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This paper examines the doctrine of informalism, its place in the field of jurisprudence and why it influences the international legal system of ASEAN. It analyses the problems associated with the development of ASEAN's international legal system in the context of trade liberalization. It then seeks to answer the question of how ASEAN may enhance trade liberalization through innovations in its legal system and what aspects of an informal legal system may be maintained within a hard-law framework. It does this by analyzing rule-observance in soft law as well as analyzing some examples of flexibility-enabling mechanisms. The paper recommends how instances of legal informalism may be maintained within ASEAN as it seeks to further trade liberalization between its members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia instituted proceedings against Japan before the International Court of Justice alleging that the JARPA II is violating the obligation of ICRW which prohibits the commercial whaling. Japan is strongly protesting against Australia arguing that the JARPA II has been carried out only for research whaling. This paper contains the Japan's position over the whaling in the South Pacific. The Japan's arguments are divided into two sections in this paper. First, it will check if whales are truly vulnerable following the Comprehensive Assessment of the IWC. Second, it argues the legitimacy of the JARPA II under international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the present state and problems of Japanese measures against the protection and preservation of the marine environment from the perspective of international law and Japanese domestic laws and regulations. The analysis is divided into three sections. Firstly, the relationship between Part XII of UNCLOS and the IMO marine environmental treaties will be addressed in brief. Secondly, Japanese implementation of the IMO treaties will be addressed in the context of the regulations regarding both dumping waste into the sea from vessels and marine pollution from vessels. Finally, this paper will clarify the problems regarding the Japanese implementation of marine environmental treaties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamic international law is a branch of the Shari'ah (Islamic law). Due to the classical doctrine of the notion of 'Jihad,' there have been misconceptions and Islam has been painted as a religion encouraging violence and war. This paper appeals for the reconsideration of the classical doctrine, which was adopted at a time when there was a state of war between Islamic and non-Islamic states. Going back to the roots and referring to the Qur'an and the Sunnah: the two primary sources of Islamic law, the paper argues that Islam prohibits aggressive war and that the essence of 'jihad' is' self-defense.' After elaborating the essential conditions of the right of self-defense, the paper concludes that Islamic international law can contribute much to the present world order by providing moral and ethical values that modern international law is lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern India has been rather silent on its role in international law. This reticence remains unexplained in the comparative literature on international law. India's history with international relations theories date back to ancient times. Various Hindu texts from some eight millennia ago passed over to generations by the method of "shruti" and manuscripted later, contain one of the most complete sets of international laws and relations. "Dharma" remains the central aspect to this discourse. The opinions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Nuclear Weapons cases, particularly those delivered by Third World judges, cited these Hindu scriptures as sources of international law. This paper theorizes that modern international law needs a cross fertilisation from Hinduism and Buddhism to become a universal construct. The role of India in the centre-periphery analysis of international law begs a collective answer from the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gītā, the Manu Samhita and the Arthaśāstra. In the post-WWII period, India came quite close to resurrecting the Hindu/Buddhist international law of peaceful co-existence. In an imitative reversal of European discourse in the Panchsheel Agreement with China, India succeeded in establishing new principles of international law. This paper offers an account of the ancient Hindu international laws of India and discusses the possibility of Indian contribution to international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On January 21, 2011, the Korean navy commandos rescued the twenty-one crewmen abducted and detained by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The pirates captured alive were brought to Korea for trial and the prosecutor's office of Pusan sentenced the leader of the Somali pirate group to life-imprisonment. The other four pirates received imprisonment terms from 12 to 15 years. Regardless of these domestic legal punishments, this rescue operation has raised a few critical international legal questions. The primary objective of this paper is to answer these questions. This research analyzes the international legal characteristics of the Korean Navy's rescue operation. Then, a few case-studies of military rescue operation are carried out in order to justify the Korean Navy's rescue operation. The Korean Navy's rescue operation may be regarded as an act of forcible self-help and realization of existing international legal right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The countries in East Asia continue to have problems in maritime boundary delimitation. The collision on September 7, 2010 between a Chinese fishing vessel (Minjinyu) and a Japanese patrol boat in the waters near Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands is interesting to observe as a step in dispute settlement process. The differences between the PRC and Japan on maritime boundary delimitation for the East China Sea and the legal status of Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands are demonstrated by this incident. To see things in their context, it is necessary to observe the practices of East Asian countries in handling their maritime boundary delimitations, especially those involving islands with disputed legal status. The rules of international law relating to the pacific settlement of dispute and maritime delimitation dispute resolution, which involve a preliminary sovereignty dispute over islands, are also relevant as a much broader background. The author will examine why certain maritime delimitation cases are particularly hard to handle. The lessons drawn from this paper is inspiring for Taiwan, a long-time marginalized player in East Asian regional affairs. The author will examine the difficulties and opportunities for Taiwan in maritime boundary delimitation and offer a suggestion on how to accomplish such task with neighboring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A primary purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate Professor P. Singh's Article, "Colonised's Madness, Colonisers'Modernity and International Law: Mythological Materialism in the East-West Telos"published in Volume 3, Number 1 of the Journal of East Asia and International Law. In his article, Singh attempted to overlap various conceptions of modernity taken from a wide range of academic disciplines, and experimentally collapse them into one with a post-colonial point of view. In spite of incomplete argumentation and obscurity in the conceptual formulation, I found his original ideas on the internal connection of modernity with the operating mode of international law to be highly impressive. The most critical point against him was the firm and stereotypical dichotomy of the colonizer and the colonized without any potentiality of sublating the state of colonization, that is, disconnecting the colonizers with their colony and liberating the colonized from their colony. By such sublation (Aufheben) of the existing oppressive relation between the colonizers and the colonized, we can plan to build a new world of peaceful coexistence between the colonizers and the colonized of the past. But although Singh's conception of modernity is dangerously one-sided, I expect his further research to penetrate into the deep life-reality of the Indian subaltern, which would make a great contribution to the establishment of the new vision of international law in this global society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the 2004 Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, "A more secure world: Our shared responsibility" (under the heading "A more effective United Nations for the twenty-first century" stated: "The United Nations was never intended to be a utopian exercise. It was meant to be a collective security system that worked." However, several authors in recent years have asserted that the victorious powers merely wanted to maintain the status quo and their privileged positions, and never intended the system to work and give up those privileges. This paper, however, argues the contention that the UN was never designed to function effectively, is a myth, and it does not take into account important aspects and innovations that presented decisive new developments that originated with the United Nations. Thus the international court, which had in the interwar period been an institution outside the framework of the League of Nations Covenant, became an integral part of the UN system, making it more closely resemble a government with legislative, executive and judicial functions. Even more prominent, concerning the executive branch, the Security Council, unlike what had been the case with the League Council, opened itself to instigate members to delegate powers for its effective functioning. This was a most significant innovation that would allow for democratic process in the organization and defence of peace. Finally, a new principle in international law, i.e. the concept of a "transitional period" for world organization, was conceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Proliferation Security Initiative was launched in 2003 by the Bush administration right after the So San incident. Its primary purpose is to interdict the spread of WMD and their delivery systems. Due to the provocative and challenging characteristics of the Initiative, which are inconsistent with conventional international law, there are some objections against the Initiative. This paper answers the highly topical questions regarding the Initiative in three parts. The first part addresses the origin and development of the Initiative. The second part critically analyzes the background of the Initiative such as the neoconservative ideology of the Bush administration and its world strategy, international terrorism, and the U.S. arms industry. The third part scrutinizes questions concerning the preemptive use of force for self-defense and the interdiction of foreign vessels on the territorial and high seas. The Initiative is also examined from a viewpoint of customary international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]