As our society becomes more global, international law is taking on an increasingly significant role, not only in world politics but also in the affairs of a striking array of individuals, enterprises, and institutions. In this comprehensive study, David J. Bederman focuses on international law as a current, practical means of regulating and influencing international behavior. He shows it to be a system unique in its nature—nonterritorial but secular, cosmopolitan, and traditional. Part intellectual history and part contemporary review, The Spirit of International Law ranges across the series of cyclical processes and dialectics in international law over the past five centuries to assess its current prospects as a viable legal system. After addressing philosophical concerns about authority and obligation in international law, Bederman considers the sources and methods of international lawmaking. Topics include key legal actors in the international system, the permissible scope of international legal regulation (what Bederman calls the "subjects and objects" of the discipline), the primitive character of international law and its ability to remain coherent, and the essential values of international legal order (and possible tensions among those values). Bederman then measures the extent to which the rules of international law are formal or pragmatic, conservative or progressive, and ignored or enforced. Finally, he reflects on whether cynicism or enthusiasm is the proper attitude to govern our thoughts on international law. Throughout his study, Bederman highlights some of the canonical documents of international law: those arising from famous cases (decisions by both international and domestic tribunals), significant treaties, important diplomatic correspondence, and serious international incidents. Distilling the essence of international law, this volume is a lively, broad, thematic summation of its structure, characteristics, and main features.

This book examines theoretical and practical issues concerning the relationship between international law, time and history. Problems relating to time and history are ever-present in the work of international lawyers, whether understood in terms of the role of historic practice in the doctrine of sources, the application of the principle of inter-temporal law in dispute settlement, or in gaining a coherent insight into the role that was played by international law in past events. But very little has been written about the various different ways in which international lawyers approach or understand the past, and it is with a view to exploring the dynamics of that engagement that this book has been compiled. In its broadest sense, it is possible to identify at least three different ways in which the relationship between international law and (its) history may be conceived. The first is that of a "history of international law" written in narrative form, and mapped out in terms of a teleology of origins, development, progress or renewal. The second is that of "history in international law" and of the role history plays in arguments about law itself (for example in the construction of customary international law). The third way of understanding that relationship is in terms of "international law in history": of understanding how international law has been engaged in the creation of a history that in some senses stands outside the history of international law itself. The essays in this collection make clear that each type of engagement with history and international law interweaves various different types of historical narrative, pointing to the typically multi-layered nature of internationallawyers' engagement with the past and its importance in shaping the present and future of international law.

For many centuries, thinkers have tried to understand and to conceptualize political and legal order beyond the boundaries of sovereign territories. Their concepts, deeply entangled with ideas of theology, state formation, and human nature, form the bedrock of todays theoretical discourses on international law. This volume engages with models of early international legal thought from Machiavelli to Hegel before international law in the modern sense became an academic discipline of its own. The interplay of system and order serves as a leitmotiv throughout the book, helping to link historical models to contemporary discourse. Part I of the book covers a diverse collection of thinkers in order to scrutinize and contextualize their respective models of the international realm in light of general legal and political philosophy. Part II maps the historical development of international legal thought more generally by distilling common themes and ideas, such as the relationship between universality and particularity, the role of the state, the influence of power and economic interests on the law, and the contingencies of time, space and technical opportunities. In the current political climate, where it appears that the reinvigorated concept of the nation state as an ordering force competes with internationalist thinking, the problems at issue in the classic theories point to contemporary questions: is an international system without central power possible? How can a normative order come about if there is no central force to order relations between states? These essays show that uncovering the history of international law can offer ways in which to envisage its future.

The question of the authority of international law over domestic authorities and the duties of state officials to international law are fundamental concerns in international legal theory and practice. The Authority of International Law: Obedience, Respect, and Rebuttal addresses these concerns by reframing the present accounts of authority in international law, construing its authority as imposing three different layers of duties on domestic officials: the duty to obey, the duty to respect, and the duty to rebut. The book provides an original interpretation of this authority - one that is not tied to prior state consent or domestic constitutional frameworks. It offers a nuanced account, arguing that whether or not international law is obeyed within any given situation depends on the type of duty it imposes on the state, and that duty's normative force. There is no strict framework in which international law always trumps domestic law or vice versa. Instead, Çalı presents a realistic account of when international law has absolute authority, and when it can afford a margin of appreciation to states. The Authority of International Law contributes to existing debates by considering the gap between consent-based jurisprudential theories of authority and self-interest and identity-based theories of compliance, and by considering monism, dualism, and normative pluralism as theories for addressing authority competition between domestic legal orders and international law.

Will Donald trump international law? Since Trump's Administration took office, this question has haunted almost every issue area of international law. One of our leading international lawyers-a former Legal Adviser of the US State Department, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, and Yale Law Dean-argues that President Trump has thus far enjoyed less success than many believe, because he does not own the pervasive "transnational legal process" that governs these issue areas. This book shows how those opposing Trump's policies during his administration's first two years have successfully triggered that process as part of a collective counter-strategy akin to Muhammad Ali's "rope-a-dope." The book surveys immigration and refugee law, human rights, climate change, denuclearization, trade diplomacy, relations with North Korea, Russia and Ukraine, America's "Forever War" against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and the ongoing tragedy in Syria. Koh's tour d'horizon illustrates the many techniques that players in the transnational legal process have used to blunt Trump's early initiatives. The high stakes of this struggle, and its broader implications for the future of global governance-now challenged by the rise of populist authoritarians-make this exhausting counter-strategy both worthwhile and necessary.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this book provides ready access to the law applied to cases involving cross border issues in Taiwan. It offers every lawyer dealing with questions of conflict of laws much-needed access to these conflict rules, presented clearly and concisely by a local expert. Beginning with a general introduction, the monograph goes on to discuss the choice of law technique, sources of private international law, and the relevant connection with other laws. Then follows clear description and analysis of the rules of choice of law on natural and legal persons, contractual and non-contractual obligations, movable and immovable property, intangible property rights, company law, family law (marriage, cohabitation, registered partnerships, matrimonial property, maintenance, child law), and succession law (including testamentary dispositions). The presentation concludes with an overview of relevant civil procedure, examining lex fori and issues of national and international jurisdiction, acceptability and enforcement of foreign judgements, and international arbitration. Its succinct yet scholarly nature, as well as the practical quality of the information it provides, make this book a valuable resource for lawyers handling cases in Taiwan. Academics and researchers, as well as judges, notaries public, marriage registrars, youth welfare officers, teachers, students, and local and public authorities will welcome this very useful guide, and will appreciate its value in the study of private international law from a comparative perspective.

No detailed description available for "The Spirit of Uppsala".

This volume highlights those instances in the work of international organizations where advances have been made concerning indigenous rights. It also devotes attention to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and to a number of thematic issues in the field. The human rights situations facing indigenous peoples in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria and South Africa are dealt with in separate chapters.