Selected International Law Terms

act of state An act, often involving force, of the executive of a state, or committed by an agent of a sovereign power with its prior approval or subsequent ratification, that affects adversely a person who does not owe allegiance to that power. The courts have power to decide whether or not particular conduct constitutes such an act, but if it does, they have no jurisdiction to award any remedy. The so-called act of state doctrine holds that, in the absence of a treaty, the courts of no state can question the validity or legality of the acts of state of another sovereign state or of its agents. If such questioning is thought necessary, it is to be confined to diplomatic channels. The classic statement of this doctrine is that made by Chief Justice Fuller in the decision of the US Supreme Court in Underhill v Hernandez 168 US 250, 252 (1897). A good English example of the application of the doctrine can be found in Buttes Gas and Oil Co v Hammer [1981] QB 22 (HL), in which the House of Lords held that issues relating to the sovereignty of a foreign state over territory, the extent of its territorial sea, and its continental shelf jurisdiction were inherently non-justiciable in the municipal courts of the United Kingdom. The modern law on this doctrine has severely curtailed the number of acts that can be included within its compass.

advisory jurisdiction The jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under which it can render legal opinions, similar in kind to declaration under English municipal law. In contrast to the contentious jurisdiction of the Court, states are not parties to the proceedings and there is no claimant or defendant to the action. The Court proceeds by inviting states or international organizations to provide information to assist the Court in its determination of point of law at issue.

The authority of the International Court of Justice to give advisory opinions is found under Article 96 of the UN Charter. Under this Article the Court is empowered to give such opinions on legal questions at the request of the UN Security Council or the General Assembly. Moreover, the power to request advisory opinions on legal questions arising within the scope of their activities also resides in other organs of the United Nations and its specialized agencies if they have been authorized by the General Assembly to do so.

When an advisory opinion is sought upon a question actually pending between two states each of them is entitled to have an ad hoc judge on the bench. The request for an advisory opinion must be made by the United Nations to assist it in the discharge of its function; provided the opinion relates to a legal question it is immaterial that it affects political issues (Admission of New Members Case [1948] ICJ Rep 57). Consent is not required for an advisory opinion. Among the International Court of Justice's most prominent advisory opinions are UN Admissions (Competence of General Assembly) Case [1950] ICJ Rep 15; Genocide Reservations Case [1951] ICJ Rep 15; and PLO UN Mission Case [1988] ICJ Rep 12.

aggression n. (in international law) According to the General Assembly Resolution (3314) on the Definition of Aggression 1975, the use of armed force by one state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of another state or in any way inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations. The Resolution lists examples of aggression, which include the following:
(1) invasion, attack, military occupation, or annexation of the territory of any state by the armed forces of another state;
(2) bombardment or the use of any weapons by a state against another state's territory;
(3) armed blockade by a state of another state's ports or coasts;
(4) the use of a state's armed forces in another state in breach of the terms of the agreement on which they were allowed into that state; (5) allowing one's territory to be placed at the disposal of another state, to be used by that state for committing an act of aggression against a third state; (6) sending armed bands or guerrillas to carry out armed raids on another state that are grave enough to amount to any of the above acts. The first use of armed force by a state in contravention of the UN Charter is prima facie evidence of aggression, although the final decision in such cases is left to the Security Council, who may also classify other acts as aggression. The Resolution declares that no consideration whatsoever can justify aggression, that territory cannot be acquired by acts of aggression, and that wars of aggression constitute a crime against international peace.

baseline n. The line forming the boundary between the internal waters of a state on its landward side and the territorial sea on its seaward side. Other coastal state zones (the contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, and exclusive fishing zone) are measured from the baseline.

boundary n. (in international law) An imaginary line that determines the territorial limits of a state. Such boundaries define the limitation of each state's effective jurisdiction. They are three-dimensional in nature in that they include the airspace and subsoil of the state, the terra firma within the boundary, and the maritime domain of the state's internal waters and territorial sea.

Calvo clause A clause in a contract stating that the parties to the contract agree to rely exclusively on domestic remedies in the event of a dispute. The insertion of such a clause in a contract was an attempt, originally by Latin American countries, to eliminate diplomatic intervention should a dispute arise with a foreign national: by making such a contract the foreign national was said to have renounced the protection of his government. The clause, which is named after the Argentine jurist Carlos Calvo (1824–1906), is in effect in most cases superfluous – firstly, because diplomatic intervention belongs to the state only, and thus cannot be renounced by an individual; and secondly, because the exhaustion of local remedies is always taken to be a condition precedent to appealing for diplomatic intervention. Since the 1930s such clauses have not been used in international disputes.

