1. The Legal Character of International Law

2. International Law Public and private international law
Sources of international law
The International Court of Justice
The Legal Character of International Law

3. Public and Private International Law
Public International Law: rules and principles which govern the relations and dealings of nations with each other
Private International Law (Conflict of Laws): disputes between persons, natural or legal, arising out of situations having significant relationship to more than one nation

4. Public International Law
Questions the rights between several nations or nations and citizens or subjects of other nations
Deals with environmental issues, arms control, asylum, human rights, immigration, international crime, maritime law, piracy, war crimes

5. Sources of Public Int. Law
Treaties and international conventions
Customary international law
General principles common to systems of national law
Subsidiary means (court decisions and doctrines)

6. Treaties
Treaties and international conventions – written agreements concluded by two or more sovereign nations or by a nation and an international organization (such as the European Union)

7. Customary Law
Regulations and procedures contained in treaties and conventions often develop into general customary usage
Even those states that did not sign and ratify them come to consider them as binding

8. The International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The principal judicial body of the UN
Its seat is in The Hague (Netherlands)
Began its work in 1946
Composition: 15 judges elected to nine-year terms of office by the UN General Assembly and Security Council

9. Functions of the Court
To settle in accordance with international law the legal disputes submitted to it by States
To give advisory opinion on legal questions referred to it by authorized international organs and agencies

10. Legal Character of Int. Law
International law v. international morality
A branch of law or a branch of ethics?

11. A branch of law - arguments
Questions of international law are treated as legal questions
Legal forms and methods are used in judicial and arbitral proceedings
Authorities and precedents are cited in arguments
The alleged breach of international law is defended by claiming that no rule has been violated

12. Law as a will of a political superior
Thomas Hobbes ( ) – a British political philosopher
In his book Leviathan he claimed that, since people think only of themselves and behave badly, it is best if they are ruled by one powerful authority

13. Law depending on a political community
Sir Frederick Pollock – the only essential conditions for the existence of law are the existence of a political community, and the recognition by its members of settled rules binding upon them in that capacity

14. Instead of conclusion
The mistake of confusing international law with international morality must be avoided. While they may meet at certain points, the former discipline is a legal one, both as regards its content and its form, while the concept of international morality is a branch of ethics. This does not mean that international law can be divorced from its values.
Malcolm Shaw, International Law, Cambridge University Press, 2003 (p. 19)