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In response to the first three articles that appeared in the Agora on Kosovo, this paper argues that there is a right of unilateral secession based on the right of external self-determination. According to the authors, the latter right is applicable outside a colonial context, in limited circumstances resembling the colonial paradigm. Modern customary international law provides the legal basis for a right of “remedial secession”, an argument that is supported by relevant State and institutional practice. After having discussed the conditions of this right and its legal basis, the authors apply their findings to the Kosovo case, in order to answer the question whether the Kosovo Albanians had a right of unilateral secession under international law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents a principled approach to adjourning the decision to enforce under the Model Law and the New York Convention. Background on the New York Convention and the Model Law; Possible conflict between domestic practices and international policies; Overview of the working papers of the United Nationals Conference on International Commercial Arbitration regarding Article VI of the New York Convention.

In regulating military applications of artificial intelligence (AI), the relationship between humans and the AI systems they operate is of central importance. AI developers commonly frame the desired human–AI relationship in terms of 'trust', aiming to make AI systems sufficiently 'trustworthy' for the task at hand and foster appropriate levels of human 'trust' in complex, often inscrutable, AI systems. Meanwhile, in legal and ethical discussions, the challenge is generally framed as ensuring that humans retain 'control' over AI such that responsible operators can reliably guide the behaviour of AI systems as required by legal and other norms. Surprisingly, few have asked whether the paradigms of 'trust' and 'control' are guiding development of the human–AI relationship in the same direction. This paper outlines the nature of trust and control as they relate to regulation of the human–AI relationship and surveys some challenges which arise in regulating the military uptake of AI systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. I am writing in partial response to Chao Wang's paper, Invocation of National Security Exceptions under GATT Article XXI: Jurisdiction to Review and Standard of Review, published earlier in this I Journal i (18 Chinese JIL (2019), 695, https://doi: 10.1093/chinesejil/jmz029). In the European Union (EU), Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 (otherwise known as the European Union Dual-Use Regulation) establishes an EU-wide regime for the control of exports of dual-use items, software and technology. [Extracted from the article]

The paper discusses whether it is possible to install an international prosecutor before domestic courts to prosecute international crimes. As the "future of international law is domestic" the paper analyzes the question of possible development of the international criminal justice system, suggesting the ultimate approach to positive complementarity which includes international prosecutors acting before national courts. It begins with analyzing the concept of positive complementarity and its possible interpretations, arguing that there are no compelling policy reasons against reinterpreting the idea in order to allow an international prosecutor to act before national courts. Subsequently it briefly presents the first installments of such institutions and focuses on the challenges connected with providing such a scenario in a future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the psychology of newspapers along with an exhaustive study of the treatment, which Boston newspapers accorded to revision of the Neutrality Act that gripped the attention of the U.S. in the fall of 1939. This investigation is based upon a complete sample of weekday and Sunday editions of English-language newspapers published in Boston, Massachusetts. The extent to which this simplification of the story took place in the Boston papers was estimated as carefully as possible. The evidence indicates that editors and newswriters attempt to give as comprehensive and adequate a representation of events as they dare; while the readers insist upon selecting, sharpening, and pointing the issue still further to suit their desire for simplification and definiteness. Newspapers must dramatize and select in order to produce in their readers the emotional integration required for a good fight. A newspaper's pattern of influence is built around its editorial policy. Most papers do to a certain extent select news items favoring the editorial policy of the paper, and reject those that are opposed. In summary, the evidence reported in this study is interpreted as supporting five generalizations which are offered here as tentative laws in the new field of the psychology of newspapers: (1) issues are skeletonized; (2) any given newspaper's field of influence is well-patterned; (3) readers are more emotional than editors; (4)public interest as reflected in newspapers is variable in time; (5) public interest rapidly fatigues and presses for an early closure.

The article reports on the significance of the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland. The Act of Union between the two countries which come into force on January 1, 1800 was the outcome of immediate military necessity. It was also the outcome of decades of spasmodic thought by politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea concerning the relationship between the two islands. But while the overall intention was undoubtedly an integrative one, a failure to understand the nature of Irish politics and society together with the pressing imperatives of war with France generated a casual and shallow attitude towards administrative detail and undermined those master plans.

