International Law

Definition: International Law

International Law

Noun

1. The body of laws governing relations between nations.

Synonym: International Law

Synonym: law of nations (n). (additional references)

Antonym: civil law (n). (additional references)

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Specialty Definition: International law

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

International law deals with the relationships between states, or between persons or entities in different states. It sub-divides into "public international law", and "private international law". When used without an adjective, "international law" generally refers to "public international law", and this article concentrates on that meaning.

Traditionally, international law had states as its sole subjects. With the proliferation over the last century of international organizations, they have been recognized as its subjects as well. More recent developments in international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international trade law (e.g. NAFTA Chapter 11 actions) have led to individuals and corporations being increasingly seen as subjects of international law as well, something which goes against the traditional legal orthodoxy. Since international law increasingly governs much more than merely relations between sovereign states, it may be better defined as law decided and enforced at the international, as opposed to national level.

Sources of International Law

International law concerns obligations states expressly and voluntarily accept between themselves in treaties. It also consists of obligations not enshrined in treaties that may be common to all states and arise from custom. Customary law is established by the past consistent behavior of states, and scholarly summaries have traditionally been looked to as persuasive sources for such legal principles in addition to direct evidence of state behavior. Certain customs achieve the binding force of peremptory norms as to include all states with no permissible exceptions. Legal principles common to major domestic law systems may also be invoked to supplement international law when necessary.

Enforcement by States

Apart from a state's natural inclination to uphold certain norms, the force of international law has always come from the pressure that states put upon one another to behave consistently and to honor their obligations. The reality is that many violations of treaty or customary law obligations are overlooked. If addressed, it is almost always purely through diplomacy and the consequences upon an offending state's reputation. Though violations may be common in fact, states will still try to avoid the appearance of having disregarded international obligations.

States may also unilaterally adopt sanctions against one another such as the breaking of economic or diplomatic ties. In limited cases, domestic courts may even render judgment against a foreign state for an injury, though courts are understandably reluctant to do so and typically prefer to leave these issues to heads of state.

States have the right to employ force in self-defense against an offending state that has attacked its territory or political independence. This right is recognized under the United Nations Charter.

Enforcement by International Bodies

In the case that diplomacy is considered inadequate, the United Nations has established the International Court of Justice to render judgments on the breach of a treaty or a legal custom. However, jurisdiction may be had only with consent, and so the court has little power to address a dispute with unwilling parties. A treaty may also provide for specific procedures to resolve a disagreement or address a breach, such as referral to a particular international body (i.e., the ICJ), or the appointment of an arbitration panel.

Violations of the UN Charter may also be raised by the aggrieved state in the General Assembly or brought to the attention of the Security Council. Enforcement measures may include resolutions censoring the offending state, economic sanctions, or even approval of military action if the violation involves the use of force.

Though states (or increasingly, international organizations) are usually the only ones with standing to address a violation of international law, some treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights have an optional protocol that allows individuals who have had their rights violated by member states to petition the international Human Rights Committee.

History

Through the ages a code developed for the relations and conduct between nations. Even when nations were at war, envoys were often considered immune to violence.

The first formal attempts in this direction, which over time have developed into the current international law, stem from the era of the Renaissance in Europe.

In the Middle Ages it had been considered the obligation of the Church to mediate in international disputes. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Church gradually lost its direct influence in international affairs, as Catholic and Protestant powers emerged and struggled for dominance and survival. At the beginning of the 17th Century, several generalizations could be made about the political situation:

Self-governing, autonomous states existed.
Almost all of them were governed by monarchies.
1. England had a constitutional monarchy.
2. Not all despots were hereditary: the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Poland were elected.
3. Switzerland, the Netherlands, and many Italian city-states were republics.
After the Seven Years' War, there was relative stability in Europe for 130 years (until the 1789 French Revolution).
Land, wealth, trading rights, and monopolizing the new lands were the topics of war.

Some people assert that international law developed to deal with the new states arising, others claim that the lack of influence of the Pope and the Catholic church gave rise to the need for new generally-accepted codes.

