Public International Law
Readings
Spring 2025
Salvatore Caserta
Course Description:
This course
examines the basic concepts of public international law, to enable students to
critically evaluate the interplay between legal claims and power relations.
Starting with a theoretical overview of the character, development and sources
of international law, the course examines such law-generating and
law-implementing institutions as the United Nations, international arbitration
and adjudication, international criminal tribunals, national systems and
regional organizations. Such substantive areas as the law of war (the use of
force and humanitarian law), international criminal law, human rights, and
environmental law will be given special attention.
Summary of Course Content:
This course explores how the international legal system works from a
legal and political perspective, shaping international relations today. The
course develops the students’ ability to identify, analyze and work with
international legal issues in a competent legal manner. It provides the
students with the necessary skills needed to recognize matters of international
law as well as the ability to relate more broadly to issues of an international
character.
The course covers the most relevant topics of public international law,
such as foundations and structures of international, sources of international
law, the actors in the international legal system, the principles of
jurisdiction and diplomatic protection, state responsibility, the peaceful
settlement of disputes, the international regulation of the use of force, and the
law of armed conflict. The course also branches out to some sister disciplines
such as international criminal law and human rights.
Learning Outcomes:
The objective of the course is to enable the students to:
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Identify the main
institutions and topics in the field of public international law.
-
Identify, explain,
and critically discuss the main theoretical and practical issues related to the
emergence of forms of international governance and laws.
-
Communicate their
knowledge and formulate arguments in a structured and coherent way.
The teaching provides the students with the skills needed to establish
an independent and critical attitude to concrete issues of international law
and to relate, in a balanced and reflective manner, to the inherent tensions of
international law and to the borderline between politics and law.
Attendance is compulsory. Students shall read assigned materials before
classes and shall participate to class discussions.
Type of Assessment:
-
Assigned individual
written assignment, 1 day: 40%
-
Midterm written
assignment: 30%
-
In class exercises/group
works: 20%
-
Class participation:
10%
Week 1 – What is International
Law? Introduction and Historical Overview
Mandatory Readings:
-
Jan
Klabbers, International Law, Ch. 1.
-
Excerpts
from Anthonie Anghie, Imperialism, Sovereignty,
and the Making of International Law, Cambridge University Press 2004.
Class 1: Introduction and historical developments
Class 2: Institutional framework, the functions, and the limitations of international
Law
Week 2 – The Sources of
International Law: Treaties and Customs
Mandatory Readings:
-
Jan
Klabbers, International Law, Ch. 2
& 3.
-
Excerpts
from LaGrand.
-
Excerpts
from ICTY, Trial Chamber, Prosecutor v Anto Furundžija, judgement of 10
December 1998, paras 147-157.
-
Excerpts
from House of Lords (UK), R. v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary
Magistrate and others, ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No. 3), judgement of 24
March 1999 [2000] A.C. 147.
Class 1: The law of the treaties and the principles of interpretation.
Class 2: International customs, jus cogens,
and other sources.
Week 3 – The Actors of
International Law: Statehood
Mandatory Readings:
-
Jan
Klabbers, International Law, Ch. 4.
-
Excerpts
from ICJ advisory opinion on Kosovo.
Class 1: What is a state? The Montevideo Convention applied to the case of
Palestine.
Class 2: Self-determination and recognition – The case of Kosovo.
Week 4 – Jurisdiction and
Sovereignty
Mandatory Readings:
-
James
Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public
International Law (8th edition), Chapter 22.
-
Excerpts
from Arrest Warrant case.
Class 1: Jurisdiction and acquisition of sovereignty.
Class 2: The exercise of universal jurisdiction.
Week 5 – Immunities of Foreign
States and Consular Relations
Mandatory Readings:
-
Anders
Henriksen, International Law, Ch 6.
-
Excerpts
from Hostages case
Class 1: General principles.
Class 2: The Hostages case.
Week 6 – International Dispute
Settlement and the ICJ
Mandatory Readings:
-
Jan
Klabbers, International Law, Ch. 8.
-
Excerpts
from Nicaragua and Avena cases.
Class 1: The International Court of Justice – institutional structure and jurisprudential
developments.
Class 2: The International Court of Justice -- jurisdiction and implementation.
Week 7 – Regional
Organizations and Other International Courts
Mandatory Readings:
-
Karen
Alter, The New Terrain of International
Law: Courts, Politics, Rights, Ch. 1 and 4.
Class 1: The global spread of international courts and the diffusion of European
model.
Class 2: Regional courts in Europe, Latin America and Africa,
Week 8 – State Responsibility
Mandatory Readings:
-
Jan
Klabbers, International Law, Ch. 7.
-
Excerpts
from Hostages and Rainbow Warrior (PCA) cases.
Class 1: General principles.
Class 2: Jurisprudential developments.
Week 9 – The International
Regulation of the Use of Force
Mandatory Readings:
-
Jan
Klabbers, International Law, Ch. 9
and 10.
Class 1: General principles.
Class 2: Case study.
Week 10 – The Law of Armed
Conflicts
Mandatory Readings:
-
Jan
Klabbers, International Law, Ch. 11.
-
Excerpts
from the ICJ advisory opinion on nuclear weapons.
Class 1: General principles
Class 2: Nuclear weapons, drones and target killings
Week 11 – International
Criminal Law and the ICC
Mandatory Readings:
-
Jan
Klabbers, International Law, Ch. 12.
-
Leslie
Vinjamuri: The International Criminal
Court and the Paradox of Authority, 79 Law and Contemporary Problems (2016).
Class 1: The history of international criminal law and the ICC.
Class 2: The backlash against the ICC and recent developments.
Week 12 – International Human
Rights Law as Public International Law
Mandatory Readings:
-
Anders
Henriksen, International Law, Ch. 9
-
Eyal
Benvenisti, Margin of Appreciation,
Consensus, and Universal Standards, 31 New York University Journal of
International Law and Politics (1999)
Class 1: Institutional framework.
Class 2: The European Court of Human
Rights and the margin of appreciation.
Week 13 – UN Human Rights
Organs and their Contributions
Mandatory Readings:
-
J
Connors, ‘United Nations’ in Moeckli et al (eds) International Human Rights Law
(3rd edn, 2018) Oxford University Press 369-403.
-
Rieter, Eva. "The International Court of
Justice and Its Contribution to Human Rights Law: Final Report of the ILA
International Human Rights Law Committee (Part 1)." Judging
International Human Rights: Courts of General Jurisdiction as Human Rights
Courts (2019): 19-50.
-
Excepts from ICJ, Adv. Op. on LEGAL CONSEQUENCES ARISING FROM THE POLICIES AND
PRACTICES OF ISRAEL IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, INCLUDING EAST
JERUSALEM, 19-07-1984
Class 1: UN Charter Organs and Human Rights.
Class 2: The Contribution of the ICJ to
the Development of Human Rights – The Advisory Opinion on Palestine.
Week 14 – Contemporary Issues:
Western Centrism of International Law and Overcoming Fragmentation
Mandatory Reading:
-
S
Caserta. “Western Centrism, Contemporary International Law, and International
Courts” 34 Leiden Journal of International Law 2 (2021), pp. 321-342.
-
S
Caserta & MR Madsen, Caserta, Salvatore, and Mikael Madsen. "When the
Sun, the Moon and the Stars Align: Litigating LGBTQI Rights and the Death
Penalty in East Africa and the Caribbean." European Journal of
International Law (2024).
Class 1: Backlash against international law and institutions.
Class 2: Beyond fragmentation of international law: litigating human rights in
multilevel judicial systems.
- Instructor: Salvatore Caserta