As part of its Green Deal, the European Union has advanced a 'Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism' (CBAM). Reflective of a trend towards greater use of coercive trade measures to advance environmental and other policy objectives, the CBAM would extend carbon pricing to imported goods with the aim of limiting carbon leakage. Theoretical enquiry into this type of policy approach—known as border carbon adjustments (BCAs)—suggests economic and environmental benefits, but typically discounts the role of legal and practical constraints on BCA design and implementation. In this paper, we show why the BCA design commonly featured in past research—basing the adjustment level on default carbon intensities—runs counter to the economic logic of carbon pricing by distorting the incentives for emissions abatement. Requiring producers to demonstrate their actual carbon intensity captures additional economic benefits of carbon pricing and improves the overall legal prospects of a BCA, but adds to its administrative complexity and creates risk of avoidance practices such as 'resource shuffling'. What emerges is a more nuanced understanding of BCAs that highlights the challenges when transitioning from theory to practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the China/Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) arrangement between Pakistan and China from a legal and policy standpoint. It takes into account the Chinese Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime SilkRoad Vision under whichCPECis set. The paper highlights the relevance of the application of both Pakistani law and international law to CPEC. In particular the paper focuses on some fundamental legal questions, for example the very legal character of CPEC. The discussion on the fundamental legal questions is followed by the various streams of legal frameworks that have a bearing on CPEC including the Pakistani Constitution and world trade and international investment norms. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework of issues raised by CPEC. It is not intended as an exhaustive analysis of all the issues raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Written on the occasion of marking the 30th anniversary of the reform and opening-up process starting in 1978 which ushered in a new historical phase of both China's own development and China's interrelation with the world, the paper asserts that international law has played a unique role in this process through facilitating an increasingly broader and deeper mutual engagement and interaction between China and the world. The paper reviews both the benefits China has gained from its engaging with and using international law and the contribution made by China to international law in a wide range of areas covering international commerce and trade, environment protection, climate change, combating transnational crimes, human rights, disarmament, etc. In view of the ongoing significant changes both China and the world order are experiencing, the paper foresees a more important and conducive role for international law in China's future development and presents recommendations for China's better interaction with international law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The emergence of cyberspace has been followed by increasingly unpredictable threats to cybersecurity, including Botnets, which have been frequently exploited in cyber-criminal activities affecting dozens or hundreds of States at once. In existing scholarship, many reasons have informed growing support for the promise of 'due diligence' obligations in regulating transboundary cyber operations. We affirm this position through a study of the specific context of Botnets, although bringing much-needed caution and complexity to the discourse. We offer a comprehensive account of the standard of conduct expected of States in detecting, mitigating and preventing Botnet-linked harms under due diligence; as well as to pursue cyber capacity building toward discharging these obligations. In so doing, we problematize and elaborate on the nature of due diligence as an obligation of conduct, therefore accounting for differential State capacities against Botnet-linked harms. The paper involves attempts to unpack a coherent conception of due diligence, appreciating the spectrum of obligations that it demands, and demonstrating these nuances through an appraisal of good practices adopted by States and private actors against Botnets. Consequently, we provide a unique holistic account of how States and their law enforcement could practically understand the conduct expected of them when faced with transboundary Botnets on a case-to-case basis. In the end, while underscoring potential dilemmas within this legal regime that may be faced by target States, as also its unresolved questions, we submit that due diligence is indeed the most appropriate candidate to act as a legal arsenal against transboundary Botnets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Law, Power and International Politics With Special Reference to East Asia: Carl Schmitt's Grossraum" by Michael Slater in a 2012 issue.