The Dominican professor Francisco de Vitoria (in Latin Franciscus de Victoria) of theology at the University of Salamanca lectured on the rights of the natives. He did so while Spain was at the height of its power, after the violent Spanish conquest of Peru in 1536. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, protested against the friar, but in 1542 new laws put the natives under protection of the Spanish crown. Vitoria is generally recognized as the founder of modern international law.

The French monk Emeric Cruce (1590-1648) came up with the idea of having representatives of all countries meeting in one place to discuss their conflicts so as to avoid war and create more peace. He suggested this in his The New Cyneas (1623), choosing Venice to be the selected city for all of the representatives to meet, and suggested that the Pope should preside over the meeting. Of course, during the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648), this was not acceptable to the Protestant nations. He also said that armies should be abolished and called for a world court. Though his call to abolish armies was not taken seriously, Emeric Cruce does deserve his place in history through his foresight that international organizations are crucial to solve international disputes.

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) was a Dutch humanist and jurist considered central to the development of international law. He became a lawyer when he was 15 years old and got sentenced to life in prison after going against Maurice of Nassau, son of William of Orange in a trial, but he escaped in fled to Paris. In France, he developed his ideas on international law with his Mare Liberum (Latin for "Free seas"), in which he challenged the claims and attempts of England, Spain, and Portugal to rule portions of the oceans and seas. He gained new international fame in 1625 with his book De Jure Belli ac Pacis (The Law of War and Peace), as it became the first definitive text on international law. It was published only two years after The New Cyneas.

Much of Grotius's content drew from the Bible and from classical history. In his work he did not condemn war as only a political tool, considering cases in which war is appropriate. He further developed the just war theory. A just war fits certain criteria:

It can be to repel an invasion.
It can be to punish an insult to God.
There has to be a just cause (one of the two mentioned above).
It has to be declared by the proper authorities.
It must possess moral intention.
It must have a chance of success.
It must abstain from brutal practices.
Its end result must be proportional to the means used.

The statesmen of the time believed no nation could escape war, so they prepared for it.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was a political philosopher who moved to France after his ideas raised antagonism from Parliament. In France, he tutored the exiled King of Scotland Charles II. His materialistic views alienated the Catholic clergy, so he went back to England, where he lived until his death. In his book the Leviathan (1651), which was a revision of a previous work, he outlined his political philosophy by stating that men are naturally selfishly individualistic and that their fear of a violent death is the principal motive behind their support of an absolute sovereign (this is known as the social contract theory). He believed that the sovereign should be absolute and that a monarchy was the most efficient form of a sovereign leader (he came to this conclusion after living through the English civil war and seeing the problems of Cromwell's "Commonwealth"). He believed that temporal powers should always be above ecclesiastical powers.

King Henry IV's Chief Minister, the Duke of Sully, proposed the founding of an alliance of the European nations that was to meet to arbitrate issues and wage war not between themselves but collectively on the Ottoman Turks, and he called it the Grand Design, but was never established.

Modern International Law has its roots in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia. International Law continued to develop with the colonization of the New World, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and on into the 20th Century.

After World War I, the nations of the world decided to form an international body. U.S President Woodrow Wilson came up with the idea of a "League of Nations". However, due to political wrangling in the U.S Congress, the United States did not join the League of Nations, which was one of the causes of its demise.

When World War II broke out, the League of Nations was finished. Yet at the same time, the United Nations was being formed. On January 1, 1942, U.S President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the "Declaration by United Nations" on behalf of 26 nations who had pledged to fight against the Axis powers. Even before the end of the war, representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco to draw up the charter for an international body to replace the League of Nations. On October 24,1945 , the United Nations officially came into existence, setting a basis for all international law to follow.

See also: nationality, terrorism, environmental agreements, state, territorial integrity, UNIDROIT, international community.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "International law."

