law - week 4 - law above and between international law

international public law

rules and principles dealing with the conduct of states in their relations with each other + private persons

international private law

rules/principles dealing with the conduct of private persons in their relations with each other + states

international organization law

rules/principles dealing with the conduct of international organizations in their relations with each other, states, persons (subset of international public law)

sources of international law

convention: establish rules (become binding if recognized by state)

customs: international practices that can be recognized as rules (but not binding)

general principles of law recognized by civilized nation: international law can borrow from national law

montevideo convention (1933)

4 major factions:

1. permanent population

2. defined territory

3. government

4. capacity to conduct international relations

constitutive theory

other states determine whether they treat an entity as a state

acknowledgment by organization —> recognition may be withdrew when qualifications were achieved through armed forces (or threat of force)

declarative theory

a state must declare itself a state —> not all nations are states (basque, catalan, kurds)

kinds of immunity arising out of statehood

sovereign immunity: exemption of a sovereign state from the jurisdiction of foreign courts / can be waived

diplomatic immunity: exemption of diplomat from jurisdiction of foreign national courts → established by vienna convention

how a dispute is resolved

diplomacy + war + international institutions

main UN organs

general assembly: non compulsive recommendations

security council: maintains peace + security

secretariat

economic and social council

international court of justice

soft law examples

general assembly, world court, non binding treaties

hard law examples

security council, customary international law, binding treaties

how are international organizations created

established by a treaty

a legal person (w/ authority)

ex: NATO, WTO, EU

4 principles agreements in the WTO

1. GATT: reduces trade barriers, permits free trade area

2. general agreement on trade in services: deals w trade in services, reduces trade barriers

3. agreement trade on IP right: trades involving tech transfer, reduces barriers

   1. understanding on rules and procedures governing settlement of disputes: deals with the settlement of trade related disputes between members

WTO and FDI

agreement on trade related investments measures, prevents to a certain degree, host countries from discriminating against foreign investment

WTO and EU

EU is a WTO member, represented by european comission

the comission reports to the council and parliament