Modernizing Customary International Law

Modernizing Customary International Law PDF Author: Isabelle R. Gunning
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Human rights
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description

Modernizing Customary International Law

Modernizing Customary International Law PDF Author: Isabelle R. Gunning
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Human rights
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description


Customary International Law as U.S. Law

Customary International Law as U.S. Law PDF Author: Carlos Manuel Vazquez
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In a recent referendum, the citizens of Oklahoma overwhelmingly approved a State constitutional amendment providing that the courts of the State "shall not consider international law or Sharia law" in rendering their decisions. The amendment's exclusion of Sharia law has garnered most of the media attention, but more consequential by far is the measure's directive to the State courts to disregard international law. Similar measures have been proposed in other States, some of them merely barring consideration of Sharia law or foreign law, but others barring consideration of international law as well. These measures are clearly unconstitutional insofar as they would prohibit the State courts from enforcing one of the two main forms of international law -- treaties -- as the U.S. Constitution by its terms requires State courts to give effect to the nation's treaties, "any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." But the federal Constitution does not expressly address the status of the other principal form of international law -- customary international law, or the unwritten law that governs the relations among states and "results from a general and consistent practice of states followed by them from a sense of legal obligation." These proposed State laws thus starkly raise the question whether the States may prohibit their courts from giving effect to the United States' obligations under customary international law. This article offers a critique of the intermediate positions and, in the process, explicates and defends the modern position. Critics of the modern position often describe it as the claim that customary international law has the force of federal law always and for all purposes. But this uncompromising conception of the modern position is a phantom. Adherents of the modern position have always accepted that not all of customary international law binds foreign states or the federal Executive as a matter of U.S. domestic law. The heart of the modern position is that customary international law binds State actors and thus preempts State law applicable to State officials and private parties. The basic case for the modern position relies on an inference from the constitutional structure very similar to the one advanced by Bellia and Clark: Violations of customary international law risk retaliation against the nation as a whole. Permitting States to violate it allows States to externalize the costs of such violations, thus likely producing excessive violations. Part I explicates and offers a preliminary defense of the modern position. It sets forth the affirmative case for the modern position based on constitutional structure, original intent, and pre- and post- Erie doctrine, responding to arguments put forward in the initial wave of revisionist scholarship, but deferring to part II responses to criticisms raised by scholars advancing intermediate positions. Part I shows that the basic structural case for the modern position was well understood by the Founders. Viewed in the light most favorable to the revisionist view, the evidence of original intent and the pre-Erie cases reflect two contending positions. The first is that the Constitution itself preempts State conduct that violates the state-to-state portion of the law of nations. The other is that customary international law had the status of general common law. Before Erie, the general common law was understood as different from either federal or State law, but was closer in operation to modern-day federal law than to modern-day State law. No one claimed that customary international law had a status comparable to modern-day State law. Part II examines the intermediate positions and concludes that all but that of Bellia and Clark suffer from fundamental flaws. Ramsey's concept of "nonpreemptive federal law" is another name for State law. Thus, Ramsey's approach would replicate one of the problems that most concerned the Founders--the lack of federal judicial power to prevent or remedy violations of customary international law by the States. Young's proposal to employ choice-of-law rules to determine the applicability of customary international law satisfies Erie's requirement that all law applied in this country's courts be either State or federal, but only because choice-of-law rules are themselves creatures of either State or federal law. To the extent that Young would relegate the applicability of customary international law to State choice-of-law rules, his proposal would present severe difficulties stemming from the indeterminacy and inappositeness of such rules, and, like Ramsey's approach, would reproduce the problem that most concerned the Founders. Young's approach would alleviate these problems by allowing for the use of federal choice-of-law rules in some contexts, but he emphasizes that such rules would be applicable very rarely. Aleinikoff's approach would violate the one principle that all agree Erie establishes: that the substantive law applied in the State and federal courts must be the same. The intermediate position of Bradley, Goldsmith, and Moore is problematic because it would place inapposite limits on the judiciary's ability to enforce customary international law as federal law. The intermediate approach proposed by Bellia and Clark is thoroughly convincing, but it is not really intermediate. Their structural argument for according preemptive force to some customary international law is basically the same as the strongest argument for the modem position. The flaw in their argument is that they do not take it far enough. Their structural argument actually provides substantial support for most of the modern position. Part III reconsiders the modem position in the light of the revisionists' argument that the customary international law of today differs in important respects from the state-to-state branch of the law of nations as known to the Founders and as it existed before Erie. The revisionists' concerns about the indeterminacy of customary international law and the loosening of the requirements for recognizing such law have some validity and relevance, but these concerns can be adequately addressed by restricting the range of customary norms having preemptive force to those that satisfy a heightened standard of clarity and acceptance. The revisionists' concerns about the new subjects addressed by customary international law -- in particular, the fact that such law now addresses how a nation treats its own citizens-does not warrant any additional restriction. The final part of the article addresses a seldom-analyzed aspect of the revisionist position--the claim that norms of customary international law that lack the force of preemptive federal law may be given the force of State law through incorporation by State legislatures or courts. The author argues that, for straightforward reasons, the States lack the power to make norms of customary international law applicable to foreign states or officials or federal officials. A State's incorporation of such norms against its own officials or against private parties would pose a less obvious structural problem: because customary international law evolves through the accumulation of state practice and opinio juris, State court decisions regarding the content of such law could, in combination with the acts of other States and foreign states, eventually result in the crystallization of norms of customary international law that the federal government does not support, or the erosion of norms that the federal government does support. State court decisions regarding the content of customary international law thus interfere with the federal executive branch's recognized power to speak for the United States at the international plane regarding the content of such law. This structural problem can be addressed either by denying the States the power to incorporate norms of customary international law or by recognizing the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to review decisions of the State courts regarding the content of customary international law even when such law is relevant to the case only because it has been incorporated as State law. The author concludes that the latter solution is preferable and that such review would be consistent with Article III.

