International Law

There are different views in the literature on the meaning of the term international economic law. In author’s opinion it encompasses regulations, which at the same time: are considered law (even soft-law), regulate relations with international element and regulate economic activity. Such laws do not necessarily have to originate from the sources of international law. In this understanding international economic law is a broader term than public international law and private international law in an economic area. The same is true for unpopular in Poland international business law. On the other hand transnational economic law, as understood by Jessup, should be considered equivalent to international economic law. Since international economic law is vast in terms of subjects, sources and norms, it is reasonable to divide it for academic reasons into public international economic law and private international economic law. Both subsections can be further divided. For instance public international economic law would embrace public international trade law, public international financial and monetary law, public international investment law and public international development law.

Volodymyr Mikhaylovich Koretsky was an eminent jurist, educator, organizer of academic legal scholarship, diplomat, Judge of the International Court of Justice, and its Vice-President. His entire life and professional activity stand as a testament to unwavering dedication to Ukraine and the advancement of legal science. Having received an outstanding university education in law, he commenced his career by teaching and conducting research on issues of civil law, and, following the Civil War, turned to the study of the methodology of legal science. During the 1920s and the first half of the 1930s, he combined scholarly and pedagogical pursuits with public service in republican state agencies. Concurrently, he engaged in robust research in the field of private international law. In the 1930s, he took an active role in establishing higher legal education in Kharkiv, serving as Vice-Rector and Head of the Law Faculty while concurrently fulfilling professorial responsibilities. He chaired the Department of the History of State and Law at the Kharkiv Juridical Institute and, in 1939, defended his doctoral dissertation on the distinctive features of Anglo-American doctrine and international law. Following the attainment of his doctoral degree, all subsequent research by the scholar remained inextricably tied to the development of theories in private international law, international economic law, and public international law. After V. M. Koretsky was elected an Academician, he entered his Kyiv period. He founded the Institute of State and Law and the Department of International Law and Comparative Jurisprudence. Under his leadership, the institute was transformed from a modest research sector into a leading, advanced academic institution. During the 1950s and 1960s, V. M. Koretsky simultaneously engaged in scientific, organizational, and teaching activities alongside diplomatic service: he participated in three sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, served as an advisor to the representative of the USSR to the UN Security Council, worked on the UN Committee on the Progressive Development and Codification of International Law, the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the UN International Law Commission, and contributed as a co-drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He took part in numerous forums held under the auspices of the UN. The pinnacle of Koretsky’s diplomatic endeavors was his election as a member of the International Court of Justice in The Hague (1960–1970) and his tenure as Vice-President of that Court (1968–1970). In the 1960s and 1970s, V. M. Koretsky’s scholarly work focused on the study of sovereignty, the international legal personality of republics, and the establishment of a stable international legal order based on principles of peace, security, and stability. He was actively engaged in public affairs in Ukraine, promoting the achievements of domestic legal scholarship abroad. His academic and diplomatic endeavors were duly recognized both nationally and internationally. He received the highest honors of the union and republican governments, was elected a member of numerous foreign academies and international associations, and his name was memorialized in the institute he founded, as well as through the posthumous publication of selected works. Key words: Koretsky, legal scholarship, researcher and theorist, doctrine, private international law, international civil law, international economic law, public international law, diplomat, Judge of the International Court of Justice.

This publication is the result of a symposium held in 2004 at the Kiel Walther Schücking Institute for International Law on the occasion of its 90th anniversary. In 2000 the International Law Commission of the United Nations in its preliminary study on dangers associated with conflicts between various normative subsystems of international law stated that the fragmentation of international law could endanger the stability as well as the consistency of international law and its comprehensive nature. It is against this background that this volume contains an in-depth analysis as to whether divergent trends have emerged, and if so to what extent, with regard to the sources of international law, its subjects, questions of State responsibility and dispute settlement with regard to the law of the sea, international humanitarian and international criminal law, human rights, international environmental law and international economic law. Besides, the book also addresses the question whether, and if so which, rules have developed to cope with conflicts between the various subsystems just mentioned. It therefore constitutes an essential contribution to the ongoing and crucial debate on the fragmentation of modern public international law.

