In 1780, the term “international law” was created and first used by Jeremy Bentham in his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Since about 1840, in the English and Romance Languages it has replaced the older terminology of ‘law of nations’ or ‘droit de gens’ which can be traced back to the Roman concept of ius gentium and the writings of Cicero. Since its inception, there have been different definitions offered to define the term “international law”. For example, Bentham himself defined international law as the law which relates to the mutual transactions between sovereigns as such. Tim Hiller says, it is the “body of rules which are legally binding on states in their intercourse with each other”. In the view of Sir Cecil Hurst, “international law is the aggregate of rules which determines the rights which one state is entitled to claim on behalf of itself or its nationals against another state”.
Despite the different definitions offered above, there is a similarity with all three definitions, which is the relationship between states. As Colin Warbrick asserts, “international law has something to do with States”, however while states were the only legal persons of international law fifty years ago, today international organisations, regional organisations, non-governmental organisations, public companies, private companies and individuals can now be regarded as legal persons under international law.
Furthermore, due to the relationship between states and international law, some states have incorporated some aspects of international law into their domestic laws. For example, states such as the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States America (USA), have adopted the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of...
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...e, Russia, China and the UK to control their borders due to the fact they can withstand any sanctions place upon them if they were to breach international law.
However, to a great extent, international law does inhibit the ability of nation’s states that are not economically and politically sound to control their borders. Firstly, this is due to the fact that “weaker states”( those states not economically and politically strong) have to reduce border strictness in order to facilitate the flow of capital, information, cheap labor and domestic services as asserted by Sassen, Pecoud and Guchteneire. Lastly, weaker states have to abide to international laws, such as allowing freedom of movement and the acceptance of refugees, domestic workers etc, as a breach of it made lead to sanctions (i.e. withdrawal of aid) which could be of detrimental effect to their economy.
There continues to be a growing debate to this day over the use of international law in the Supreme Court, and even though the case of Roper v. Simmons and Justice Kennedy, are nearly a decade old, they are both frequently
A topic crucial to the world today is illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is when people live in a country without permission from the government, nor have any legal documentation. As more and more illegal immigrants enter the United States, it either upsets some people, or others feel like they should just grant them ability to pursue life, liberty, and happiness because that is what the Constitution says. Some people feel that illegal immigrants should be protected by the same rights and laws as American citizens. On the other hand, many people believe that this is a horrible mistake. They feel that the rights of citizenship should be earned and not extended to people who haven broken the law just by being in the United States.
With the formation of formal International Organisations (such as the United Nations), informal Organisations (such as the G20) and other organisations (such as the NGO`s) in the 20th century, global governance has become significantly important for the societies and countries in the world. Nation states have set-up and involved in these organisations in order to cooperate, make and implement international laws and policies and consent in international agreements (Diehl & Frederking 2010 p.30). They have also worked together to cooperate and tackle certain global issues and challenges such as wars, health, human rights and the environment. As a result, with the formation of a number of organisations and other non-state actors, countries have been involved in a global system in which they have become more dependent to each other as well as binding to international laws, norms and policies. In other words, the globalisation process and the presence of the international organisations and civil societies have caused nation states to keep their policy standards in compliance with international laws and agreements (Cable, 1999, p.35). However, despite of the evolving global governance today, nation states level of compliance to the global governance can be argued to be limited since the globalisation process can also be regarded to be as a threat to the nation states, as countries resist in staying as central actors when making policies and taking decisions rather than complying and binding to international norms, laws and agreements (Senarclens & Kazancigil, 2007, p.51).
Atzili, Boaz. (2007). When Good Fences Make Bad Neighbors: Fixed Borders, State Weakeness, and International Conflict. International Security. 31 (3), p139-173.
Over the years it seems as though our country has become more populated and unsafe from the illegal immigrants and smuggled goods, such as drugs and weapons, which make it into the United States. Although there are many illegal immigrants and contraband that are able to make it into the U.S undetected, there are a significant amount of people and contraband that are caught by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The CBP is a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and was formed in 2003. “It is one of the world’s largest law enforcement organizations and is charged with keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S” (CBP). One of the departments of the CBP is border security, which is a team of individuals that work together to protect our country from “illegal immigrants, narcotics smuggling, and illegal importation” (CBP). Border patrol was established in 1924 and has changed dramatically over the decades. The one aspect that has not changed is “the overall mission to detect and prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the U.S” (CBP). The border patrol is responsible for patrolling the 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian land borders and 2,000 miles of coastal waters. According to CBP, “In 2013 420,789 nationwide illegal aliens were apprehended and 2.9 million pounds of drugs were seized.” As one could tell, there is a significant amount of illegal immigrants and smuggled goods coming into the U.S. However, the number of illegal immigrants that have been seized is lower than it has been in the past, but I still believe that having a strong border security is necessary in continuing to keep immigrants from trying to come into the U.S illegally and transporting illegal goods. “The primary goal of bo...