Customary International Law and Treaties

Customary International Law and Treaties PDF Author: Mark Eugen Villiger
Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
ISBN: 9041104585
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
States often regard themselves bound by treaty rules which have developed under customary international law, even though many of the treaties themselves have not been ratified. The Law of the Sea Convention, for instance, has generated new customary rules which modified the 1958 Geneva Conventions. These & many other issues are dealt with clearly & systematically in this informative handbook on the relations between written & unwritten international law. The conclusions of the first edition of Customary International Law & Treaties were largely confirmed by the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua Case. This fully revised second edition, while basing itself on the original version, brings the subject up to date.

The Theory, Practice and Interpretation of Customary International Law

The Theory, Practice and Interpretation of Customary International Law PDF Author: Panos Merkouris
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 131651689X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 647

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Book Description
Provides an in-depth study of the theory, history, practice, and interpretation of customary international law.

The Changing Nature of Customary International Law

The Changing Nature of Customary International Law PDF Author: Noora Arajärvi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134067275
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
This book examines the evolution of customary international law (CIL) as a source of international law. Using the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as a key case study, the book explores the importance of CIL in the development of international criminal law and focuses on the ways in which international criminal tribunals can be said to change the ways in which CIL is formed and identified. In doing so, the book surveys the process and substance of CIL, as well as the problematic distinction between the elements of state practice and opinio juris. By applying an inclusive positivist approach, Noora Arajärvi analyses the methodologies of identification of CIL in selected cases of the ICTY, and their normative foundations. Through examination of the case-law and the reasoning of courts and tribunals, Arajärvi demonstrates to what extent the court's chosen method of identification of CIL affects the process of custom formation and the resulting system of norms in general. The book will be of great value to researchers and scholars of international law, international relations, and practitioners with interests in customary international law.