The relationship between a national constitution and international law reflects a nation's self-positioning in the international legal regime and its reception of international law in the local context. The adaptation of international law in the Chinese Constitution and legal system determines China's engagement and participation in the international law regime and indicates the country's treaty performance. This paper provides an overview of the position and status of international law, including both treaties and customary international law, in China's current 1982 Constitution and domestic legal system. It also analyzes current practice of international law in China's judicial practice. By reference to recent developments in the PRC Constitution and domestic laws, especially the 2018 Constitutional Amendment, this article attempts to provide a contextual analysis on the standing of international law in the Chinese Constitution and legal system, in the hope that the understanding of the interplay between international law and the Chinese constitutional and legal system will help scholars and policymakers to pursue opportunities for cultural communication and reconciliation to seek normative consensus in the formation of international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights several pivotal negotiating procedural steps that ultimately helped to promote the emergence of the final shape of the UNCLOS dispute settlement system. These steps include, for want of better phrasing, the following: (1) the package deal decision; (2) the consensus approach; (3) building consensus by privileging the best second choice; (4) building consensus by privileging the existing negotiating text through the rule of silence; and (5) failing consensus in the Negotiating Group, the Chairman presenting his own proposals as suggestions to the plenary. Needless to say, these steps are worthy of consideration by future treaty-makers and leaders in treaty-making when they are faced with complicated negotiating tasks, even if not as difficult as those during the monumental UNCLOS III. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the functionalist approach's dominance in international organization law and proposes the need for other viewpoints. It discusses the shortcomings of the functionalist approach, particularly in terms of accountability to third parties. It mentions the finding of unnoticed innovations by Anne-Marie Leroy, former World Bank legal counsel, who presented a distinct legal risk management approach that deviates from typical techniques based on legal permissiveness.

This paper reviews the relevance of the Western Sahara cases brought before the Court of Justice of the European Union to international law. These cases relate to the contestations of the consistency of a number of economic agreements concluded between the European Union (EU) and the Kingdom of Morocco, as well as the EU acts that approved them, with the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The issues arising from these disputes include the legality of the Court's jurisdiction to review the validity of a treaty which is already in force between parties and the rules of international law that the contested legal instruments have violated, perhaps entailing their invalidity under EU law. While the Court has rightly found that none of the aforementioned agreements is applicable to Western Sahara—since their territorial scope does not extend to a territory which is not subject to Moroccan sovereignty——this paper tries to answer a different question as to whether the Court's decisions are in line with international law. It is demonstrated that though the Court's competence to rule on the validity of EU unilateral acts is obvious, the establishment of its power to review the validity of a treaty which is in force, such as the fisheries agreement of 2006, is dubious because of the inconsistency of such power with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In any event, the question which remains to be solved—and which was not submitted to the Court—pertains to the determination of the effects of the illegal application of the EU-Morocco agreements to Western Sahara on the rights of its people. It is concluded that such an application has violated the law of occupation and eventually international human rights law. These violations do not touch upon the validity of the contested legal instruments but relate to the question of responsibility for a wrongful act stemming from the illegal application of those agreements to occupied Western Sahara in a manner which is harmful to the interest of its people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument that the operation of the international legal system depends on political factors is to many a truism requiring little clarification or verification. But what does the operation of the system of positive international law do to international political processes? Even if it is politics and not law which primarily guides activities and decisions of States, how far could sheer politics get States in achieving their political goals? This paper focuses on three episodes—two historical and one current—about the political life of treaties involving high political stakes, and shows that the viability of foreign policies of States may be more dependent on the ways in which the system of positive international law works than is that system dependent on political agenda pursued by any State or group of States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current debate on general principles of law, major controversies revolve around the "two-category" approach to this source and its relationship with the other sources. Seeking to disentangle these controversies in light of the rationale behind this source, this paper argues that the formation and identification of general principles are driven by the need for international law to be a coherent legal system; and accordingly, general principles of both categories embody the "implied consent" of States in light of the requirements and conditions of international law. Based on the characters of general principles flowing from this "implied consent", which distinguishes them from treaties and custom, this article argues that the danger of general principles serving as an easier route for creating obligations for States is overrated; and despite the residual position of general principles under the lex specialis principle, they may complement, sometimes in crucial ways, the other