Unit I public international law

Task 1. Make sure you know the meaning of the words and their definitions below

customary law	a body of rules made in accordance with custom or habitual practice
adhere to	follow exactly
grant and withdrawal of nationality	acquiring and deprivation of citizenship
without prejudice to the rights of third parties	without damage of the rights of third parties
reasonableness	correctness
equity	fairness, impartiality
make reparation	compensate, reimburse
disentitle	deprive of a right
undertaking	agreement, obligation, commitment
acquiescence	obedience without protest
enter into an agreement	conclude an agreement
exercise lawmaking functions	perform legislative functions

Task 2. Read and translate the text

International law, also called PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW, or LAW OF NATIONS, is the body of legal rules that are applied between sovereign states and other entities having international personality. International law means public international law as distinguished from private international law, which deals with the differences between the municipal or internal laws of different countries.

International law has developed from the necessity of nations to coexist peacefully. Although there is no effective international law-enforcing body, individual states have shown an increasing willingness to adhere to legal principles of mutual cooperation. In fact, many states now incorporate agreed principles of international law into their own municipal jurisdictions.

International law is generated by three discrete processes: by the process of 1) international customary law, 2) by treaties, and 3) by general principles of law recognized by civilized nations.

The basic rules of international customary law can be summarized in the following fundamental principles: sovereignty, recognition, consent, good faith, freedom of the seas, international responsibility, and self-defense.

Rules of sovereignty define the limits of jurisdiction that subjects of international law have over their own territory as well as over persons and things outside their territory.

The rules of recognition cover situations such as the co-option of new subjects of international law, the recognition of the territorial claims of another state, and the grant and withdrawal of nationality.

The rules of consent enable subjects of international law, when entering into an agreement, to modify and to supplement as they see fit, but without prejudice to the rights of third parties, any of the rules of international customary law or the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations.

Good faith characterizes the spirit in which parties must interpret and execute that engagement; good faith is identified with the requirements of reasonableness, common sense, and equity.

The rules protecting the freedom of the seas preclude the appropriation by any individual subject of international law of any portion of the high seas as distinct from the subsoil and bed of the sea.

The rules of international responsibility can be reduced to two propositions, namely, that the breach of any international obligation by the organ of a subject of international law constitutes an illegal act, or international tort, and that the subject has a duty to make reparation.

The rules of self-defense mainly govern the measures that may be taken against illegal acts attributable to another subject of international law and against acts of individuals, ships, or aircraft that disentitle any other subject of international law from the grant of protection.

International law is also created by treaties. Treaties and other consensual engagements are legally binding undertakings by which the subjects of international law may declare, modify, or develop existing international law as they see fit or agree on transactions.

Among the bodies of international rules governed by treaties and other agreements, five are of special significance: territory, diplomatic law, and immunity; the protection of nationals abroad; freedom of commerce and navigation; extradition and asylum; and succession to international rights and obligations.

Global multipurpose institutions such as the United Nations play an important role in the development of international law. Their impact on international law is threefold: they have been responsible for the modification, by express consent, of the rules underlying the fundamental principles of international law, for the indirect modification of these rules by acquiescence on the part of member states in the action of organs not actually authorized to exercise lawmaking functions, and for the initiation of the further codification and development of international law.

Task 3. Answer the following questions using the information of the text.

1. What is Public (Private) International Law?

2. Why do many states show their willingness to adhere to legal principles of mutual cooperation?

3. What are the three discrete processes international law generated by?

4. What fundamental principles can the basic rules of international customary law be summarized in?

5. What are the most significant international rules governed by treaties?

6. In what cases are the rules of self-defence applied?

7. How do international organizations influence the development of international law?

8. Do the rules of recognition cover only intergovernmental relations?

9. Are legally binding agreements subject to any changes?

10. In what way may the subjects of international law declare, modify, or develop existing international law?

Task 4. Fill in the blanks with the words from the box

coexist persons legally jurisdictions illegal sovereignty consent equity agreements obligation attributable customary multipurpose self-defense

1. International law has developed from the necessity of nations to________ peacefully.

2. Many states now incorporate agreed principles of international law into their own municipal____________.

3. Rules of__________ define the limits of jurisdiction that subjects of international law have over their own territory as well as over__________ and things outside their territory.

