PROFESSOR ROGER O’KEEFE
International Law as a Global Conversation
COURSE OUTLINE AND SUGGESTED READING
The theme of the course and its point of departure for further discussion is that contemporary
public international law structures and is in turn produced and implemented through what,
both by design and in practice, can be conceived of as a global conversation. The generation,
interpretation and application of rules of international law reflect a participatory, at times
actively discursive and often ongoing social process, framed by international law itself,
involving a potentially worldwide array of actors, state and non-state, public and private.
The course seeks to substantiate, and reflects on, this characterization of the international
legal system through an examination of the core systemic meta-rules and meta-legal devices
that provide the juridical framework within which the substantive rules of international law
are produced and implemented. The former comprise the meta-rules on the formation (viz the
creation and modification) of customary international law, the meta-rules on reservations to
and the interpretation and application of treaties, and the meta-legal devices employed by the
international legal system for the non-judicial certification of legal fact, namely recognition,
non-recognition and their functional equivalents.
The course should be of interest not only to those studying public international law but also to
comparative lawyers and to scholars of international relations.
LECTURE 1
INTRODUCTION
LECTURE 2
FORMATION OF CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW (I):
THE NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK
Basic reading
Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (8th edn, 2012), pages 23–30, 33–4 and
37–44
Elias, ‘The Nature of the Subjective Element in Customary International Law’ (1995) 44 International
and Comparative Law Quarterly 501
Further reading
International Law Commission’s ongoing work on ‘Identification of customary international law’
(http://legal.un.org/ilc/guide/1_13.htm)
Letter from John Bellinger, Legal Adviser, US Department of State, and William J Haynes, General
Counsel, US Department of Defense, to Dr Jakob Kellenberger, President, International
Committee of the Red Cross, regarding customary international humanitarian law study, 3
November 2006 (2007) 46 ILM 514
Response of Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Legal Advisor, ICRC, July 2007 (2007) 46 ILM 959
LECTURE 3
FORMATION OF CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW (II):
CASE STUDIES ON JURISDICTION AND IMMUNITIES
Basic reading
Hafner, ‘Historical Background to the Convention’ in O’Keefe and Tams (eds), The United Nations
Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of State and Their Property (2013) 1
O’Keefe, ‘Jurisdictional Immunities’ in Tams & Sloan (eds), The Development of International Law by
the International Court of Justice (2013) 107
O’Keefe, ‘Domestic Courts as Agents of Development of the International Law of Jurisdiction’ (2013)
26 Leiden Journal of International Law 541, 551–8
Further reading
International Law Commission’s ongoing work on ‘Immunity of State officials from foreign criminal
jurisdiction’ (http://legal.un.org/ilc/guide/4_2.htm)
Consideration by the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly of ‘The scope and application of the
principle of universal jurisdiction’ (http://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/68/UnivJur.shtml)
LECTURE 4
FORMATION OF CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW (III):
CASE STUDIES ON THE LAW ON THE USE OF INTERSTATE FORCE
Basic reading
Gray, ‘The Use of Force and the International Legal Order’, in Evans (ed.), International Law (3rd edn,
2010), chap 20
Further reading
Tams, ‘The Use of Force against Terrorists’ (2009) 20 European Journal of International Law 359
Ruys, ‘Crossing the Thin Blue Line: An Inquiry into Israel’s Recourse to Self-Defense Against
Hezbollah’ (2007) 43 Stanford Journal of International Law 265
Becker, Terrorism and the State. Rethinking the Rules of State Responsibility (Oxford: Hart, 2006),
158-65, 176-85 and 211-38
LECTURE 5