sources and harden into them over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is composed of materials reflecting the practice of private international law in China in 2016. First, this paper covers the report of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) released in 2017, notably the Report on the Work of the SPC in 2016 , which contains the statistics of the foreign-related civil or commercial cases accepted and concluded by Chinese courts. Second, the paper covers judicial interpretations that took effect in 2016. The important legal instruments that have been translated include: the Provisions of the SPC on Several Issues concerning the Trials of Independent Guarantee Cases and the Provisions of the SPC on Several Issues concerning the Adjudication of Cases Occurring in the Sea Waters under China's Jurisdiction (I). Third, this paper focuses on typical cases decided by various Chinese courts during 2016 that dealt with the following issues: agent ad litem ; jurisdiction (involving representative office and forum non conveniens); choice of law (classification of legal relationship, gambling debt, loan contract); proof of foreign law; recognition and enforcement of a Singapore judgment; validity of the dispute resolution clause containing both litigation and arbitration; recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards (involving the review at the request of the party or ex officio review by the court, procedure review, qualification of arbitrator, division of arbitration costs, excess of authority and division of an arbitral award, and public policy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Law, Power and International Politics With Special Reference to East Asia: Carl Schmitt's Grossraum" by Michael Slater in a 2012 issue.

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) rules on the resolution of treaty conflicts are known as being despondently unhelpful. One identified lacuna is that these rules disregard many differences present in different kinds of treaties. This paper characterizes treaties on the basis of their differences and investigates whether this yields legal rules to resolve treaty conflicts. This paper presents three broad characterizations founded on: (A) the subject matter; (B) the number of State Parties; and (C) the intended objects and purposes of treaties. Respecting the intended objects and purposes, this paper presents three sub-characterizations, namely: (i) universal character treaties; (ii) constitutional character treaties; and (iii) treaties with conflict resolution clauses. The results are variegated, but the discussions expose the mythic role of treaty characterization in the resolution of treaty conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On 2 May 2011, a team of US Special Forces executed an operation against Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. The extraterritorial use of force against a non-State actor in the territory of another State with the aim of using lethal force against an individual is recognized as the phenomenon of targeted killings. Such operations exist on two levels: the extraterritorial use of force in the territory of another State and the use of lethal force against an individual. However, such operations also appear to blur and challenge boundaries within the international legal framework. This paper aims to clarify the existing rules within international law which govern targeted killings. The operation against Bin Laden will be used as a study to facilitate understanding of the legal considerations which arise in assessing the prohibition and permissibility of Targeted Killings under the existing framework of international law. This paper will examine the official US position under international law on targeted killings and the operation against Bin Laden to identify the legal justifications put forward. The paper will then continue to examine these legal justifications under existing frameworks in international law from three legal regimes which come into play: (i) jus ad bellum; (ii) jus in bello; (iii) International Human Rights Law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In July 2019, the Hague Conference on Private International Law adopted the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters. As an outcome of the Judgments Project, this Convention will exert a great influence on the global circulation of foreign judgments. China attached great importance to the Judgments Project and participated in the full negotiation process. This paper is a reflection of some of the Chinese negotiators' approaches in handling certain very difficult but important issues in the process, with the hope that it may shed some light on China's negotiation practice and the principles it adheres to in the international law arena, which are fully in line with the principles of equity and justice, mutual benefit, and win-win outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relies on archival research and interviews with Bin Cheng to trace his study of law at the University of Geneva with Maurice Bourquin and at the University College London, University of London with Georg Schwarzenberger. It focuses on Cheng's doctoral study and his supervisor's profound influence on his inductive approach to researching the general principles of law. It provides a panoramic view of the international legal community's overwhelmingly favourable reactions to the publication of Cheng's thesis in 1953. Finally, it reveals Cheng's personal reflections on comparative legal education and the study of international law. In our increasingly inter-connected, integrated and complex society today, public international law scholars of today would certainly benefit from drawing upon Cheng's experience and wisdom in the conduct of our work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One quarter of the world's population live in China. Chinese law is fast shifting into the global arena. China's response to new and emerging crimes over the last decade is now an important international human rights issue. This paper discusses some key concepts for understanding the criminal justice system of a country that is fast becoming the second most economically and geopolitically powerful nation in the world. Thousands of criminals are executed during China's periodic `Strike Hard' anti-crime campaigns. This paper examines the Strike Hard policy of `severity and swiftness seeking to achieve three complementary objectives: to provide insight into the machinations