1. Понятие международного права (субъекты, исторические вехи, сферы применения)

International law (traditional definition) – law that governs relations between. Modern definition – law that deals “with the conduct of states and of international organizations and with their relations inter se, as well as with some of their relations with persons, whether natural or juridical.”

Today intergovernmental international organizations and even individuals can be the subjects of rights and obligations under international law. The United Nations, for example, enjoys the legal capacity to enter into treaty relations with states and other international organizations. The direct responsibility of individuals for war crimes and the development of the international law on human rights indicate furthermore that in certain circumstances individuals may have rights and obligations under international law. International law is routinely applied by international tribunals as well as by domestic courts. It operates hand in glove with international politics and diplomacy. Its most potent field of operations is in the Foreign Offices and legal departments of the world’s governments and in international organizations.

States rely on international law in their diplomatic relations and negotiations, they defend their actions and policies by reference to international law. Although there may be considerable disagreement in a particular case about the nature or scope of a given rule of international law, states rarely admit to violating it. IL is needed in order to ensure a stable and orderly international society.

International law became a separate legal system with the emergency of the modern nation-state in the 16th and 17th centuries. Exchange of diplomatic emissaries, the conclusion of peace treaties… can be traced back far into antiquity. But it was not until modern times that the rules governing relations between states came to be seen as a distinct body of law. Many of these rules were derived either from Roman law or Canon law, which exerted great influence on the modern international law.

A number of historical milestones mark the develop­ment of modern international law. Among these are the Peace of Westphalia, the Congress of Vien­na, the establishment of the League of Nations and the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and established a treaty-based system or framework for peace and cooperation in Europe, which endured for more than a hundred years. It provided, inter alia, for the coexistence in certain parts of Europe of Catholicism and Prot­estantism, planting early seeds of religious freedom in Europe. The foundations for multi-state diplomatic congresses and negotiations were laid at the conferences that produced the two basic treaties comprising the Peace of Westphalia. These agreements also proclaimed the doctrine of pacta sunt servanda (treaties are to be observed) and established a machinery for the settlement of disputes arising between the signatories.

The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna (1815) ended the Napoleonic Wars and fashioned a sophisticated multilateral system of political and economic cooperation in Europe. The major aspects of it survived until the outbreak of the World War I. The Congress adopted the first comprehensive set of rules governing diplo­matic protocol, it formally condemned the slave trade, and it established the principle of free and unimpeded navigation on international rivers. The Congress laid the founda­tion for the recognition of the neutrality of Switzerland and its guarantee by the principal European powers.

The League of Nations came into being in 1920 with force of its Covenant. The Covenant formed an integral part of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I. Although the failure of the League of Nations to prevent World War II is a well-known historical fact, this organization con­stituted the first serious effort by states to create a permanent inter-governmental institutional framework for the resolution of political disputes and the preservation of peace. It established the Permanent Court of International Justice, the first such international tribunal open to all states. The machinery created by the League for the protection of the rights of minorities in eastern and southeastern Europe and for the supervision of certain non-self-governing terri­tories constituted the first internation­al attempt to establish international institutions for the protection of human rights. The modern law of international organi­zations came into being with the establishment of the League of Nations.

The United Nations was founded in 1945. Here it needs to be emphasized only that the mere exis­tence of the UN, whatever its weaknesses, consti­tutes a further advance in the efforts of the inter­national community to make international law a more effective tool, for the preservation of interna­tional peace and the improvement of the human condition throughout the world.