RESERVATIONS TO TREATIES
Basic reading
Swaine, ‘Treaty Reservations’ in Hollis (ed), The Oxford Guide to Treaties (2012) 277
Redgwell, ‘Universality or Integrity? Some Reflections on Reservations to General Multilateral
Treaties’ (1993) 64 British Yearbook of International Law 245
Baratta, ‘Should Invalid Reservations to Human Rights Treaties Be Disregarded?’ (2000) 11 European
Journal of International Law 413
Further reading
International Law Commission’s Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties, annexed to General
Assembly resolution 68/111, 16 December 2013
(http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/68/111)
‘Symposium: The International Law Commission’s Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties’
(2013) 24 European Journal of International Law 1055
Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law of the European Council as the European
Observatory of Reservations to International Treaties (website)
(http://www.coe.int/web/cahdi/european-observatory-of-reservations-to-international-treaties)
LECTURE 6
INTERPRETATION OF TREATIES
Basic reading
Gardiner, ‘The Vienna Convention Rules on Treaty Interpretation’ in Hollis (ed), The Oxford Guide to
Treaties (2012) 475
Further reading
International Law Commission’s ongoing work on ‘Subsequent agreements and subsequent practice in
relation to interpretation of treaties’ (http://legal.un.org/ilc/guide/1_11.htm)
McLachlan, ‘The Principle of Systemic Integration and Article 31(3)(c) of the Vienna Convention’
(2005) 54 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 279
Brölmann, ‘Specialized Rules of Treaty Interpretation: International Organizations’ in Hollis (ed), The
Oxford Guide to Treaties (2012) 507
Çalı, ‘Specialized Rules of Treaty Interpretation: Human Rights’ in Hollis (ed), The Oxford Guide to
Treaties (2012) 525
LECTURE 7
APPLICATION OF TREATIES
Basic reading
Ulfstein, ‘Treaty Bodies and Regimes’ in Hollis (ed), The Oxford Guide to Treaties (2012) 428
Further reading
Stoll, ‘Human Rights, Treaty Bodies’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (online
version)
Amos, ‘The Dialogue between United Kingdom Courts and the European Court of Human Rights’
(2012) 61 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 557
McCarthy, ‘Diplomatic Assurances, Torture and Extradition : The Case of Othman (Abu Qatada) v the
United Kingdom’, EJIL: Talk! 18 January 2012, http://www.ejiltalk.org/diplomatic-assurancestorture-and-extradition-the-case-of-othman-abu-qatada-v-the-united-kingdom/#more-4393
Tzanakopoulos, ‘United Nations Sanctions in Domestic Courts: From Interpretation to Defiance in
Abdulrazik v Canada’ (2010) 8 International Journal of Criminal Justice 249
Tzanakopoulos, ‘Kadi Showdown: Substantive Review of (UN) Sanctions by the ECJ’, EJIL: Talk! 19
July 2013, http://www.ejiltalk.org/kadi-showdown/#more-8613
LECTURE 8
RECOGNITION, NON-RECOGNITION & ANALOGOUS DEVICES (I):
CASE STUDY ON STATEHOOD
Basic reading
Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (8th edn, 2012), chap 5
Frowein, ‘Recognition’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (online version)
Frowein, ‘Non-Recognition’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (online version)
Further reading
Vidmar, ‘Explaining the Legal Effects of Recognition’ (2012) 61 International and Comparative Law
Quarterly 361
Orakhelashvili, ‘Kosovo UDI between Agreed Law and Subjective Perception: A Response to Hilpold’
(2009) 8 Chinese Journal of International Law 285
Orakhelashvili, ‘Kosovo and the Pitfalls of Over-theorizing International Law: Observations on
Hilpold’s Rejoinder’ (2009) 8 Chinese Journal of International Law 589
LECTURE 9
RECOGNITION, NON-RECOGNITION & ANALOGOUS DEVICES (II):
CASE STUDY ON TITLE TO TERRITORY
Basic reading
Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (8th edn, 2012), pages 143–51 and 155–7
Crawford, The Creation of States in International Law (2nd edn, 2006), 602–12
Further reading
Cohen and Hébié, ‘Territory, Acquisition’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
(online version)
Khan, ‘Decolonization’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (online version)
