Public International Law Part III
A series of lectures on public international law delivered by eminent scholars, practitioners, and judges. The series is organized by the Public International Law Discussion Group at the University of Oxford's Law Faculty, supported by the British Branch of the International Law Association and Oxford University Press.
Episodes
War Unbound
Oona Hathaway, Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, discusses her ongoing project supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, entitled ‘War Unbound.’
Legal Pluralism and War: Lessons from Informal Courts of PoW Camps and Jewish Ghettos
Informal courts created in PoW camps and Jewish ghettos during World War II illustrate the disruption of law in war and the ways in which legal pluralism can help to structure thinking about the concept of law in such a context.
Humanitarian Displacement? The (mis)appropriation of Humanitarian Principles to Justify Mass Displacement
Eitan Diamond and Ellen Nohle explore the application of the prohibition of forcible displacement in armed conflict and the extent to which the non-consensual relocation of civilians may be prohibited under the IHL rules on the conduct of hostilities.
Immunities and the Crime of Aggression - A Search for Normative Coherence
Tom Dannenbaum, Associate Professor of International Law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University, examines approaches to addressing the crime of aggression within a normatively coherent framework of immunities and international crimes. He particularly focuses on the legal and normative considerations on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression aga
A Weapon Is No Subordinate. Autonomous Weapons and the Scope of Superior Responsibility
Dr. Alessandra Spadaro of Utrecht University outlines several challenges to the applicability of the doctrine of superior responsibility in the context of the use of autonomous weapons systems.
One Hundred Years of International Administrative Law: Is the Employment Law at International Organizations Working?
Peter Quayle argues employment law of international organizations tends towards incoherence, however, mapping international administrative law onto a larger framework of international organizations law can realize a more workable version of the law.
Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea: Informal Lawmaking in Action?
Natalie Klein, Professor at UNSW Sydney, presents on the Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea, adopted in March 2022 as an initiative of UK charity Human Rights at Sea, and on the Declaration's lawmaking potential. Natalie Klein, Professor at UNSW Sydney, presents on the Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea, adopted in March 2022 as an initiative of UK charity Human Rights at Sea, and on
Violent environments? Towards a political ecology of international law
Dr Eliana Cusato, postdoctoral fellow at the Amsterdam Center for International Law, presents an overview of the key arguments in her book, 'The Ecology of War and Peace: Marginalising Slow and Structural Violence in International Law'.
Climate Litigation in International Organs and Courts: The Torres Strait Islanders case
Monica Feria-Tinta discusses a landmark 2022 decision of the UN Human Rights Committee which found that Australia failed to protect indigenous Torres Strait Islanders against adverse impacts of climate change, in breach of human rights law. Monica Feria-Tinta, is a barrister at Twenty Essex chambers
Complicity in a War of Aggression
Dr Nikola Hajdin outlines an analytical framework for criminal complicity in a war of aggression Dr Nikola Hajdin argues against the dominant view that a perpetrator of the crime of aggression must be in a position effectively to exercise control over, or direct, the political or military action of a state, and outlines an analytical framework for criminal complicity in a war of aggression
Law of the Sea in the ‘Plasticene’
Professor Karen Scott of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, gives a presentation exploring the current regime complex for ocean plastics and considering how the law of the sea is likely to interact with a newly proposed plastics treaty.
Revisiting Sovereignty and Recognition of Oppressive Governments; A focus on Myanmar
Professor Errol P. Mendes of the University of Ottawa gives a presentation calling for a revisiting of the origins of the concept of sovereignty in Public International Law.
‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’: Recent developments regarding the immunities of heads of state and government
Philippa Webb, Professor of Public International Law at King’s College London, gives a presentation on recent developments in English law in cases against current and former heads of state. Apologies that there was a brief technical issue shortly after the beginning of this recording.
State Consent between Regionalism and Universalism: Particular Customary International Law before the International Court of Justice
Freya Baetens, Professor of Public International Law at Oslo University, gives a presentation on how the International Court of Justice has addressed claims based on ‘regional’ customary international law.
Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Matters
Nicolas Lamp, Queen’s University, Canada gives a presentation to the Public International Law Discussion Group.
A Behavioral Analysis of Humanitarian Negotiations
Professor Anne van Aaken, University of Hamburg, Germany, gives a talk for the Public International Law seminar series (11/11/2021).