of criminal justice operations in China's anti-crime campaigns, to explain official justifications for the policy, and to give voice to alternative commentaries and opinions of Chinese criminal justice researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article by Heike Krieger, published in this issue, is an important contribution to the debate on populism and the law, not least because of its emphasis on a distinctive populist approach to the law. Krieger's account lacks however in providing sufficient attention to three dimensions: popular sovereignty, constituent power and a shifting imaginary of the law. The relation of populism with popular sovereignty (and populism as a reaction to unresponsive institutions) is little discussed, and, hence, the explicit democratic claim of populists is downplayed. Constituent power is equally little touched upon, meaning that the populist understanding of the law as an obstacle but equally as a means to institutionalize a different democratic order is overlooked. The most important argument in the paper, which remains however too implicit, is that of a potentially shifting imaginary of the law. Krieger's argument points in the right direction, but it could be developed further by stressing the essentially and historically contested nature of the progressive international system and its weak spots in terms of legitimacy and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histories of equal rights for women in international law normally begin with post-World War II initiatives. Such an approach leaves out two treaties signed at the 1933 Montevideo Pan-American Conference, the Equal Nationality Treaty and the Equal Rights Treaty, which remain forgotten among international lawyers. By reconstructing their inception and intellectual background, this article aims to raise awareness about debates on international law among feminist activists in the interwar years. In turn, the focus on activist work allows for the recovery of the contribution of women to the development of the discipline in that seminal period, a contribution usually obfuscated by men's predominance in diplomatic and academic roles. By outlining the contribution of two key promoters of the Montevideo treaties – Doris Stevens and Alice Paul of the National Woman's Party – the article takes a step towards the re-inclusion of women's rights activists within the shared heritage of international law and its history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution, first delivered as the keynote address to the 2018 annual conference of the European Society of International Law, aims to explore the effects of the way international legal research is organized on the contents of such research. The paper suggests that international law is no longer about what states do, but has come to be about what international lawyers do, and traces this to two inter-related factors (without any claims of exhaustiveness). First, international legal research has come to be embedded in a highly competitive setting, which affects the topics we examine and the ways in which we do so; it has stimulated, for instance, a strong division between doctrinal scholars, rational scholars, and critical scholars. Second, this competitive setting stimulates a sense of high drama: if we cannot promise a paradigm shift, we will not receive funding or other accolades, yet this way of thinking has little traction in practice or even academically. As a result, international lawyers have become highly fragmented, and the refusal to engage with each other can only be considered as contributing to epistemic injustice – and that is all rather melancholy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Survey covers materials reflecting Chinese practice in 2020 relating to: treaties, agreements and other documents signed or ratified by the People's Republic of China; national legislation; statements made by Chinese representatives at the meetings of the UN and other international organizations, international conferences, and those made by the Foreign Ministry spokespersons, with respect to various branches of international law; and judicial decisions, in particular on the applicability and application of international conventions, by Chinese courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts a review of all publicly available international arbitral decisions to address the 'umbrella clause', a controversial provision found in many bilateral investment treaties. 'Function', 'scope', 'jurisdictional precedence' and 'privity' are identified as the four key considerations in the operation of the umbrella clause, and the jurisprudence is discussed in relation to these considerations. It is found that the vast majority of tribunals have favoured an interpretation giving the umbrella clause an essentially jurisdictional function. A general consensus has developed that the scope of the umbrella clause extends at least to contractual obligations and potentially beyond provided that a specific obligation is entered into with regard to an investment. A consensus also appears to be developing that the jurisdiction of an international arbitral tribunal to hear umbrella clause claims is not affected by the presence of a contractual forum selection clause in an underlying contract. No consensus appears to have developed in relation to the issue of privity, with the jurisprudence being evenly divided both in relation to the ability of investors to base umbrella clause claims on underlying contracts they are not party to and the applicability of the established principles of international law on attribution to the State of actions by sub-state entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of jus cogens or "peremptory norms" is not new to students and practitioners of international law, but the practical identification and application of jus cogens norms is not without its own set of disagreements and debate. The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the details of the development of the common understanding of jus cogens within international law, with particular emphasis on the Asian-African perspective, and to outline the work of the International Law Commission (ILC) on the topic since its inclusion on the ILC's work programme in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented which discusses topics within the issue including the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas; international investment law; and governance of transnational financial markets.