The Discourse on Customary International Law

The Discourse on Customary International Law PDF Author: Jean d'Aspremont
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192657704
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Along with treaties, custom is one of the sources of international law. It is known to consist of two elements: state practice and opinio juris. While many studies have looked at traditional questions of how to identify customary law, this book takes a new and original approach. It looks instead at the structure of thought that lies beneath the arguments about customary international law. By examining these structures, the book uncovers surprising conclusions, and demonstrates what the author describes as the 'discursive splendour' of customary international law. The book guides the reader through an analysis of eight distinct performances at work in the discourse on customary international law. One of its key claims is that customary international law is not the surviving trace of an ancient law-making mechanism that used to be found in traditional societies. Indeed, as is shown throughout, customary international law is anything but ancient, and there is hardly any doctrine of international law that contains so many of the features of modern thinking. It is also argued that, contrary to mainstream opinion, customary international law is in fact shaped by texts, and originates from a textual environment. This book provides an engaging account of customary international law, whilst challenging readers to rethink their understanding of this fundamental part of the discipline.

Custom's Future

Custom's Future PDF Author: Curtis A. Bradley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316654125
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 703

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Book Description
Although customary international law has long been an important source of rights and obligations in international relations, there has been extensive debate in recent years about whether this body of law is equipped to address complex modern problems such as climate change, international terrorism, and global financial instability. In addition, there is growing uncertainty about how, precisely, international and domestic courts should identify rules of customary international law. Custom's Future seeks to address this uncertainty by providing a better understanding of how customary international law has developed over time, the way in which it is applied in practice, and the challenges that it faces going forward. Reflecting an interdisciplinary mix of historical, empirical, economic, philosophical, and doctrinal analysis, and containing chapters by leading international law experts, it will be of use to lawyers, judges, and researchers alike.

The Persistent Objector and Customary International Law

The Persistent Objector and Customary International Law PDF Author: Charles Quince
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781432756055
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
A Major Contribution to the Understanding of International Law Central to the modern legal framework are the notions of customary international law and the persistent objector doctrine. But much debate exists over these ambiguous and elusive concepts-debate that has the potential to affect everything from war-crimes trials to international commerce. Now, legal expert Charles Quince provides an enlightening, in-depth, and balanced look at the history and problems of these specific areas of international law, and suggests important solutions for minimizing misinterpretation. Topics tackled here include: - The development of customary international law, from Ancient Rome to the present day; - A clear, concise discussion of the persistent objector rule, which allows states to opt out of a particular norm; - Key court cases providing important precedent to our current understanding of custom and consent; - The debate over interpretation, including the two opposing theories by Dworkin and Rawls; - Viable implementation strategies for bridging the divide and helping minimize misinterpretation. This unique book not only concentrates on institutional developments, it also gives insights into norms and guiding principles associated with these two concepts. In essence, Quince presents the positive aspects of each competing theory and shows how they could work together as a cohesive force in the global environment, making this a must read for attorneys, jurists, government leaders and law students. Charles Quince is a librarian at the Albright Memorial Library in Scranton, Penn. He holds a bachelor's in history, juris doctor, and master's in library science. He is a member of the American Society of International Law, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the Pennsylvania Library Association.

Traditional and Modern Approaches to Customary International Law

Traditional and Modern Approaches to Customary International Law PDF Author: Anthea Elizabeth Roberts
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Customary law, International
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description


The Discourse on Customary International Law

The Discourse on Customary International Law PDF Author: Jean D'Aspremont
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192843907
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
"The book guides the reader through an analysis of eight distinct performances at work in the discourse on customary international law. One of its key claims is that customary international law is not the surviving trace of an ancient law-making mechanism that used to be found in traditional societies. Indeed, as is shown throughout, customary international law is anything but ancient, and there is hardly any doctrine of international law that contains so many of the features of modern thinking. It is also argued that, contrary to mainstream opinion, customary international law is in fact shaped by texts, and originates from a textual environment"--Page 4 de la couverture.