According to Article 38 of the 1946 Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Court shall apply “international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law” in its decisions (Kritsiotis 123). In other words, the International Court of Justice cites customs as a formal source of law. According to Roberto Unger, author of Law in a Modern Society, customary international law is best defined as “any recurring mode of interaction among individuals and groups, together with the more or less explicit acknowledgement of these groups and individuals that such patterns of interaction produce reciprocal expectations of conduct that out to be satisfied (Shaw 72-73). In other words, customary international laws are primarily concerned with how and why sates behave in a particular manner. Customs derive from the behavior of states (state practice) and the subconscious belief that a behavior is inherently legal (opinio juris). Evidence of state behavior is documented in the decisions of domestic courts, international courts, and international organizations. Unlike treaty law, customary laws are binding on all states. Additionally, if a treaty derives from a custom it is also binding on all states. Some of the international court cases that have been instrumental in the development of customary international law include the Nicaragua v. United States case, the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, the Scotia case, the Asylum case, the Paquete Habana case, and the Lotus case.
456). Also, as stated by Besson, a State needs jurisdiction in order to apply human rights treaties, meaning that “it conditions the applicability of those rights and duties on political and legal circumstances where a certain relationship exists between right-holders and state parties” (Besson, p. 860).
The beat-up Arab minivan slowed tentatively under the scrutinizing gaze of the Israeli soldier on duty. The routine was simple. About halfway between Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, the West Bank commercial center, the driver, blaring Arabic music on his radio, maneuvered around the dusty slabs of concrete that composed the Beit Haninah Checkpoint. He waited for a once-over by the Hebrew-speaking 18-year-old and permission to continue. Checkpoints-usually just small tin huts with a prominent white and blue Israeli flag-have become an integral and accepted part of Palestinian existence under Israeli occupation. But for me, a silent passenger in the minivan, each time we entered the no man's land between Israeli territory and the West Bank, my hea...
The international system is an anarchical system which means that, unlike the states, there is no over ruling, governing body that enforces laws and regulations that all states must abide by. The International System in today’s society has become highly influential from a number of significant factors. Some of these factors that will be discussed are Power held by the state, major Wars that have been fought out in recent history and international organisations such as the U.N, NATO and the W.T.O. Each of these factors, have a great influence over the international system and as a result, the states abilities to “freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development”.
The lack of automatic international compulsory jurisdiction renders ICJ inferior. Therefore the argument that referring to this court as the ‘World Court’ implies it is superior; an international equivalent of a national supreme court is null and void. Generally a supreme court is the highest ranking court. Its ruling is not subject to further review and therefore the disputing parties ha...
International law is a body of legally binding rules that are suppose to govern the relations between sovereign states. (Cornell Law School) In order to be a qualified subject, a state has to be sovereign. To be considered sovereign the state needs to have territory, a population, and a government that is recognized or legitimized to most other states. In the more modern explanation of international law now can include the rights and obligation on intergovernmental international organizations and even individuals. Examples of an international organization would be Greenpeace or the United Nations and an example of an individual would be war criminals, a leader of a state that violated human rights during a time of war. When a dispute arise and cannot be solved amongst the two actors involved they can turn to the U.N. to arbitrate and to the International Court of Justice, one of many courts within the U.N. to find a resolution to their problem. The International Court of Justice’s main task is to help settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and...
Public International law International law contains of rules and principles, which preside over the relations and communication of nations with each other. International Law that is in most other countries referred to as Public International Law concerns itself only with questions of rights among more than a few nations or nations and the citizens or subjects of other nations. In dissimilarity, Private International Law deals with controversies among confidential persons, natural or juridical, arising out of situations having important association to further than one nation. In current years the line up connecting public and private international law have became more and more doubtful. Issues of private international law may also associate issues of public international law and numerous matters of private international law nave considerable meaning for the international group of people of nations. International Law consists of the basic, classic concepts of law in nationwide legal systems, status, property, responsibility, and tort. It also includes substantive law, procedure, process and remedies. International Law is rooted in receipt by the nation states, which comprise the system. Customary law and conventional law are primary sources of international law. Customary international law results when states trail convinced practices usually and time after time out of an intelligence of legal responsibility. Lately the customary law was codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Conventional international law derives from international agreements and may obtain any appearance that the constricting parties have the same opinion upon. Agreements may be complete in admiration to any substance except for to the leve...
...onal human rights law and international humanitarian law, as well as the development within international criminal law needed to enforce IHRL and IHL and the international criminal law itself, and criminal law traditionally imposes obligation on individuals, and duties on states to sanction violations committed by individuals.
First of all, we need to know the definition of the subjects of international law. In the perspective of legal theories, to identify the subjects of international law must be based on these following basic signals: The participation in international legal relations that be adjusted by the international law; having the will of independence in international activities; having a full rights and obligations severally toward other objects under the scope to adjust of international law; ability of shoulder the international legal responsibility for the acts executed by object. Generally, objects of international law are the entities that are participating in, or may have the ability to participate in the international legal relations independently. They have the full legal international rights and obligations for the acts executed by object.
In the mouth of a British constitutional lawyer, the term the rule of law seems to mean primarily a corpus of basic principles and values, which together lend some stability and coherence to the legal order.