply chains across borders, as well as trading with overseas corporations. This increases the number of disputes of an inter-state nature outside a unified legal framework and raises issues of the enforceability of standard practices. Increasing numbers of businesses use commercial arbitration under the New York Convention 1958.
Supranational law
The European Union
The European Union is a concept without definition. The world has never seen such a system. It is the first and only example of a near supra-national legal framework, where sovereign nations have pooled their authority through a system of courts and political institutions. It constitutes a new legal order in international law [1] [2] for the mutual social and economic benefit of the member states. The European Union, however, cannot be considered as a nation (federal state) in itself or a supra or super-nation because all member states retain the option to withdraw from the union.
East Africa Community
There are ambitions to make the East African Community, consisting of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, a political federation with its own form of binding supranational law by 2010.
External links
See also
- Customary international law
- List of International Court of Justice cases
- Law of war and International humanitarian law
- International litigation
- Martens Clause
References
- ^ Shaw, Malcolm N (2003). International Law. Cambridge University Press; 5 edition, 1-2. ISBN 978-0521531832.
- ^ C-26/62 Van Gend en Loos v. Nederlanse Administratie Der Belastingen