Aims

To teach the basic rules of the international community, which is primarily composed of states, and to analyse various difficulties resulting from the application of these rules in domestic legal systems, mainly Belgian law.

Furthermore, the aim is to ensure a deeper understanding and knowledge of the international legal system.

Main themes

The course presents a synthetic view of the main themes usually regarded as the basic requirements for the study of public international law, or the Law of Nations. It underlines the close relationship between public and private international law.

The main themes are
:- international condition of the state (organisation, competences and jurisdiction, immunities, succession, etc.);
- areas (territory, sea, air space, outer space, rivers, polar regions)
- protection of individuals and persons
- peaceful settlement of disputes (diplomatic negotiations, arbitration, judicial settlement)
-collective security.

For each one of these main themes, the focus is on the study of general rules. This does not preclude some attention being paid to specific rules which are of more concern in Belgium (treaty law, rivers…). Special attention is paid to the multilateral treaties that are said to be codifying international law as well as to the relevant law-making UN General Assembly resolutions.

Content and teaching methods

The subject of the course is the study and analysis of the main characteristics of the international legal system, understood as the legal system which governs relations within the international community, primarily made up of states. Public international law II is dedicated to the study of the various areas (sea, rivers, polar regions, air space, outer space, etc.), peaceful settlement of disputes (international courts and tribunals), use of force in international relations (self-defence, unilateral and humanitarian interventions, reprisals, etc.) and collective security (UN Charter system).

The course is taught to a large class of students and is based on a published book which serves as the main reading material, as well as on various documents (treaties, conventions, resolutions, etc.).

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Oral examination.
Material : Joe Verhoeven, Droit international public, Larcier, 2000.

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