An introduction to the journal is presented which discusses topics within the issue including inequality in international law-making, international investment law, and the inequalities that machine learning and data analytics import into the domain of global governance.

During the civil wars in Libya and Syria, the rebel opposition groups were recognized by some as “the (sole) legitimate representative of the people” of these States. This paper, using the situation in Syria as a case study, examines what it means to recognize a group as “the legitimate representative of a people”, while the State's government is still in place. It shows that with regard to recognition statements wording is all important, and that the Syrian Opposition Council has been recognized in at least six different capacities of varying legal significance. The paper sets out the difference between the “legal” and the “political” act of recognition and finds that recognition as “the legitimate representative of a people” is a purely political act. Although four normative criteria for the status of “legitimate representative of a people” can be identified, what is lacking are clear standards for their application. The paper outlines the consequences of political recognition and examines its legality in terms of international law and its suitability as a political tool. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Upon its accession, China established a judicial review mechanism for trade remedy determinations pursuant to WTO rules. However, the operational details of the mechanism remain unclear. This paper fills the research gap by discussing the main issues in the judicial review process, including types of determinations that are reviewable, which parties may participate in such cases, which court has the jurisdiction, standards applicable in reviews of law and facts, burden of proof, evidentiary rules, direct application of WTO agreements, appeal mechanism and remedies available. The paper concludes that while China has built a judicial review mechanism that satisfies the minimum requirements of the WTO, its utility is greatly restricted by problems within the judicial system in general. Unless broad changes are made, judicial review will remain an untested theoretical possibility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The advisory function can be assessed as a fallback procedure at a time when there is a lack of cases before international courts and tribunals. Although not legally binding and having no precedential effect, Advisory Opinions are generally accepted. This paper looks into the question of the Advisory Opinions in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) system. The advisory function of the Tribunal is exercised by the Seabed Disputes Chamber within the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The first request for an advisory opinion was filed on 14 May 2010. The full Court may, however, render an advisory opinion based on other international agreements according to Article 138 of the Rules of the ITLOS. As a rule, the advisory procedure is open to international organizations only. There are neither claims nor parties involved in this procedure. The paper tries to address the legal regime relating to the Opinions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A conference paper is presented about lis pendens based on a report issued by the International Commercial Arbitration Committee of the International Law Association (ILA). An overview of lis pendens in the context of domestic law and public international law is presented. It offers an analysis of the doctrine of lis pendens from the point of view of an international commercial arbitration. The approach of national courts in selected legal systems to a situation where parallel court proceedings exist is tackled.

