Public International Law
LAW 710 | 1-3 Hours
This course will provide an introduction to public international law (PIL). PIL was classically that body of law regulating the relations between sovereign states, through substantive rules comprising, inter alia, the Law of the Sea, the Law of State Territory, and the Law of Diplomatic Relations. PIL has evolved in the post-World War II era, however, to additionally include bodies of law regulating the treatment of individuals by the state (International Human Rights Law) and some of the most serious crimes committed by individuals against other individuals (International Criminal Law). Other notable post-World War II additions to the formal corpus of public international law include the United Nations Charter, codifying International Use of Force law; the 1949 Geneva Conventions codifying the Law of Armed Conflict; and the 1994 Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. This course will provide an overview of the sources, institutions and fundamental dynamics of public international law, as well as provide more detailed contextual introduction to a number of substantive areas of the law.