collective security The centralized system of international rules, now embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, that governs the collective resort to force under the authority of the United Nations for the purpose of maintaining or restoring international peace and security. An example is the action by the international community during the Gulf War of 1991. It should be noted that the precise legal justification of this conflict is uncertain, the UN Security Council Resolution 678 stating only that its legal basis was under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Justification for the military action against Iraq undertaken by the USA and its allies in 2003 was claimed under the UN Security Council resolutions made at the time of the previous Gulf conflict, notably Resolutions 660 and 678. The legality of such a use remains highly doubtful.

common heritage of mankind principle The principle that areas of Antarctica, the sea bed, and outer space should not be monopolized for the benefit of one state or group of states alone, but should be treated as if they are to be used to the benefit of all mankind. For example, Article 4 of the Moon Treaty 1979 states that exploration “shall be the province of all mankind and shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development”.

constitutive theory The proposition that the existence of a state can only begin with its formal or implied recognition by other states. The constitutive theory of recognition insists that only the positive act of recognition creates the new international legal personality.

continental shelf The sea bed and the soil beneath it that is adjacent to the coast of a maritime state and outside the limits of the state's territorial waters. The 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf limits the extent of the shelf to waters less than 200 metres deep or, beyond that limit, to waters that are of such a depth that exploitation of the natural resources of the sea bed is possible. The coastal state is granted exclusive sovereign rights of exploitation over mineral resources and nonmoving species in its continental shelf, provided that this causes no unreasonable interference to navigation, fishing, or scientific research. The 1982 Conference on the Law of the Sea extends the continental shelf, in some cases, to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines around the coast from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. It also makes special provisions for delimiting the continental shelf between states with adjacent or opposite coastlines, but does not lay down rules of law for such delimitation. Rocks that cannot sustain human habitation do not have a continental shelf.

countermeasures pl. n. Actions, military or economic, taken in response to the conduct of another state that are not necessary or justifiable as self-defence. As with other forms of force, the unilateral use of such countermeasures may be illegal under the UN Charter unless it be approved by a UN Security Council resolution.

customary international law What might be called the “common law” of the law of nations. It consists of a vast body of detailed rules that, until the dawn of the 20th century, constituted the chief body of international law. Many of these rules, such as those relating to maritime law, had their origin in the practice of a single state, the UK, which was able to impose its will until the rules came to be accepted by other states. Other rules, notably those relating to commercial transaction, had their origin in the voluntary practice of a small number of states and, being found useful and convenient, were gradually adopted by other states until the established practice became a binding rule. Customary law was thus almost of its nature an uncertain law. For this reason, during the 20th century increasing use was made of black-letter treaties to supersede customary law.

declaratory theory The proposition that a state has capacity (and personality) in international law as soon as it exists in fact (that is, when it becomes competent in municipal law). This capacity is generated spontaneously from the assertion by the community that it is a judicial entity. When socially organized, the new state is internally legally organized, and hence competent to act in such a way as to engage itself in international responsibility. Thus, according to this theory, recognition does not create any state that did not already exist.

deep seabed area Under the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty, this is defined as being the ocean floor and its subsoil beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. Thus, it constitutes that area beneath the oceans that does not come within any of the coastal zones. The resources within such an area are the common heritage of mankind. Under the Treaty an organization nominated the International Seabed Authority will control deep seabed mining in the area.

derogation n. Lessening or restriction of the authority, strength, or power of a law, right, or obligation. Specifically:

1. (in the European Convention on Human Rights) A provision that enables a signatory state to avoid the obligations of some but not all of the substantive provisions of the rest of the Convention. This procedure is provided by Article 15 of the Convention and is available in time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation. Although Article 15 is not brought into domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998, the Act exempts public authorities from compliance with any articles (or parts of articles) where a derogation is in place.

Following the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001 and the passing of the Antiterrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, the UK government derogated from Article 5 of the Convention. This derogation was necessary because that Act allowed the detention by the Secretary of State of certain foreign nationals on the basis that they were suspected of involvement in terrorism. That provision was declared to be in breach of the Convention by the House of Lords in December 2004 (A v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] UKHL 56, [2005] 2 AC 68) and abandoned in March 2005.

2. (in EU law) An exemption clause that permits a member state of the EU to avoid a certain directive or regulation. Sometimes member states are allowed a longer than normal time to implement an EU directive.

diplomatic immunity The freedom from legal proceedings in the UK that is granted to members of diplomatic missions of foreign states by the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964. This Act incorporates some of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), which governs diplomatic immunity in international law. The extent of the immunity depends upon the status of the member in question, as certified by the Secretary of State. If he is a member of the mission's diplomatic staff, he is entitled to complete criminal immunity and to civil immunity except for actions relating to certain private activities. A member of the administrative or technical staff has full criminal immunity, but his civil immunity relates only to acts performed in the course of his official duties. For domestic staff, both criminal and civil immunity are restricted to official duties. The so-called diplomatic bag is immune from search and seizure, as are the premises of the mission.