International criminal law does not attempt, as such, to attach criminal liability to environmental damage at present. Although the number of areas of international law concerned with environmental issues has grown significantly over the past three to four decades, such an accommodation has yet to be properly made within international criminal law. Indeed, there is still considerable debate as to whether criminal sanctions are an appropriate form of responsibility for environmental damage at all.Nonetheless, the objective of international criminal law is to provide a means of individual accountability for the most serious atrocities that occur on planet earth. There is no doubt that, whether as a result of naturally occurring phenomena or deliberately induced environmental effects, rapidly changing environmental conditions can cause catastrophic consequences for both human and natural life. As a result, it is certainly possible to discern situations where environmental conditions can or ought to give rise to individual criminal liability. However, given the nature of some environmental damage, international criminal law may not always provide an appropriate or adequate means to account for or remedy the harm caused.The first step in ascertaining the potential for international criminal law to prosecute individuals for environmental damage is a detailed examination of the current framework. This chapter will therefore begin by critically investigating the potential of existing international criminal law to give rise to liability for environmental damage. However, as will be seen, there is a distinct absence of environment-specific provisions in international criminal law at present. As such, there is considerable scope for the amendment of existing ‘core’ crimes, not to mention international criminal law as a whole, to include explicit proscriptions on environmental harm. Therefore, the second part of this chapter will examine possible ameliorations that could be made to existing crimes; the specific example of war crimes will be used to illustrate this point. However, there is always the possibility that international criminal law could expand its scope to accommodate environment-only damage. This chapter will therefore conclude with an appraisal of the proposals that call for the establishment of a separate and distinct category of environmental crimes - often called ‘ecocide’ or ‘geocide’ - within the structure of international criminal law.

Navigating New Landscapes: The Contribution of Socio-Legal Scholarship in Mapping the Plurality of International Economic Law and Locating Power in International Economic Relations

In the last two centuries, the world and humanity have changed more than ever. The rapid development of technology, but also socio-humanistic and political thought has led to a completely different perception of the world by people. The desire to spread influence, aided by technological development, has pushed the great powers into the bloodiest armed conflicts the world has ever seen. After the end of the First and Second World Wars, it proved necessary not only to sanction the leaders of the idea of aggressive war, but also to sanction the insult to the independence of countries through the armed attack. In this regard, the international community has approached a more detailed definition of the concept of aggression and crimes against peace (crime of aggression) and the establishment of appropriate mechanisms with the aim of preventing armed conflicts, stopping them and promoting peaceful settlement of international disputes. It is this idea that is the subject of the text that follows. The author wants to make his modest contribution to legal science in terms of analysis of the concept of aggression in international law (primarily in international public law), but also the definition and elements of (international) crime – crime against peace (aggression) in international criminal law. In addition to explaining and clarifying the content of the concept of aggression, the author will analyze this international crime contained in international documents, present the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in relation to aggression, and explain the position and role of the United Nations in preventing armed conflict and peace. Finally, a critical analysis of all the above, the author will present the advantages and disadvantages of mechanisms for preventing armed conflict and punishing perpetrators of international crimes against peace through the prism of the amendment to the Rome Statute of the ICC.