Mbengue, ‘Non-Self-Governing Territories’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
(online version)
LECTURE 10
ENFORCEMENT AND DISPUTE SETTLEMENT (I)
Basic reading
Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (8th edn, 2012), chaps 26 and 27
Further reading
Eick, ‘Protest’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (online version)
Giegerich, ‘Retorsion’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (online version)
Crawford, Pellet and Olleson (eds), The Law of International Responsibility (2010), chaps 51.3 and 75
LECTURE 11
ENFORCEMENT AND DISPUTE SETTLEMENT (II)
Basic reading
Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (8th edn, 2012), chaps 31 and 32
Further reading
Lowe, ‘The Function of Litigation in International Society’ (2012) 61 International and Comparative
Law Quarterly 209
Cannizzaro & Bonafé, ‘Fragmentation of International Law through Compromissory Clauses? Some
Remarks on the Decision of the ICJ in the Oil Platforms Case’ (2005) 16 European Journal of
International Law 481
Lang, ‘The Role of the International Court of Justice in a Context of Fragmentation’ (2013) 62
International and Comparative Law Quarterly 777
LECTURE 12
REFLECTIONS
Advanced Reading
GENERAL
Boyle and Chinkin, The Making of International Law (2007)
Focarelli, International Law as Social Construct. The Struggle for Global Justice (2012)
Waldron, ‘Are Sovereigns Entitled to the Benefit of the International Rule of Law?’ (2011) 22
European Journal of International Law 315
Besson, ‘Sovereignty, International Law and Democracy’ (2011) 22 European Journal of International
Law 373
Wheatley, ‘A Democratic Rule of International Law’ (2011) 22 European Journal of International Law
525
FORMATION OF CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW
Thirlway, ‘The Sources of International Law’ in Evans (ed), International Law (3rd edn, 2010), chap 4
Thirlway, The Sources of International Law (2014)
Akehurst, ‘Custom as a Source of International Law’ (1974-75) 47 British Yearbook of International
Law 1
Sloan, ‘General Assembly Resolutions Revisited (Forty Years Later)’ (1987) 58 British Yearbook of
International Law 39
Dinstein, ‘The Interaction between Customary International Law and Treaties’ (2006) 322 Recueil des
Cours de l’Académie de Droit International 243, 299–303, paras 76–82 and 371–9, paras 206–22
O’Keefe, ‘State Immunity and Human Rights: Heads and Walls, Hearts and Minds’ (2011) 44
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 999
Fox and Webb, The Law of State Immunity (3rd edn, 2013)
International Law Commission’s completed work on ‘Jurisdictional immunities of States and their
property’ (http://legal.un.org/ilc/guide/4_1.htm)
O’Keefe and Tams (eds), The United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of State and
Their Property (2013)
Wickremasinghe, ‘Immunities Enjoyed by Officials of State and International Organizations’, in Evans
(ed), International Law (3rd edn, 2010), chap 13
O’Keefe, ‘Universal Jurisdiction: Clarifying the Basic Concept’ (2004) 2 Journal of International
Criminal Justice 735
RESERVATIONS TO AND INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION OF TREATIES
Hollis (ed), The Oxford Guide to Treaties (2012)
Corten and Klein (eds), The Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary (2011)
Cannizzaro (ed), The Law of Treaties Beyond the Vienna Convention (2011)
Gardiner, Treaty Interpretation (2008)
Bjorge, The Evolutionary Interpretation of Treaties (2014)
Nolte (ed), Treaties and Subsequent Practice (2013)
Davidowicz, ‘The Effect of the Passage of Time on the Interpretation of Treaties: Some Reflections on
Costa Rica v Nicaragua’ (2011) 24 Leiden Journal of International Law 201
Samson, ‘High Hopes, Scant Resources: A Word of Scepticism about the Anti-Fragmentation Function
of Article 31(3)(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties’ (2011) 24 Leiden Journal of
International Law 701
Harris et al., Harris, O’Boyle & Warbrick: The Law of the European Convention on Human Rights
(2nd edn, 2009)
White & Ovey (eds), Jacobs, White & Ovey: The European Convention on Human Rights (5th edn,
2010)