This paper briefly summarizes the tenets of the idea of a Harmonious World as proposed by China, compares them with those of a Co-progressive World as proposed by the author and highlights the important roles of the international law of co-progressiveness and leader States in realizing the vision of the Harmonious World or Co-progressive World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first introduces the process of the humanization of international law and then analyses one specific aspect of this development: the humanization of consular law, with special reference to the Advisory Opinion No. 16 (1999) of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The paper focuses on three specific points: (1) Consular Law beyond the purely inter-State outlook; (2) the right to information on consular assistance in the framework of the guarantees of the due process of law and (3) the humanization of Consular Law in contemporary international practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International legal scholarship, particularly trade scholarship, is preoccupied with questions of constitutionalism. However, neither WTO texts nor practice suggest that the WTO is a constitutional entity. The disjunction between scholarship and practice is puzzling: Why would scholars debate the WTO' s (non-existent) constitutional features? Although the term is used in different ways, leading accounts of constitutionalism at the WTO share an impulse to channel or minimize world trade politics. Paradoxically, however, the call for constitutionalism triggers precisely the contestation and politics that it seeks to pre-empt. This creates an even larger puzzle: If constitutional discourse sparks the very politics it seeks to avoid, why do scholars continue to use this discourse? This paper explores the conditions that give rise to debates over constitutionalism, and explores whether the timing and prominence of constitutional debates reflect disciplinary anxieties that have been heightened by recent geopolitical developments. Might international lawyers use constitutional discourse as a rhetorical strategy designed to invest international law with the power and authority that domestic constitutional structures and norms possess? If so, this strategy may be self-defeating. Critical evaluation of constitutional claims may highlight the lack of constitutional structure or legitimating foundations of the WTO, and international law more generally. The paper closes by suggesting that other forms of constitutionalism may be imagined, including those designed to invite political debate and contestation, or to empower democratic and deliberative decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dispute settlement procedure established by Article 119 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, with particular attention paid to whether that provision creates any relationship between the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. The paper first discusses the jurisdictional reach of Article 119, detailing the types of disputes addressed in its two sub sections and the manner in which such disputes are to be handled. Secondly, it focuses on the possibility of referral of disputes covered in Article I 19(2) to the International Court of Justice. Although the provision expressly contemplates such a referral. it remains unclear whether the provision adequately supports the jurisdiction of. the International Court of Justice in accordance with the Statute of that Court, The paper goes on to suggest ways in which the International Criminal Court Assembly of States Parties can take steps to improve the likelihood that such referral would be deemed proper in order to enhance the possible and final settlement of disputes.

This paper presents two sets of arguments: one theoretical and one analytical. The theoretical arguments concern the relationship between regional ordering and systemic change. The paper questions the usefulness of the unipolar conception of the contemporary system arguing that the interaction of the Great Powers cannot be understood without reference to regional dynamics. Thus, a unipolar system implies considerable potential for U.S. hegemonic intervention at the regional level but in East Asia, we find an equilibrium constructed out of both material and normative forces, defined as a concert, which presents a considerable restraint on all powers, including the U.S. The paper then proceeds to examine these claims through an analysis of the foreign policies of the U.S., Russia, and China over the North Korean nuclear problem that emerged after 2002. It finds that China and Russia have substantive common interests arising from internal and external re-ordering in which they look to strategic partnerships, regional multilateralism, and systemic multipolarization as inter-locking processes. The paper finds that they have collaborated over the Korean crisis to prevent a U.S. unilateral solution but that this should not be construed as a success for an open counterhegemonic strategy as it was only under the constraining conditions of East Asian concert, including the dynamics within the U.S. alliance systems, that this collaboration was successful. Nevertheless, the paper concludes that regional multipolarity and systemic unipolarity are contradictory: a system that exhibits multipolarization at the regional level cannot be characterized as unipolar at the global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This symposium comprises an abridged transcript of an event held to mark the retirement of Professor Philip Allott from his chair at the University of Cambridge on 30 September 2004. On 28-29 May 2004, a small gathering of his colleagues from several universities and various disciplines attended the one and a half day event in Cambridge. The focus of the workshop was on Professor Allott's work and the central theme, 'this cannot be how the world was meant to be'. The event commenced with an outline by Professor Allott of his recent work and thoughts on the state of the world, summarized in his Seven Theses. Papers were then delivered by four leading jurists in international law, Professor Iain Scobbie (University of London), Professor Karen Knop (University of Toronto), Professor Martti