Public International Law: Study Notes
The full subject, chapter by chapter. Free to read, no signup. Every chapter ends with the leading cases and the confusions examiners like to exploit.
Unit 1: Nature, Sources & Subjects
Definition, Nature and Scope of International Law
What international law is, its nature as law and its scope, including the Austinian challenge to IL as true law.
International Law and Municipal Law
Relationship between international and municipal law: monism, dualism, and how IL is applied within domestic systems.
Sources and Codification of International Law
Sources of international law under Article 38 ICJ Statute (treaties, custom, general principles, decisions, writings) and codification.
Unit 2: States & Recognition
Recognition of States and Government
Recognition of states and governments: constitutive vs declaratory theories, de facto and de jure recognition.
State Succession
State succession to rights, obligations, treaties, debts and assets on territorial change.
State Territory and Modes of Acquisition
Modes of acquiring state territory: occupation, prescription, accretion, cession, and the outlawing of conquest.
State Responsibility for International Delinquencies
State responsibility for internationally wrongful acts: attribution, breach of obligation, and reparation.
Unit 3: Individuals & Diplomacy
Position of Individual, Nationality and Statelessness
The individual in international law: nationality, its acquisition and loss, and the problem of statelessness.
Extradition
Extradition of fugitives between states: double criminality, specialty, and the political-offence exception.
Asylum
Territorial and diplomatic asylum and the limits on a state's right to grant it.
Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities
Diplomatic privileges and immunities under VCDR 1961: inviolability of mission and person, immunity from jurisdiction.
Treaties: Formation, Consent, Reservation and Termination
Law of treaties under VCLT 1969: formation, reservations, pacta sunt servanda, and termination.
Unit 4: Treaties & Domains
Unit 5: International Organisations
International Organisations and League of Nations
International organisations as subjects of IL and the League of Nations as the first collective-security experiment.
United Nations
The United Nations: purposes, principal organs, and the collective-security system under the Charter.
International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court
The ICJ (inter-state disputes, Art 38) and the ICC (individual criminal responsibility for core crimes).
Specialised Agencies of the United Nations
UN specialised agencies (ILO, WHO, UNESCO, IMF and others) and their functions in the UN system.
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