Introduction

Subjects of International Law can be described as those persons or entities who possess international personality. Throughout the 19th century, only States qualified as subjects of international law. After, the Second World War, more and more new actors emerged in the international legal arena such as the intergovernmental organizations created by States, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) created by individuals, multinationals and even natural persons (i.e. individuals). These can now be considered as having to a large or sometimes limited extend the capacity to become international persons.

This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on Subjects of International Law. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library's systematic classification → Subjects of international law and subject heading (subject heading Subjects of International Law is instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.

Bibliography

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• Rossi, C.R., Sovereignty and Territorial Temptation: the Grotian Tendency, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017. Showcase item

  

  This powerful book stands on its head the most venerated tradition in international law and discusses the challenges of scarcity, sovereignty, and territorial temptation. Newly emergent resources, accessible through global climate change, discovery, or technological advancement, highlight time-tested problems of sovereignty and challenge liberal internationalism's promise of beneficial or shared solutions. From the High Arctic to the hyper-arid reaches of the Atacama Desert, from the South China Sea to the history of the law of the sea, from doctrinal and scholarly treatments to institutional forms of global governance, the historically recurring problem of territorial temptation in the ageless age of scarcity calls into question the future of the global commons, and illuminates the tendency among states to share resources, but only when necessary.

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• Wolfrum, R., M. Sersic, & T.M. Sosic, Contemporary Developments in International Law: Essays in Honour of Budislav Vukas, Leiden : Boston, Brill Nijhoff, 2016. Showcase item

  

  For the Liber Amicorum, dedicated to Professor Budislav Vukas, his colleagues and former students have contributed essays on topical issues of contemporary international law, primarily in the fields that were the focus of Professor Vukas’s interest during his long-lasting academic and international career at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Labour Organization, the Institut de Droit International and many other law schools and international institutions and organizations. The essays in this collection, thus, deal with current developments concerning the subjects of international law (i.a. jurisdictional immunities of states, responsibility of states, international organizations, other non-state entities), the law of the sea (i.a. jurisdictional zones, delimitation, piracy, underwater cultural heritage protection, fisheries, land-locked states), human rights law, including minorities’ protection (i.a. European Court of Human Rights, humanitarian assistance, protection in the event of disasters, social and labour rights, rights of the child), and dispute settlement (i.a. International Court of Justice, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, arbitration, diplomatic means).

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• DiStefano, G., G.Gaggioli et A.Hêche, La Convention de Vienne de 1978 Sur la Succession d'États en Matière de Traités: Commentaire Article par Article et Etudes Thématiques, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2016.

  

  La Convention de Vienne de 1978 traite d’un problème intemporel dans la vie internationale des États, à savoir leurs mutations territoriales. Il s’agit là d’une réalité internationale qui survit au phénomène de la décolonisation, mutation territoriale hautement typée et délimitée historiquement. Les exemples sont innombrables. L’on peut mentionner la réunification de l’Allemagne, l’éclatement de l’Union soviétique, le démembrement de la Yougoslavie, la séparation entre la Tchéquie et la Slovaquie, la sécession de l’Erythrée de l’Ethiopie, la séparation du Timor oriental de l’Indonésie, la sécession du Pakistan oriental (Bangladesh) du Pakistan. La pratique récente, relative au Kosovo notamment, qui a déclaré son indépendance le 17 février 2008, met en exergue l’actualité juridique du sujet. Des cas de succession d’États dans un futur proche ou lointain ne sont donc pas à exclure. Les régions sécessionnistes et les pulsions séparatistes sont nombreuses, même si très généralement non reconnues par la communauté internationale. Pourtant, la succession d’États n’est toujours pas dotée d’un régime juridique cohérent complet. Il convient dès lors de s’intéresser à cette lacune juridique en partant du traité-clef en la matière qu’est la Convention de 1978. Un commentaire exhaustif, article par article, de cette Convention se révèle donc être nécessaire. Cet ouvrage contient une analyse serrée des apports et des lacunes de cette Convention à la lumière des travaux préparatoires ainsi que de la pratique récente. Il permet ainsi d’identifier les éléments de codification de la Convention de Vienne de 1978, mais aussi de voir en quoi celle-ci a pu donner naissance à des principes et règles coutumières en la matière. Il a pour ambition de remettre au goût du jour cette Convention et d’offrir aux chercheurs intéressés, mais également aux États et sujets concernés et à la communauté internationale une vue d’ensemble détaillée, analytique et systématique du droit actuel en matière de succession d’États et de découvrir ainsi les éléments de continuité et de rupture qui la caractérisent.

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• Saganek, P., Unilateral Acts of States in Public International Law, Leiden, Brill Nijhoff, 2016.