4. Good faith is identified with the requirements of reasonableness, common sense, and____.

5. The breach of any international__________ by the organ of a subject of international law constitutes an _______ act.

6. Global __________ institutions play an important role in the development of international law.

7. The rules of__________ mainly govern the measures that may be taken against illegal acts __________ to another subject of international law.

8. Treaties and other consensual engagements are_________ binding undertakings.

9. Among the bodies of international rules governed by treaties and other__________, five are of special significance.

10. The rules of__________ enable subjects of international law to modify and to supplement as they see fit, any of the rules of international__________ law.

Task 5. Mark the sentences as True or False

1. International law is the body of legal rules that are applied between sovereign states and other entities having international personality.

2. Private international law deals with the differences between the international laws of different countries.

3. International law is generated by three processes: by the process of international customary law, by treatments, and by general principles of law recognized by civilized nations.

4. There is no particular difference between Private International Law and Public International Law.

5. The rules protecting the freedom of the seas preclude the appropriation by any individual subject of international law of any portion of the high seas.

6. International organizations solely always initiate further codification and development of international law.

7. The subjects of international law may declare, modify, or develop existing international law according to their national jurisdictions.

8. The rules of recognition deal only with the recognition of the territorial claims of another state.

9. As there is no effective international law-enforcing body, individual states have shown an increasing willingness to adhere to legal principles of mutual cooperation.

10. Freedom of commerce and navigation; extradition and asylum; and succession to international rights and obligations are among the significant international rules.

Task 6. Translate the following

To apply rules, суверенный, entities, international personality, municipal or internal laws, мирно сосуществовать, effective международное law-enforcing body, физическое лицо, to adhere to legal principles, взаимное cooperation, discrete processes, international customary law, общие принципы права, sovereignty, признание, consent, good faith, international responsibility, self-defense, limits of jurisdiction, коопция of new subjects of international law, the grant and withdrawal of nationality, вступить в соглашение, without prejudice to the rights of third parties, interpret and execute the engagement; здравый смысл, equity, the high seas, дно мирового океана, the breach of any international obligation, to constitute an противоправный акт, to govern the measures, субъект международного права, the grant of protection, consensual engagements, имеющий обязательную силу, declare, modify or develop existing international law, защита своих граждан за границей, freedom of commerce and navigation, выдача and asylum; правопреемственность, express consent, acquiescence, от имени стран-участниц, to exercise lawmaking functions, кодификация и развитие международного права.

Task 7. Match the words and word combinations with their Russian equivalents

to enter into an agreement	вступить в соглашение; заключать договор
good faith	экстрадиция и убежище
codification of international law	кодификация
international responsibility	правопреемство в международных правах
international personality	юридически обязательное соглашение
international tort	международная ответственность
acquiescence	осуществлять законодательные функции
the high seas	национальное право
the breach of any international obligation	ясно выраженное согласие
municipal law	море за пределами территориальных вод; открытое море
general principles of law	предоставление права на защиту
to exercise lawmaking functions	молчаливое согласие, признание
to make reparation	добросовестность
succession to international rights	международный деликт
the grant of protection	общие принципы права
the recognition of the territorial claims	признание территориальных претензий
interpret and execute the engagement	толковать и исполнять обязательство
extradition and asylum	платить компенсацию
legally binding undertakings	международная правосубъектность
express consent	нарушение международного обязательства

Task 8. Compare the meanings of the similar-looking words in English and in Russian. Use them in the sentences of your own.

