Principles of International Law

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Description
This book is designed as an introduction to the study of international law. As it shall serve not only law students, but all those who
are interested in social and especially in political science, the first part deals with certain legal concepts, the knowledge of which is indis-pensable for an understanding of the problems of international law. I have chosen the title Principles of International Law because
I thought it necessary to present, in addition to the most important norms which form this branch of the law, a theory of international
law, that is to say, an examination of its nature and fundamental concepts, an analysis of its structure, and the determination of its
position in the world of law. It is usual to divide international law into two main parts, the law of peace and the law of war. I have abandoned this systematization. For it was justified, if at all, only as long as it was possible to conceive of the state of war as existing on the same legal level as the state of peace. However, in view of the Kellogg-Briand Pact and the Charter of the United Nations, war can be considered legal only if it is a reaction against a violation of international law. Hence the law of war is dealt with in this treatise in connection with the problem of the sanctions provided for in international law. It is in the first place general international law to which the "Principles" refer. Particular international law created by treaties is discussed merely in order to show the possibilities of developing
international law in a technically progressive way. Among the treaties recently concluded, the Charter of the United Nations is of decisive importance. Since it claims to be valid not only for states that are members of the Organization but also for nonmember states, it may be-or is about to be-recognized as general international law. This explains the careful consideration given to the law of the United Nations in this treatise.
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Contents
I. The Nature of International Law: International Delicts and International Sanctions
A. The Concept of Law
1. The Two Kinds of Social Order
2. Sanctions: Criminal and Civil
3. Legal Norm and Rule of Law: The "Ought"
4. The Delict
5. Obligation (Duty) and Right
6. Responsibility: Individual and Collective
7. Culpability and Absolute Responsibility
8. The Force Monopoly of the Community
9. Self-help and Collective Security
10. Retribution and Prevention
11. Law and Peace
B. Is International Law "Law" in the True Sense of the Term?
1. Meaning of the Question
2. International Delicts
3. International Sanctions
4. Reprisals
5. War: Its Concept
6. War: Its Legal Interpretation
7. War (Use of Force) under the Charter of the United Nations
8. War: Regulation of Its Conduct
II. The Spheres of Validity of International Law
A. The Spheres of Validity of a Legal Order
B. The Territorial and Temporal Spheres of Validity of International Law
C. The Personal Sphere of Validity of International Law:
The Subjects of International Law
1. Juristic Persons as Subjects of Law
2. The State as Subject of International Law
3. The Subjects of Obligation and Responsibility in International Law
4. The Subjects of Rights in International Law
5. The So-Called Fundamental Rights of the State
6. Communities Not Having the Character of States as Subjects of International Law
7. General and Particular International Law
D. The Material Sphere of Validity of International Law
1. International and National (Domestic) Jurisdiction
2. Implementation of International Law by National Law
3. Transformation of International Law into National Law
4. Article 2, Paragraph 7, of the Charter of the United Nations
5. Definition of International Law
6. Exclusive International Jurisdiction
III. The Essential Function of International Law: The De-
termination of the Spheres of Validity of the National Legal Orders (Legal Existence of the State)
by the International Legal Order
A. Determination of the Territorial Sphere of Validity the National Legal Order (Territory of the State
by International Law
1. The Territory of the State as the Territorial Sphere of Validity of the National Legal Order
2. The Restriction of the Territorial Sphere of Validity of the National Legal Order
S. The Territory of the State in a Narrower and in a Wider Sense
B. Determination of the Personal Sphere of Validity of the National Legal Order (the People of the State)
by International Law
1. The People of the State as the Personal Sphere of Validity of the National Legal Order
2. Exterritoriality
3. No State Has Jurisdiction over Another State
C. Determination of the Material Sphere of Validity of the National Legal Order (Competence of the
State) by International Law
1. No Natural Limits to the Competence of the State
2. Protection of Organs and Citizens of Foreign States
3. Citizenship (Nationality)
4. Conflict of Laws (Private International Law)
D. Determination of the Temporal Sphere of Validity of the National Legal Order (Existence of the State
in Time) by International Law
1. Time as Element of the State
2. Birth and Death of the State
3. The Identity of the State
4. Recognition of a Community as a State
5. Recognition of a Government
6. So-Called Governments in Exile
7. Recognition of Insurgents as a Belligerent Power
8. Recognition and Nonrecognition of Illegally Established Situations (Stimson Doctrine)
9. Succession of States
IV. Creation and Application of International Law
A. The Creation (Sources) of International Law
1. The Concept of "Source" of Law
2. The So-Called "Gaps" in the Law
3. Custom
4. Treaties
5. Decisions of International Agencies
B. The Application of International Law
1. Settlement of International Disputes by Agreement
2. Settlement of International Disputes by Organs of the League of Nations and of the United Nations
3. Settlement of International Disputes by International Tribunals
V. International and National Law
A. The Differences between International and National Law
B. The Relationship between International and National Law (Monism and Pluralism)
1. The Monistic and the Pluralistic Theory
2. The Subject Matter of National and of International Law
3. The "Source" of National and of International Law
4. The Reason of Validity of National and of International Law
5. Conflicts between National and International Law
6. The Unity of National and International Law as a Postulate of Legal Theory
7. Primacy of National Law or Primacy of International Law
8. Sovereignty
9. The Philosophical and Juristic Significance of the Two Monistic Interpretations
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Author Details
Hans Kelsen, Professor of Political Science, University of California