  

  In Unilateral Acts of States in Public International Law Przemysław Saganek discusses one of the most important sources of States’ obligations in international law. He analyzes in a critical way the classical catalogue of unilateral acts comprising: promise, waiver, recognition and protest. He convincingly proves that this list is misleading as it oversees several important acts of States. On the other hand, several classical acts do not necessarily give rise to legal effects or are not necessarily unilateral. The author undertakes a thorough analysis of several types of acts, showing their similarities and dissimilarities. He concludes that the group category of ‘unilateral acts’ covers such diverse elements that they could be hardly codified in a single set of rules.

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• Palaco Caballero, F. de M., La Cour Internationale de Justice et la Protection de l'Individu, Genève, Université de Genève, Faculté de Droit, Paris, LGDJ-Lextenso Éditions, 2015.

  

  La jurisprudence de la Cour internationale de justice en matière de protection de l'individu tend à poser les bases d'une réflexion d'ampleur ayant pris forme après la Seconde guerre mondiale. Ce mouvement né de l'esprit des droits de l'Homme d'après-guerre semble aujourd'hui vouloir irradier l'ensemble du droit international moderne au point de conduire à une refonte de ses règles traditionnelles. S'affranchissant de la conception classique du droit international où l'individu est tributaire de la volonté des États, la Cour, organe judiciaire principal des Nations Unies, va reconnaître de manière progressive l'individu en tant que destinataire effectif de droits internationaux. Toutefois, cette volonté d'ouverture marquée par la consécration d'un corps de normes et principes applicable en toutes circonstances reste tiraillée entre la protection effective des droits fondamentaux de l'individu et le respect de la volonté souveraine des États parties.

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• Noortmann, M., A. Reinisch and C. Ryngaert (eds.), Non-state Actors in International Law, Oxford, USA, Hart Publishing, 2015.

  

  The role and position of non-state actors in international law is the subject of a long-standing and intensive scholarly debate. This handbook explores the participation of this new category of actors in an international legal system that has historically been dominated by states. It explores the most important issues, actors and theoretical approaches with respect to these new participants in international law. It provides the reader with a comprehensive and state-of-the-art overview of the most important legal and political developments and perspectives. Relevant non-state actors discussed in this volume include, in particular, international governmental organisations, international non-governmental organisations, multinational companies, investors and armed opposition groups. Their legal position is considered in relation to specific issue-areas, such as humanitarian law, human rights, the use of force and international responsibility. The main legal theories on non-state actors’ position in international law – neo-positivism, the policy-oriented approach and transnational law – are covered at the beginning of the publication, and the essential political science perspectives – on non-state actors’ role in international politics and globalisation, as well as their soft power – are presented at the end.

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• Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales (eds.), Les Sujets, Grandes Pages du Droit International, Volume 1, Paris, Editions A. Pedone, 2015.

  

  Avec cette nouvelle collection consacrée aux Grandes  pages du droit international, l’Institut des hautes études internationales  a choisi d’entreprendre l’étude du passé de la doctrine  internationaliste, pour y partir à la  recherche des pages qui permettraient de comprendre mieux le présent, mieux le  penser et, idéalement, mieux nommer les choses. Il s’est représenté cette  doctrine comme un vaste champ, laissant à chacun de ses membres le soin d’y cueillir des fleurs éparses, selon son propre choix et ses affinités  personnelles. Dans la composition de ce premier petit bouquet  consacré aux sujets du droit international, on ne cherchera d’autre critère que  le goût de l’Institut et celui de ses doctorants, docteurs et professeurs ayant  conçu collectivement la journée d’études dont cet ouvrage est issu. Le lecteur y retrouvera, ou y découvrira, l’étonnante diversité doctrinale qui fait la richesse, et la difficulté, du droit international.

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Database

Blogs

• Is Sudan set for a divorce?

  Sudan has a history of protracted conflict between the predominately Muslim north and the largely Christian south. On 9-15 January 2011, the citizens of Southern Sudan took part in a referendum to determine if they wish to become an independent state. Although South Sudan has been an autonomous region since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) […]

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• The Influence of NGOs on International Law

  From a traditional point of view, International Public Law has been understood as a set of rules produced by states in order to regulate relations between them. Since the end of the Cold War, the role of NGOs in international law is growing in importance and their activities are reaching the remotest parts of the world. In this blog, I will briefly discuss how NGOs have transformed international law as well as how they continue to contribute to the development of international law.

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See also

More Research guides on Public International Law

• Customary International Law
• History of International Law
• Public International Law
• Treaties

PPL keywords

• International organizations
• Non-governmental organizations
• States

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