This book contains ten writings on different aspects of international law, each of them cross-referenced, in instances in which information in one is relevant to points made in another. The first essay considers the character of the subject, and its relation to other entities of relevance to it, such as its compatibility with national law and its relation to maritime law. The second one considers different types of legal instruments in settings of international law, and explains how to read a multilateral convention, using the Convention for the International Sale of Goods as an example. The third part discusses the characteristics of a state and the concept of recognition, the fourth reviews the various roles that institutions take in international law, concentrating in particular on major regional organisations, and the fifth explores the extent to which the World Trade Organisation and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade provide for developing countries. Essay Six summarises the framework for international labour law and investigates its contents and workings, then the seventh considers which countries predominate in the running of international institutions. The eighth paper explores how regional entities might co-operate with international institutions in the harmonisation of the law, and the ninth one investigates the place of negotiation as a method of international dispute resolution. Finally, the tenth essay considers the past, present and future of international law, and reviews especially the role of language.

This two volume work is a collection of scholarly essays on a wide ranging set of international law topics written over the past forty years.

The Identity of Governments in International Law provides a comprehensive account of the international legal regulation of governmental status. This includes the concept of the government, the rules on recognition of and criteria for governmental status, and matters concerning the identity of governments in international organizations.

In 1983, when he was 80 years old, Leo Gross compiled 45 of his essays which had been published in scholarly journals and other collections from 1945 to 1984. The collection was published in two volumes by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and Transnational Publishers in 1984, with a Preface by Judge Stephen M. Schwebel of the International Court of Justice. The collection has been out of print for some time. In response to many requests, the Publishers have now decided to issue a shorter, one-volume collection, the selection from the 1984 books having been carried out by Professor Alfred P. Rubin, who occupied the office adjoining that of Leo Gross in the Fletcher School for no less than seventeen years. In his impressive and illuminating Introduction to this one-volume collection, Alfred Rubin pays tribute to his former colleague and points to a number of the most impressive features of the Gross essays. In discussing the criteria of his choice, he concludes: `Tough choices had to be made to present the reader with the widest and deepest selection of the works of a wide and deep mind. The bottom line was always the utility of the selection to the next generation of students of public international law and organization. '

This book revisits the theory of the sources of international law from the perspective of formalism. It critically analyses the virtues of formalism, construed as a theory of law ascertainment, as a means of distinguishing between law and non-law. The theory of formalism is re-evaluated against the backdrop of the growing acceptance by international legal theorists of the blurring of the lines between law and non-law. At the same time, the book acknowledges that much international normative activity nowadays takes place outside the ambit of traditional international law and that only a limited part of the exercise of public authority at the international level results in the creation of international legal rules. The theory of ascertainment that the book puts forward attempts to dispel some of the illusions of formalism that accompany the traditional sources of international law. It also sheds light on the tendency of scholars, theorists, and advocates to deformalize the identification of international legal rules with a view to expanding international law. The book seeks to revitalize and refresh the formal identification of rules by engaging with some tenets of the postmodern critique of formalism. As a result, the book not only grapples with the practice of law-making at the international level, but it also offers broad theoretical insights on international law, dealing with the main schools of thought in legal theory (positivism, naturalism, legal realism, policy-oriented jurisprudence, and postmodernism). This paperback edition features the author's discussion of this book on the EJIL Talk blog.

A new international legal order (NILO) has progressively infiltrated the traditional scope of international law. The essays contained in this book have been written to commemorate the past ten years of the Xiamen Academy of International Law and the emergence of this NILO. They display a remarkable intellectual vitality and illustrate the new initiatives contributing to a NILO in the realm of international law. In addition to new concepts of the use of force, boundary disputes and self-determination, and new judicial practices in environmental law, these essays demonstrate a convergence towards a universal value of a globalised world, centred upon human security and reflected in international economic, technological, social and humanitarian cooperation – sources of new tranches of international law. The contributors to this book have provided an in-depth analysis of such cooperation between various branches of international law. While this book is principally for scholars and students of international law, it is also a valuable reference book for practitioners and foreign affairs officials with an interest in the area. Contributors to this volume are: José Enrique Alvarez; Niels Blokker; Chia-Jui Cheng; Judge Christopher Greenwood; Stephan Hobe; Judge Hisashi Owada; Stephen Mathias; Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann; Malcolm N. Shaw; Danilo Türk; Guiguo Wang, Judge Hanqin Xue.

International lawyers have long recognised the importance of interpretation to their academic discipline and professional practice. As new insights on interpretation abound in other fields, international law and international lawyers have largely remained wedded to a rule-based approach, focusing almost exclusively on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Such an approach neglects interpretation as a distinct and broader field of theoretical inquiry. Interpretation in International Law brings international legal scholars together to engage in sustained reflection on the theme of interpretation. The book is creatively structured around the metaphor of the game, which captures and illuminates the constituent elements of an act of interpretation. The object of the game of interpretation is to persuade the audience that one's interpretation of the law is correct. The rules of play are known and complied with by the players, even though much is left to their skills and strategies. There is also a meta-discourse about the game of interpretation - 'playing the game of game-playing' - which involves consideration of the nature of the game, its underlying stakes, and who gets to decide by what rules one should play. Through a series of diverse contributions, Interpretation in International Law reveals interpretation as an inescapable feature of all areas of international law. It will be of interest and utility to all international lawyers whose work touches upon theoretical or practical aspects of interpretation.

Provides an in-depth study of the theory, history, practice, and interpretation of customary international law.