Similar immunities are granted to members of Commonwealth missions by the Diplomatic and other Privileges Act 1971, and to members of certain international bodies under the International Organisations Acts 1968 and 1981. Under the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, the Secretary of State may remove diplomatic status from diplomatic or consular premises that are being misused.

doctrine of incorporation The doctrine that rules of international law automatically form part of municipal law. It is opposed to the doctrine of transformation, which states that international law only forms a part of municipal law if accepted as such by statute or judicial decisions. It is not altogether clear which view English law takes with respect to rules of customary international law. As far as international treaties are concerned, the sovereign has the power to make or ratify treaties so as to bind England under international law, but these treaties have no effect in municipal law (with the exception of treaties governing the conduct of war) until enacted by Parliament. However, judges will sometimes consider provisions of international treaties (e.g. those relating to human rights) in applying municipal law. It has been said that directives of the European Community have the force of law in member states, but practice varies widely.

erga omnes obligations [Latin: towards all] (in international law) Obligations in whose fulfilment all states have a legal interest because their subject matter is of importance to the international community as a whole. It follows from this that the breach of such an obligation is of concern not only to the victimized state but also to all the other members of the international community. Thus, in the event of a breach of these obligations, every state must be considered justified in invoking (probably through judicial channels) the responsibility of the guilty state committing the internationally wrongful act. It has been suggested that an example of an erga omnes obligation is that of a people's right to self-determination.

exclusive economic zone (EEZ) A zone defined by Articles 55–75 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as comprising that area of sea adjacent to a coastal state not exceeding 200 miles from the baseline of the territorial sea. The state shall have sovereign rights over the zone for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving, and managing the living and nonliving resources of the sea, seabed, and subsoil within it.

force majeure [French] Irresistible compulsion or coercion. The phrase is used particularly in commercial contracts to describe events possibly affecting the contract and that are completely outside the parties' control. Such events are normally listed in full to ensure their enforceability; they may include acts of God, fires, failure of suppliers or subcontractors to supply the supplier under the agreement, and strikes and other labour disputes that interfere with the supplier's performance of an agreement. An express clause would normally excuse both delay and a total failure to perform the agreement.

general principles of law Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice requires the Court to apply as sources, in the first instance,
(1) treaties and (2) customary international law . However, this same article also authorizes the court to apply “the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations“. Thus, should neither treaty or custom prove adequate to resolve a contentious question, resort may be had to “general principles” as a subsidiary source. The general principles are commonly recognized as the norms existing in the municipal law of the majority of nations. When such a norm (i.e. the rule against judicial bias) has achieved the requisite degree of usage, it may thus be recognized as a subsidiary source of the substantive content of international law.

good offices A technique of peaceful settlement of an international dispute, in which a third party, acting with the consent of the disputing states, serves as a friendly intermediary in an effort to persuade them to negotiate between themselves without necessarily offering the disputing states substantive suggestions towards achieving a settlement. A good example occurred during the 1979–80 Iranian hostage crisis, when Iran and the USA resolved the crisis by means of the good offices of the Algerian government. Iran released the US and Canadian hostages to Algeria.

high seas Under Article 13(1)(a) of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas, all parts of the sea that are not included in the territorial waters or the internal waters of a state. Article 87 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 guaranteed the principle of freedom of the high seas for both coastal and land-locked states. The high seas as defined by Article 86 of the UN Convention exclude the exclusive economic zone. However, the freedoms of all states to fly over, navigate, lay submarine cables, etc., in the exclusive economic zone, as stated in the earlier Geneva Convention on the High Seas 1958, have been preserved in Article 58 (1) of the UN Convention. The English courts have jurisdiction to try offences committed by anyone anywhere on the high seas in a British ship. They also have jurisdiction to try offences committed anywhere in the world on board a British-controlled aircraft while it is in flight.

humanitarian intervention The interference of one state in the affairs of another by means of armed force with the intention of making that state adopt a more humanitarian policy, usually the protection of human rights of minority groups. Despite debate, such intervention is not recognized as legal under the UN Charter. However, states continue to rely on humanitarian grounds as justification for military action; examples of humanitarian intervention include Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia (1978), the declaration by the USA, the UK, Russia, and France of an air exclusion zone in southern Iraq in an effort to protect the Shia Marsh Arabs (1992), and military actions to protect the Muslim population of Kosovo (1999).