Milanović, ‘Al-Skeini and Al-Jedda in Strasbourg’ (2012) 23 European Journal of International Law
121
Amos, ‘The Dialogue between United Kingdom Courts and the European Court of Human Rights’
(2012) 61 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 557
McCarthy, ‘Diplomatic Assurances, Torture and Extradition : The Case of Othman (Abu Qatada) v the
United Kingdom’, EJIL: Talk! 18 January 2012, http://www.ejiltalk.org/diplomatic-assurancestorture-and-extradition-the-case-of-othman-abu-qatada-v-the-united-kingdom/#more-4393
Stoll, ‘Human Rights, Treaty Bodies’ in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (online
version)
Conforti, The Law and Practice of the United Nations (3rd rev edn, 2005)
Simma (ed), The Charter of the United Nations. A Commentary (2nd edn, 2002), 2 vols
Matam Farrall, United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law (2007), 185–229
RECOGNITION, NON-RECOGNITION & ANALOGOUS DEVICES
Orakhelashvili, The Interpretation of Acts and Rules in Public International Law (2008)
Crawford, The Creation of States in International Law (2nd edn, 2006)
Craven, ‘Statehood, Self-Determination, Recognition’ in Evans (ed), International Law (3rd edn,
2010), chap 8
Talmon, ‘The constitutive versus the declaratory theory of recognition: tertium non datur?’ (2004) 75
British Yearbook of International Law 101
O’Keefe, ‘The Admission to the United Nations of the Ex-Soviet and Ex-Yugoslav States’ (2001) 1
Baltic Yearbook of International Law 167
Grant, Admission to the United Nations. Charter Article 4 and the Rise of the Universal Organization
(2009)
Eden, ‘Palestinian Statehood: Trapped between Rhetoric and Realpolitik’ (2013) 62 International and
Comparative Law Quarterly 225
Vidmar, ‘Palestine and the Conceptual Problem of Implicit Statehood’ (2013) 12 Chinese Journal of
International Law 19
McAdam, Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law (2012)
Shaw, ‘Territory in International Law’ (1982) 13 Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 61
O’Keefe, ‘Legal Title versus Effectivités: Prescription and the Promise and Problems of Private Law
Analogies’ (2011) 13 International Community Law Review 147
Spadi, ‘The International Court of Justice Judgment in the Benin–Niger Border Dispute: The Interplay
of Titles and “Effectivités” under the Uti Possidetis Juris Principle’ (2005) 18 Leiden Journal of
International Law 777
Mickelson, ‘The Maps of International Law: Perceptions of Nature in the Classification of Territory’
(2014) 27 Leiden Journal of International Law 621
ENFORCEMENT AND DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
Crawford, Pellet and Olleson (eds), The Law of International Responsibility (2010), especially chaps
38, 46–48, 64 and 79–86
Crawford, State Responsibility: The General Part (2013)
Ulstein et al (eds), Making Treaties Work: Human Rights, Environment and Arms Control (2007)
Keller and Ulfstein (eds), UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies. Law and Legitimacy (2012)
Mushkat, ‘State Reputation and Compliance with International Law: Looking through a Chinese Lens’
(2011) 10 Chinese Journal of International Law 703
Smith, ‘More of the Same or Something Different? Preliminary Observations on the Contribution of
Universal Periodic Review with Reference to the Chinese Experience’ (2011) 10 Chinese Journal
of International Law 565
Rose, ‘The UK Bribery Act 2010 and Accompanying Guidance: Belated Implementation of the OECD
Anti-Bribery Convention’ (2012) 61 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 485
Collier and Lowe, The Settlement of Disputes in International Law: Institutions and Procedures (1999)
Merrills, International Dispute Settlement (5th edn, 2011)
Shany, The Competing Jurisdictions of International Courts and Tribunals (2004)
Brown, A Common Law of International Adjudication (2007)
Fauchald and Nollkaemper (eds), The Practice of International and National Courts and the (De-)
Fragmentation of International Law (2012)
Schulte, Compliance with Decisions of the International Court of Justice (2004)
Hernández, ‘A Reluctant Guardian: The International Court of Justice and the Concept of
“International Community”” (2012) 83 British Yearbook of International Law 13