Extracurricular International Criminal Law

The article examines the norms of current international criminal law, from the standpoint of the lack of a conceptual definition of the concept of "war crimes", which, in turn, is a gap in international law. Considering war crimes from the current point of view, given the accumulated positive scientific achievements and law enforcement practice, it is reasonable to define them as gross violations of international humanitarian law committed during armed conflicts (international and non-international), entailing individual criminal responsibility for international right. It is clarified that war crimes are a type of crime against the peace and security of mankind, in connection with which they have common features for these crimes: increased degree of public danger; the orientation of such criminal acts on the interests protected by international law; their criminalization and punishment are carried out in accordance with international law. It is proved that war crimes are characterized by special (peculiar only to them) features: it can be committed only during an armed conflict; the object of encroachment is the procedure of armed conflict established by international law and the security interests of persons (individuals) protected by international law; gross nature of the violation; the consequences for the rights and interests protected by international humanitarian law; peculiarities of the subjective side - along with the features inherent in all crimes against peace and security of mankind, it is necessary for the perpetrator to be aware of the fact of armed conflict; the perpetrator of a war crime must be aware of the factual circumstances that indicate the protected status of persons - victims of the crime. Given these special features of war crimes, their detailed definition is proposed: socially dangerous, criminal acts committed during armed conflicts (international or non-international) that encroach on the established by international humanitarian law, the interests and security of defenders, and entail individual criminal liability in accordance with the rules of international criminal law.

International Law: Text, Cases and Materials provides not only an essential introduction to the core concepts and foundational principles of international law, but also a detailed overview of each established area in which international law operates. Featuring cases, materials, and illustrative figures throughout to enhance the level of context and detail provided, the book covers everything a student of international law requires. Topics include the law of treaties, international organisations, the international protection of human rights, responsibility in international law, jurisdiction, diplomatic and consular law, territory in international law, the law of the sea, international air and space law, international economic law, international environmental law, and international humanitarian law. This comprehensive textbook will be essential reading not only for any course on international law, but also as a starting point for those wishing to grasp the context of a particular area of international law before exploring further.

The article is devoted to an attempt to generalise and systematise the preliminary considerations regarding the outline of the initial contours of the so-called “interdependence” of the internal content and specific formulations and expressions which are currently commonly used to refer to the concept of “punishment in international criminal law”. An assumption is suggested concerning the evolving nature of the definition of the notion of punishment in international criminal law, given the wide terminological variety of concepts and constructs present in scientific usage, which are as a rule either “located alongside” or “used instead”. At least eighteen, to a certain extent, unique and original phrases designed to describe phenomena similar to “punishment in international criminal law” are identified, among which a special emphasis is traditionally assigned to such specific syntactic units as “international punishment” and “international criminal punishment”, the use of which is quite typical and fairly evident in the modern scientific and information discourse. An assertion is made about the potential existence of a fundamental difference in the definition of the concept of punishment in international criminal law depending on the approaches to its perception, in view of the underlying method depicted in specific terms and categories: 1) through the prism of the imposition of punishment on specific individuals (“punishment of international criminals”); 2) by understanding punishment through the category of “incredible atrocities” (“punishment for international crimes”); 3) by “reading” its content from the perspective of international and national criminal justice bodies (“punishment in the law and practice of international criminal tribunals and courts, national and local institutions”); 4) comprehending its essence by inserting it into a certain setting (“punishment in international, transitional and transitional contexts”); 5) either from the standpoint and perspectives of legal norms (“punishment and international law, punishment and international criminal law”) or their violation (“punishment for violations of international criminal and international humanitarian law”). It is emphasized that further scientific investigations aimed at establishing the essence of each of the currently existing terms with a view to clarifying their content in order to develop a unified definition of the concept of punishment in international criminal law are expedient.

A paradigm change is occurring, in the course of which human beings are becoming the primary international legal persons. In numerous areas of public international law, substantive rights and obligations of individuals arguably flow directly from international law. The novel legal status of humans in international law is now captured with a concept borrowed from constitutional doctrine: international rights of the person, as opposed to international law protecting persons. Combining doctrinal analysis with current practice, this book is the most comprehensive contemporary analysis of the legal status of the individual. Beyond Human Rights, previously published in German and now revised by the author in this English edition, not only deals with the individual in international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international investment law, but it also covers fields such as consular law, environmental law, protection of individuals against acts of violence and natural disasters, refugee law and labour law.

The paper addresses the possible intersection of transnational and international criminal law, using the example of the crime of trafficking in persons. In recent years traf- ficking in persons has gathered a great deal of attention from scholars, practitioners and politicians, nevertheless theoretical aspects concerning that notion and its relation with other concepts present in international law – such as slavery, practices similar to slavery, enslavements etc . – have still been neglected . As this notion appears at the intersection of different areas of law, including transnational and international criminal law, its closer analysis can contribute to determination of theoretical boundaries of both areas of international law.