Public –общественный, национальный, открытый, публичный

International – международный, интернациональный

Nation – народ, нация, государство, страна

Municipal – муниципальный, внутренний

Sovereign – верховный, высший, главный, суверенный, независимый

Effective –действенный, эффективный, действующий, имеющий силу

Individual (adj.) – личный, индивидуальный; отдельный

Individual (noun) – отдельное лицо, личность, индивид; физическое лицо

Process – процедура; порядок, течение, ход

Subject – подданный, предмет (договора, иска и т.д.) субъект, объект, тема, вопрос,

Task 9. Translate the texts

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW?

International law is not imposed on states — there is no international legislature. The international legal system is decentralized and founded essentially on consensus. International law is made primarily in one of two ways: through the practice of states (customary international law) and through agreements entered into by states (treaties). Once international rules are established they have an imperative character and cannot be unilaterally modified at will by states. The absence of a strong enforcement machinery is highlighted by skeptics as a weakness of international law. There is no international police force, nor is there an international court with compulsory jurisdiction to which states are required to submit. That is not to say, however, that international law is not effective. Sanctions are available which may be employed and which may affect a state's conduct. If international law is violated there are a number of self-help measures which the victim state may adopt, for example, a treaty may be suspended or terminated, or the assets of an offending state may be frozen. The United Nations Security Council may authorize economic sanctions. Force may be used in defined circumstances.

Public opinion can also be an effective sanction. States want to be seen to be adhering to international law: why otherwise do they go to considerable efforts to justify their particular position in international law?

There is an international court to which states can refer their disputes for settlement. States, however, must agree to submit to the court; there is no legal compulsion on them to do so.

The international legal system is different from municipal law. The principal participants of the international legal system states are all treated as equally sovereign. The international community is composed not of a homogeneous grouping of states, but rather a heterogeneous group of some 185 states, which differ politically, economically, culturally and ideologically.

The international legal system is a young, immature system which is constantly evolving and developing. It is not simply lawyers' law. Politics play an influential role. Consequently, the study of international law facilitates a greater comprehension of, and gives an insight into, the functioning of the international community.

function of international law

Law is a closed system of rationality, a thought-world unto itself. Law is a systematic actualizing of a given society's values. Law is an expression of the totality of a society's existence. Law is inevitably connected with our ideas about the ultimate things – our ultimate ideas about the natural world, and our ultimate ideas about humanity's relationship to the supernatural and the spiritual.

This is the wonder of the law-phenomenon. Law achieves this wonderful feat of dialectical integration in an amazingly efficient way, day after day, year in, year out, like some marvelously engineered machine.

But first we have to try to answer the question: how does law achieve all this? What is the secret of its amazing society-making capacity? To answer this question we have to move the focus in one step closer and say how law works. It is another extraordinary fact that law students leave law school with very little idea of how law works. They have learned the procedures, the tricks of the trade, some legal principles, perhaps, the names of famous cases, where to look to find the law. But, normally, they have not even the most rudimentary idea of how law works, mechanically, so to speak, of what is under the hood of the legal motor car.

What law does is to allow a society to choose its future. Law is made in the past, to be applied in the present, in order to make society take a particular form in the future. Law carries a society's idea of its own future from the past into the future. Law carries society's structures and systems from the past into the future. Law makes possible society's possible futures.

For example, a law on environmental management. Such a law conditions the behavior of those who may be planning a new industrial project. It conditions the behavior of those who want to react to that proposal. It conditions the behavior of those who have power to permit, prohibit, or modify the proposal. When the environmental management law is applied in a particular situation, the outcome is produced by an intersecting of the behavior of all the relevant people in such a way that the net outcome is within the range of possibilities which have been defined by the law as serving the common interest of society as a whole.

That is the way law works. It enacts in a particular form the common interest of society as a whole. It then disaggregates that common interest by relating it to the actual detailed behavior of particular society members. And the result is that, in taking their individual self-interested decisions, individual society members, if they act in conformity with the law, also and inevitably serve the common interest of society.