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Synonyms within Context: International Law

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Legality	Equity, common law; lex, lex nonscripta; law of nations, droit des gens, international law, jus gentium; jus civile; civil law, canon law, crown law, criminal law, statute law, ecclesiastical law, administrative law; lex mercatoria.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: International Law

English words defined with "international law": Comity of nations, Conflict of laws, Contraband of war ♦ law of nations ♦ monistic ♦ Public law ♦ war criminal. (references)

Specialty definitions using "international law": illicit commercial practices ♦ Jus Gentium ♦ laws of war ♦ principles of combat ♦ rules of war ♦ Sound science ♦ UN Drug Control Conventions. (references)

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Commercial Usage: International Law

Domain	Title
Books	Akehurst's Modern Introduction to International Law (reference) International Law Cases and Materials: Cases and Materials (American Casebook Series) (reference) International Law Frameworks (reference) Principles of Public International Law (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	American University International Law Review (reference) California Western International Law Journal (reference) Fordham International Law Journal (reference) Harvard International Law Journal (reference) International Law & Trade Perspective (reference) (more periodical examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Historic Usage: International Law

Author	Date	Quotation
Treaty of Versailles	1919	If the dispute between the parties is claimed by one of them, and is found by the Council, to arise out of a matter which by international law is solely within the domestic jurisdiction of that party, the Council shall so report, and shall make no recommendation as to its settlement. (reference)
United Nations	1948	No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. (reference)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: International Law

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		The international law series covers media control and censorship, search and seizure, and trial justice and punishment. (references)
		If your bank does not have a rep office in Thailand, several of the major banks and international law firms can help provide you with leads. (references)
Civil Liberties	Malaysia	The Government has not ratified the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the Government rejected customary international law in this area. (references)
	Germany	In June 1999, the Justice Ministry cosponsored a major symposium on combating the spread of hate materials on the Internet, and it proposed voluntary measures for Internet service providers and companies doing online business, as well as improved international law enforcement cooperation that have reportedly had a positive effect. (references)
Economic History	Syria	Professor of International Law and Relations. (references)
Human Rights	Azerbaijan	Local officials continued to cooperate with international law enforcement officials in the ongoing investigation. (references)
	Israel and the occupied territories	The High Court's ruling emphasized that national security needs took precedence over the detainees' individual rights under Israeli and international law. (references)
	Hong Kong	Prior to the April hearing, the Government created a stir among human rights groups when a senior official wrote that U.N. committees' recommendations were not binding in international law. (references)
Political Economy	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	Dominican expropriation standards (e.g., in the "public interest") do not appear to be consistent with international law standards. (references)
	HONDURAS	The Treaty provides for equal protection under the law for U.S. investors in Honduras and permits expropriation only in accordance with international law standards and accompanied by adequate compensation. (references)
	HUNGARY	This area of IPR infringement is receiving increased attention from Hungarian and international law enforcement, however, due to the involvement of organized crime and connections with money laundering schemes. (references)
Trade	France	Any foreign words or abbreviations must have been authorized by French or international law. (references)
	France	Legal consulting service providers in foreign and international law are required to be licensed in French law. (references)
	Ukraine	The U.S./Ukrainian Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) took effect on November 16, 1996. The BIT guarantees U.S. investors the better of national or most favored nation treatment, the right to make financial transfers freely and without delay, international law standards for expropriation and compensation, and access to international arbitration. (references)
Worker Rights	Russia	Criminal prosecution generally follows cooperation with international law enforcement structures. (references)
	Russia	National law enforcement authorities believe that there is a brisk business in body parts, but international law enforcement and other organizations found no evidence to support this claim. (references)
	France	OCRTEH centralizes information and coordinates operations to counter trafficking and maintains contacts with the police, the Gendarmerie, the border police, foreign and international law enforcement authorities, and NGO's. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Speeches: International Law

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Calvin Coolidge	1923-1929	Undoubtedly the clarification of the principles of international law would be helpful, and the efforts of scholars to prepare such a work for adoption by the various nations should have our sympathy and support.
Jimmy Carter	1977-1981	This attempt to subjugate an independent, non-aligned Islamic people is a callous violation of international law and the United Nations Charter, two fundamentals of international order.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Expressions: International Law

Expressions using "international law": of international law ♦ private international law. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: International Law

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
international law	702
international law firm	43
international law student tax us	20
the international law of war	16
international law marriage	8
llm international law	6
customary international law	5
american center international law	5
international law sea tribunal	5
academy hague international law	4
international law case	3
international law maritime	3
the international law of the sea	3
does exist international law	3
codification international law private succession unification	3
customary in international law law	2
british comparative institute international law	2
conference hague international law private	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: International Law

