Public International Law Exam Review Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core principles, theories, cases, and legal doctrines of Public International Law.

Jeremy Bentham (1789)

The philosopher who coined the word 'international' in 1789 to replace the term 'ius gentium' or 'law of nations'.

Ius Gentium

The Latin term for 'law of nations', which Jeremy Bentham sought to replace with 'international jurisprudence' because it seemed to refer to internal jurisprudence.

Natural Law (Ancient Greece and Rome)

The idea advocated by Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero of a universal normative order over and above local laws that is discoverable through ordinary human or natural reason.

Traditional Definition of International Law (Oppenheim I)

The body of customary and treaty rules considered legally binding by civilized states in their intercourse with each other, holding states as exclusive subjects.

Modern Definition of International Law (Oppenheim II)

The body of legally binding rules primarily governing relations among states, while acknowledging that states are not the only subjects of international law.

J.G. Starke's Definition of International Law

Definition of international law as principles and rules of conduct states feel bound to observe, including rules relating to international organizations, individuals, and non-state entities.

Realist Theory of International Law

An 18th-century theory associated with Jeremy Bentham asserting that public international law applies exclusively to sovereign national states as legal subjects.

Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention

The legal benchmark establishing four qualifications for statehood: a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and capacity to enter into relations with other states.

Fictional Theory of International Law

A theory whose most profound proponent was Hans Kelsen, arguing that state behavior is a fiction and that only individuals are ultimate subjects of international law.

Functional Theory of International Law

A theory developed by David Mitrany proposing that both states and individuals/people are subjects of international law based on their active involvement and claims.

Natural Law Theory of International Law

A theory supported by Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas arguing that inherently moral and ethical principles form the default basis for international legal norms.

Positivist Theory of International Law

A legal approach asserting that international legal obligations derive strictly from joint human endeavors, state consent, recognition, state practice, and opinio juris.

Opinio Juris

The subjective element of customary international law reflecting a state's belief that its practice is rendered obligatory by the existence of a rule of law.

Pacta Sunt Servanda

The fundamental customary international law rule derived from state consent meaning that pacts and agreements must be honoured in good faith.

Brandt Report (1980)

A 1980 report analyzing the global economic system, income disparities between the affluent Northern Hemisphere and poorer Southern Hemisphere, and global poverty.

TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law)

A post-colonial movement critiquing how international law was historically shaped by powerful Global North countries to maintain global hierarchies and neoliberal agendas.

Dualist Theory (Dualism)

A theory created in 1899 by Heinrich Triepel holding that international law and municipal law are two separate and distinct legal systems.

Transformation Theory (Specific Adoption Theory)

A dualist doctrine stating that rules of international law become binding on municipal courts only if transformed into municipal legislation.

Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India (1996)

Indian Supreme Court ruling holding that the precautionary principle and polluter pays principle are part of Indian law as customary international law in the absence of statutory conflict.

Doctrine of Incorporation

A common law rule propounded by Sir William Blackstone stating that customary international law is automatically deemed part of municipal common law.

R v. Keyn (1876)

An English legal decision holding that customary international law could not be applied in British municipal courts unless embodied in a British statute.

Monist Theory (Monism)

A theory spearheaded by Hans Kelsen asserting that international law and municipal law belong to a single legal system deriving from a common grund-norm.

Delegation Theory

A monist position holding that international law applies directly to municipal law without transformation, making municipal law creation an extension of international norm creation.

Equidistance Principle

A method of boundary delimitation where every point on the boundary line is equidistant from the nearest points of coastal baselines.

State Practice

The objective element required to form customary international law, consisting of widespread, representative, and virtually uniform practice by states.

North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (1969)

ICJ ruling establishing that customary international law requires both state practice and opinio juris, and holding the equidistance method non-binding on Germany.

Principle of Estoppel in International Law

A rule preventing a state from denying an obligation if its consistent conduct caused another state to rely on that stance to its own detriment or prejudice.

The Lotus Case (1927)

A PCIJ ruling establishing that states have wide discretion to exercise territorial jurisdiction unless restricted by explicit prohibitive rules of international law.

First Principle of the Lotus Case

The rule that a state may not exercise its jurisdiction outside its territory unless permitted by an international treaty or customary law.

Subjective Territorial Jurisdiction

A legal principle from the Lotus case allowing a state to exercise territorial jurisdiction over a crime committed abroad if a constitutive element occurred in its territory.

Concurrent Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction shared simultaneously by two or more states over the same incident, such as high seas collisions involving vessels of different flag states.

General Principles of Law Recognized by Civilized Nations

A source of law under Article 38 of the ICJ Statute intended to fill legal gaps and solve the problem of non liquet.

Non Liquet

A legal term describing a situation where a court cannot render a decision because the law is unclear or contains a gap.

Chorzow Factory Case (1928)

PCIJ case declaring it a general legal principle that every breach of an engagement involves an obligation to make reparation through an indemnity.

Res Judicata

A general principle of law stating that a judicial decision is final, binding on the parties, and cannot be reopened except under exceptional specified procedures.

Equity as a Source of International Law

The application of considerations of fairness, morality, and good conscience by international tribunals to produce equitable results under the rule of law.

Jus Cogens

Compelling, peremptory norms of international law that bind all states without exception and override any conflicting treaties or customs.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969)

A UN treaty codifying rules governing the conclusion, adoption, interpretation, amendment, invalidation, and termination of written treaties between states.

Fundamental Change of Circumstances (Rebus Sic Stantibus)

A narrow ground under VCLT allowing treaty termination when unforeseen changes radically alter essential obligations that formed the basis of consent.

Charter of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg

The foundational instrument post-WWII explicitly subjecting individual human beings directly to international law for war crimes and crimes against humanity.