Refugee status determination is difficult by its very nature but it becomes even more complex when the issue of exclusion under article 1F(a) is raised and it is alleged that there are ‘serious reasons for considering’ that the applicant is ‘guilty of having committed a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity, as defined in the international instruments that have been drawn to make provision for such crimes’. The ‘War Crimes and Refugee Status’ Research Project’s Canadian jurisprudence dataset, consisting of 98 article 1F(a) cases, reveals that more than 91 per cent of these cases cite international humanitarian law (IHL) or international criminal law (ICL), but only 13 per cent of the cases cite UNHCR guidelines or directives. Interestingly, nearly two-thirds, 65.8 per cent, of these appeal cases are denied. Five of the most frequently cited judgments in this sample of cases were Ramirez , Moreno , Sivakumar , Harb , and Pushpanathan , in that order. After analyzing these five appeal court judgments in depth, seven legal principles were identified respecting the application and interpretation of IHL and ICL in Canada: (1) violations of international law can be committed by private individuals as well as states, or public officials acting on behalf of states; (2) the standard of proof for ‘serious reasons for considering’ under article 1F is lower than a balance of probabilities, the civil law standard; (3) two fundamental tenets on which complicity and culpability are established in international crimes are: (i) no one can commit an international crime without personal and knowing participation; (ii) complicity rests on the existence of a shared common purpose and the knowledge of all the parties involved; (4) Mere membership or passive acquiescence in a group or organization that commits international crimes can never be sufficient to exclude a refugee applicant under article 1F(a); (5) ‘Voluntary, significant and knowing contribution’ does not require formal membership in a group or organization that is engaged in crimes against peace, war crimes or crimes against humanity. An accomplice contributes knowingly to those activities of a group or organization that makes them possible. (6) the offence of ‘aiding and abetting’ cannot be made out by mere presence on the scene where an international crime has taken place. What is required is voluntary, significant and knowing contribution in persecutory acts. (7) there is a close affinity between article 1F(a), which deals with those activities that take place in situations of armed conflict, and article 1F(c), which deals with activities irrespective of whether or not they take place in a situation of armed conflict. Article 1F(a) and (c) can overlap in various ways, such as where the sales of illicit narcotics are used to finance the purchase of weapons that are used in armed conflicts and/or for terrorist activities. The new test for exclusion under article 1F(a) in Canada, ‘voluntary, significant and knowing contribution,’ leaves a broad area of discretion for refugee law decision makers. This will cause, undoubtedly, legal contention in the appellate courts as the article 1F(a) cases make their way through the judicial process in Canada. The application and interpretation of international refugee law under article 1F(a) in Canada will continue to evolve with national court judgments as well as the development of international humanitarian and criminal law.

The lack of a consolidated set of norms, principles, and procedures in international health law reflect the haphazard manner in which the protection of human health has been addressed at the international level. But this does not mean that public international law does not play a role in promoting the improvement of human health. Rather, international health law can also contribute to shaping claims in other legal regimes. This can be ascertained by looking into developments in fields, such as international economic law, where human health has been directly at stake. On that account, this contribution lists some of the legal instruments that constitute norms of public international law with the core objective of the protection of human health. Then, a brief review of recent rulings from adjudicators in international investment and trade law is undertaken for assessing the way in which this crosscutting interpretation has taken place. Furthermore, the proliferation of non-binding documents dealing with issues of human health requires a broader approach than source-based legal positivism. Thus, the usefulness of the concept of governance for tackling the limited and fragmented array of binding instruments of international health law, as well as the challenges the concept poses for legal doctrine, are discussed. Keywords: International Health Law, International Investment Law, International Trade Law, Fragmentation of International Law, Tobacco Regulation

Opportunities for and Limits to an Economic Analysis of International Law