'The Function of Equity in International Law
Professor Catharine Titi, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)-CERSA, University Paris II Panthéon-Assas, France, gives a talk for the Public International Law seminar series. (4/11/2021)
Tactical Admissions in International Litigation
A presentation by Professor Stefan Talmon on Tactical Admissions in International Litigation, delivered to the Public International Law Discussion Group.
Strasbourg on Compulsory Vaccination
Professor Paul Gragl, European Law at the University of Graz, Austria, gives a talk for the Public International Law seminar series. Abstract: Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines are, in general, safe and effective, vaccine hesitancy continues to thrive due to various reasons, such as misinformation, the wish to protect one’s personal autonomy, and/or religious or moral beli
Diversity Issues in International Legal Acadmia and Practice
Julia Emtseva, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany, gives a talk for the Public International Law seminar series. Julia Emtseva is a research fellow and a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany. Julia obtained her LL.M. in International Human Rights Law at the University
International Law and the Practice of Legality: stability and change
Professor Jutta Brunnée, University of Toronto, gives a talk for the seminar series on 6th May 2021. Drawing on the practice-turn in constructivism and in international relations (IR) theory more generally, I will argue that a particular approach to managing stability and change is inherent in, and indeed characteristic of, legality in international as in domestic law. The "interactional law" fram
Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Diverging Jurisprudence at the ECtHR and the UN
Dr Lea Raible University of Glasgow; 2020/21 re:constitution Fellow, gives a talk for the Public International Law discussion group on 20th May 2021.
The Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System: Standard-setting or International Law-making?
Ignacio de Casas, Austral University, Argentina, gives a seminar for the PIL discussion group. The terms ‘international human rights standards’ or ‘inter-American human rights standards’ are often used by the Inter-American human rights bodies as almost a synonym for human rights or the obligations that States have in this area. In their discourse, these ‘standards’ are usually considered not to r
Hart and Kelsen on International Law
Professor David Dyzenhaus, University of Toronto, currently a Guggenheim Fellow and a Visiting Fellow at All Souls, gives a talk for the Public International Law seminar series. In the recent resurgence of jurisprudential interest in international law, HLA Hart’s theory of law occupies centre stage and doctrinal public international lawyers usually adopt his theoretical vocabulary, in particular h
How International is the International Court of Justice?
Professor James T. Gathii, Wing-Tat Lee Chair in International Law and Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, gives a talk for the Oxford Public International Law seminar series. This talk will present the findings of an empirical study that sought to establish two primary data points. First, the nationalities of the lawyers who argued cases before the International Court of
The Laws of War in International Thought
Professor Pablo Kalmanovitz, International Studies Division at CIDE, Mexico City, gives a talk for the Oxford PIL discussion group. The Law of Armed Conflict is usually understood to be a regime of exception that applies only during armed conflict and regulates hostilities among enemies. It assigns privileges to states far beyond what they are allowed to do in peacetime, and it mandates certain pr
The Recognition of a Right to be Rescued at Sea
Professor Seline Trevisanut, Utrecht University, gives a talk for the Public International Law discussion group series. On 27 January 2021, the UN Human Rights Committee ascertained the responsibility of Italy for failing to protect the right to life of more than 200 migrants who were on board a vessel that sank in the Mediterranean Sea in 2013. The HR Committee adopted a clear functional approach
Two Visions of the International Rule of Law
Professor Monica Hakimi, University of Michigan, gives a talk for the PIL discussion series. When we speak of the rule of law, we generally mean to describe the attributes that make law, as an enterprise, worthwhile--the qualities that lead us to aspire to live in a society governed by law. Though international lawyers commonly invoke the concept, we have devoted little attention to explaining wha
Climate Change and Human Rights Litigation: A Proposed New Line of Argument
Professor Martin Scheinin, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, gives a talk for the Public International Law series. On 13 November 2020, the European Court of Human Rights communicated to 33 governments an application by a group of young Portuguese persons who claim that conduct by the respondent States in respect of the phenomenon and human rights impact of climate change amounts to violations o
Dangerous proportions: Means and Ends in Non-Finite War
Professor Nehal Bhuta, University of Edinburgh and Dr Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi, University of Amsterdam, give a talk for the Public International Law seminar series. Philip Alston’s deep worries about the institutionalization of the tactic of targeting killing, the ensuing extension of warfare and its corrosive consequences for any meaningful possibility of scrutinizing the legality of such strikes,
The Concept of Race in International Criminal Law - and Beyond
Carola Lingaas, VID Specialised University, gives a talk for the Public International Law seminar series. Members of racial groups are protected under international law against genocide, persecution, and apartheid. But what is race – and why was this contentious term not discussed when drafting the Statute of the International Criminal Court? Although the law uses this term, is it legitimate to ta