Language		Translations for "international law"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Arabic		‏قانون دولي. (various references)

Chinese		國際法 . (various references)

Danish		international offentlig ret (law of nations, public international law), opfyldelse i god tro af forpligtelser i henhold til folkeretten (fulfilment in good faith of obligations under international law), hverandres ret til at udforme og varetage deres forbindelser med andre stater,som de selv oensker,i overensstemmelse med folkeretten og med aanden i naervaerende deklaration (to respect each other's right to define and conduct as it wishes its relations with other States in accordance with international law and in the spirit of the present Declaration), handle i overensstemmelse med deres juridiske forpligtelser i henhold til folkeretten (to conform with the legal obligations under international law), de er af den opfattelse,at deres graenser kan aendres i overensstemmelse med folkeretten ved fredelige midler og ved overenskomst (by peaceful means and by agreement, in accordance with international law, they consider that their frontiers can be changed), bestemmelserne i den internationale privatret i anerkendelsesstaten i domsstaten har anvendt en anden lovgivning end den,der i henhold til bestemmelserne i den internationale privatret i anerkendelsesstaten kunne have været anvendt (the rules of private international law of the State in which recognition is sought court which gave the original judgment applied a law other than that which would have been applicable under the rules of private international law of the State in which rec). (various references)

Dutch		internationaal publiek-recht (law of nations, public international law), zij zijn de mening toegedaan dat hun grenzen kunnen worden gewijzigd, overeenkomstig het internationale recht, door vreedzame middelen en in onderlinge overeenstemming (by peaceful means and by agreement, in accordance with international law, they consider that their frontiers can be changed), zich houden aan de juridische verplichtingen krachtens het internationale recht (to conform with the legal obligations under international law), het te goeder trouw nakomen van verplichtingen krachtens het internationale recht (fulfilment in good faith of obligations under international law), het recht van ieder van hen eerbiedigen om zijn betrekkingen met andere Staten, overeenkomstig het internationale recht en in de geest van deze Verklaring, naar eigen goeddunken te bepalen en te onderhouden (to respect each other's right to define and conduct as it wishes its relations with other States in accordance with international law and in the spirit of the present Declaration), Haagse Academie voor Internationaal Recht (Hague Academy of International Law), de internationaal-privaatrechtelijke regelen van de aangezochte staat betrokken autoriteit in het land van herkomst heeft een andere wet toegepast dan volgens de internationaal-privaatrechtelijke regelen van de aangezochte staat van toepassing zou zijn ge (the rules of private international law of the State in which recognition is sought court which gave the original judgment applied a law other than that which would have been applicable under the rules of private international law of the State in which rec). (various references)

Finnish		kansainvälinen oikeus (law of nations, public international law). (various references)

French		loi internationale, droit international, droit des gens (public international law). (various references)

German		Völkerrecht (law of nations). (various references)

Greek		οι κανόνες ιδιωτικού διεθνούς δικαίου του κράτους εκτελέσεως (the rules of private international law of the State in which recognition is sought court which gave the original judgment applied a law other than that which would have been applicable under the rules of private international law of the State in which rec), δημόσιο διεθνές δίκαιο (law of nations, public international law), δίκαιο των Εθνών (law of nations, public international law). (various references)

Italian		legge internazionale, diritto internazionale. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		戦時国際法 (international law in time of war). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		せ�"じ�"くさいほう (international law in time of war). (various references)

Pig Latin		internationalay awlay

Portuguese		lei internacional, direito internacional. (various references)

Russian		международное право (jus gentium). (various references)

Spanish		derecho internacional. (various references)

Swedish		folkrätt (law of nations, public international law). (various references)

Turkish		uluslararası hukuk. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Anagrams: International Law

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-a-e-i-i-l-l-n-n-n-o-r-t-t-w"
	-3 letters: international.
	-4 letters: alliteration, antinational, antirational.
	-5 letters: alternation, intentional, retaliation.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Commercial

5. Quotations: Historic
6. Quotations: Non-fiction
7. Quotations: Speeches
8. Expressions

9. Expressions: Internet
10. Translations: Modern
11. Anagrams
12. Bibliography

International Law

Definition: International Law