Koskenniemi (University of Helsinki) and Professor Tom Franck (NYU). Dame Roslyn Higgins concluded the event with final remarks. Each of the speakers analysed and critiqued Philip's work, particularly Eunomia (1990, 2nd ed., 2001) and The Health of Nations (2002). Much time was devoted during the workshop to discussion which followed each presentation. Extracts of this discussion, along with the papers delivered, are published in this symposium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the role of the European Court of Human Rights in interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights and attacks the standard image in the literature that pictures judges as having, by default, a great amount of discretion in interpretation and a power to create new law. The Court's notion of 'autonomous concepts' is presented and analysed thoroughly, to show that substantive disagreement is widespread in law and that judges must necessarily make choices precisely out of respect for what the ECHR grants. The paper draws resources from Ronald Dworkin's philosophy and shows the affinities between the theory of 'autonomous concepts' and Dworkin's 'semantic sting' argument. It is argued that all concepts in the ECHR are autonomous, in the following two senses: first, people do not share the same linguistic criteria on how to identify their meaning; second, the correct meaning may radically transcend the way the ECHR concepts are classified and understood within the national legal order. Judges therefore have to construct substantive theories that aim at capturing the nature or purpose of the right involved and of the ECHR more generally. The paper concludes by urging scholars and judges to stop raising the threat of judicial discretion and work out general theories of adjudication for the ECHR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to justify the claim that there are profound differences in the conception of the system of international law in the textbooks of various European countries. This is despite considerable cooperation among distinguished jurisconsults in the context of the European Union and the International Court of Justice. The paper undertakes an inevitably controversial account of the method of a leading French textbook on international law alongside a leading German textbook, while placing them both in the context of a more representative selection of textbooks from the two countries. A method of comparative analysis is then used which draws from political theory to highlight more systematically the intellectual context of the two works. The conclusion is that the resolution of the differences between the two works rests outside the discipline, when understood strictly, in so far as they are rooted in divergences of traditions of state and nation. These can only be resolved as a matter of political decision in favour of 'an ever closer union' of European states. There are great strengths in both works and European intellectual traditions should be well able to accommodate them in a new synthesis, given a will to closer political union. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A foreword to the June 2011 issue of "Chinese Journal of International Law" is presented.

Today, concepts of constitutionalism are widely used in international legal scholarship, both to describe and to promote changes in the international legal order in support of the rule of law, the protection of human rights and other common values of the international community. Against this background, the present article deals with a question so far addressed only cursorily-the "writtenness" of international constitutional law. Can we assume the existence of an "unwritten" international constitution, or does the very concept of a constitution in the modern sense require that a constitution is laid down in written form? The article discusses the importance of "writtenness" in modern constitutionalism and addresses the "English exception", that is the absence, in the United Kingdom, of a document called "the constitution". The paper concludes with a plea for taking the constitutional character of the UN Charter more seriously, arguing that the idea of an unwritten constitution of the international community does not provide a viable alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Survey covers materials reflecting Chinese practice in 2019 relating to: treaties, agreements and other documents signed or ratified by the People's Republic of China; national legislation; statements made by Chinese representatives at the meetings of the UN and other international organizations, international conferences, and those made by the Foreign Ministry spokespersons, with respect to various branches of international law; and judicial decisions, in particular on the applicability and application of international conventions, by Chinese courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a peace process involves contention over land boundaries, parties may consent to resolve their dispute through arbitration. Yet while tribunals resolve disputes on paper, their awards often fail to bring peace in practice. Initial consent to arbitration does not guarantee a successful outcome: once granted, consent can wax and wane, it can be delivered under duress and it can be withdrawn as fast as it is given. This article explores the consent management dynamics that shape -- and are shaped by -- the arbitral process. Drawing on scholarship from peacekeeping and relational contract theory, it develops a model that explains why consent to arbitration differs from consent to a peace process. It then applies the model to examine strategies that tribunals have used to bridge this gap. Case studies involving the Brčko District in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Eritrea--Ethiopia Boundary Commission and the Abyei arbitration demonstrate how arbitrators manipulate procedural and substantive law to maintain consent. The three cases also offer insights into the varying success of consent management strategies. The article plots these cases onto the model to draw lessons for future arbitrations on the basis of one simple but crucial question: 'Who should consent to what?'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]