More than a Morbid Quest: obituaries and mapping the invisible college of international lawyers
Luíza Leão Soares Pereira, Lecturer in International Law at the University of Sheffield, and Doctoral Candidate at the University of Cambridge, gives a talk for the Public International Law seminar series. This presentation narrates my experience using obituaries[1] of international lawyers to gain better insights into the international legal profession. My research looks at these unusual sources
Binding and Non-binding International Agreements (as explored by the OAS Juridical Committee)
Professor Duncan Hollis, Temple University, gives a talk for the Public International Law seminar series on 21st January 2021. Abstract: On 7 August 2020, the Inter-American Juridical Committee of the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted its Guidelines on Binding and Non-Binding Agreements. The project found its impetus in the rising number of non-traditional international agreements, in
Humanity, Inclusive Positivism and the Law of Armed Conflict
Humanitarian personnel from time to time find themselves transporting desperate civilian residents forced out of besieged areas into long-term or even permanent displacement Humanitarian personnel from time to time find themselves transporting desperate civilian residents forced out of besieged areas into long-term or even permanent displacement, although such removal is absolutely forbidden under
The International Law of Mega-Awards
Public international law’s turn to judicialisation in the last three decades has led to more attention paid to remedies including of monetary character, in inter-State dispute settlement as well as in tribunals open to non-State actors. In the last five years or so, a more discreet phenomenon of successful 1+ billion USD claims has emerged. I will address it under the rubric of ‘mega-awards’, in l
The Effect of jus cogens and the Individuation of Norms
International law ascribes to the conferral of a jus cogens status on a norm a particular legal significance. Bluntly put, jus cogens norms have legal consequences that norms of ordinary international law do not. International lawyers have a great many different ideas of what these legal consequences are more precisely. As of yet, the reason for this divide has not been fully clarified. This void
International Judicial Speech Acts
Domestic and international judges speak separately from their courts' institutional voice in myriad ways. Instances of separate judicial speech range from written and oral dissents, to posing questions from the bench, to an array of extrajudicial activities, such as media appearances and penning memoirs. In domestic systems such as the United States, despite long-standing concerns that individual
The Duty to Prevent Atrocity Crimes: Operationalising State Obligations
From the instant that a State receives an early warning that mass atrocities are likely to occur, what, precisely, is it required to do in response? There is wide agreement that a duty to prevent atrocity crimes exists as a matter of both treaty and customary international law, but little agreement as to the specific content of the obligation. This need has become particularly acute as States hes
The Interplay between Maritime Security and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: Help or Hindrance?
The concept of maritime security and its interplay with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) have attracted a lot of attention in recent years. This talk will focus on the meaning of maritime security in the literature and state practice and explore its relationship with LOSC. It will argue that maritime security is not simply a concept that needs defining but a blend o
Between Optimism and Pessimism: prospects for the conclusion of a new treaty on marine biodiversity on the high seas
The United Nations is currently undertaking negotiations with a view to concluding an international legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the BBNJ Treaty). The BBNJ Treaty will be an implementing agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Although three of four planned negotiating
ILC’s Draft Conclusions on Peremptory Norms of General International Law
Dire Tladi is a Professor of international law at the University of Pretoria and an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch. He is a member of the UN International Law Commission and its Special Rapporteur on Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens). He is also a member of the Institut de Droit International. He is formerly Principal State Law Adviser for Inte
The Legal Evolution of the Climate Change Regime: Past, Present, and Future
What have been the key themes in the legal evolution of the UN climate regime? How were these themes addressed In the recently adopted Paris Rulebook? And what are the principal legal issues going forward? The talk will review the legal evolution of the international climate change regime, and preview the upcoming conference of the parties (COP25) in Santiago in December.
Daniel Bodansky is
The Role of Domestic Law in the International Legal Validity of Treaty Withdrawal
If a state withdraws from a treaty in a manner that violates its own domestic law, will this withdrawal take effect in international law? The decisions to join and withdraw from treaties are both aspects of the state’s treaty-making capacity. However, while international law provides a role for domestic legal requirements in the international validity of a state’s consent when joining a treaty, it
Climate Change and the Rule of Law
Despite three decades of legal development, existing systems of law fail to provide effective foundations for limiting climate change. The inadequacy of existing systems of law is thrown into relief and compounded by ongoing debates centered around who we are, and how we should relate to one another as national and international citizens. Even as climate law emerges and evolves based on notions of
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