human rights Rights and freedom to which every human being is entitled. Protection against breaches of these rights committed by a state (including the state of which the victim is a national) may in some cases be enforced in international law. It is sometimes suggested that human rights (or some of them) are so fundamental that they form part of natural law, but most of them are best regarded as forming part of treaty law. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) spells out most of the main rights that must be protected but it is not binding in international law. There are two international covenants, however, that bind the parties who have ratified them: the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The United Nations has set up a Commission on Human Rights, which has power to discuss gross violations of human rights but not to investigate individual complaints. The Human Rights Committee, set up in 1977, has power to hear complaints from individuals, under certain circumstances, about alleged breaches of the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. There are also various regional conventions on human rights, some of which have established machinery for hearing individual complaints. The best known of these is the European Convention on Human Rights (enacted in English law as the Human Rights Act 1998) and the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights (covering South America).

imputability n. The principle that internationally illegal acts or omissions contributing to the damage to foreign property, and caused in some way by organs of the state apparatus, are attributable to the state and therefore incur that state's responsibility. Thus, there must have been state participation in the act before there can be state responsibility for it. International law treats as irrelevant the question whether, under municipal law, the officials of the state acted beyond their authority, provided they used state organs in performance of the act. Hence, the state has been held liable for the acts of soldiers who joined rioters instead of suppressing them (Thomas H Youmans (US) v United Mexican States (1924) 4 RIAA 10).

inquiry n. (in international law) An attempt to discover the facts surrounding an international incident that is the subject of a dispute between two or more parties by means of an impartial investigative body. Such an investigation is intended to promote a successful resolution of the dispute. In treaty law each of the Bryan Treaties and a number of other treaties between South and Central American states provided for the establishment of permanent commissions of inquiry. In 1967 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution supporting the institution of such impartial fact-finding and requested the Secretary-General to establish a register of experts whose services could be used by states in specific disputes. Perhaps the most famous example of an inquiry was that following the Dogger Bank incident of 1904, which involved the accidental sinking of British fishing boats by the Russian Baltic fleet.

internal waters All rivers, canals, lakes (excluding international ones), and landlocked seas, the waters of ports, bays, and roadsteads, and the waters on the landward side of the baseline of the territorial sea. Within its internal waters, a coastal state exercises civil and criminal jurisdiction over foreign merchant ships and also administrative functions, such as enforcing customs and fishing regulations.

international law (jus gentium, law of nations) The system of law regulating the interrelationship of sovereign states and their rights and duties with regard to one another. In addition, certain international organizations (such as the United Nations), companies, and sometimes individuals (e.g. in the sphere of human rights) may have rights or duties under international law. International law deals with such matters as the formation and recognition of states, acquisition of territory, war, the law of the sea and of space, treaties, treatment of aliens, human rights, international crimes, and international judicial settlement of disputes. The usual sources of international law are
(1) conventions and treaties; (2) international custom, in so far as this is evidence of a general practice of behaviour accepted as legally binding; (3) the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations. International law is also known as public international law to distinguish it from private international law, which does not deal with relationships between states.

international legal personality Legal personality is principally an acknowledgement that an entity is capable of exercising certain rights and being subject to certain duties on its own account under a particular system of law. In municipal systems, the individual human being is the archetypal “person” of the law, but certain entities, such as limited companies or public corporations, are granted a personality distinct from the individuals who create them. Further, they can enter into legal transactions in their own name and on their own account. Under international law, the state is the typical legal person, and other entities may be considered as the “subjects” of international law in so far as they can enter into legal relations in the international sphere.

intertemporal law The law that international courts apply when a long time has elapsed since the conclusion of a treaty, to take into account changes that have taken place in international law since the treaty was formulated and changes in the meaning of the expressions in the treaty. The existence of a right (e.g. to a territorial claim) should be based not only on the law in effect at the time the right was created, but also on the international law as applied to the continued existence of that right. The legitimacy of a title to territory must be renewed by the claimant state. The classic application of intertemporal law to a dispute can be found in the Island of Palmas Arbitration (Netherlands v US) (1928) 2 RIAA 829.

juscogens [Latin: coercive law] A rule or principle in international law that is so fundamental that it binds all states and does not allow any exceptions. Such rules (sometimes called peremptory norms) will only amount to jus cogens rules if they are recognized as such by the international community as a whole. A treaty that conflicts with an existing jus cogens rule is void, and if a new jus cogens rule emerges, any existing treaty that conflicts with it automatically becomes void. States cannot create regional customary international law that contradicts jus cogens rules. Most authorities agree that the laws prohibiting slavery, genocide, piracy, and acts of aggression or illegal use of force are jus cogens laws. Some suggest that certain human rights provisions (e.g. those prohibiting racial discrimination) also come under the category of jus cogens.

law of the sea The rules of international law governing rights over the seas. The seas are divided into several different areas. (1) The internal waters of a state (e.g. rivers, lakes, ports, and harbours). A state may usually apply its laws to any merchant ship within its internal waters. It may also apply navigation or health regulations to foreign warships in such waters and exclude foreign warships from its ports. (2) The territorial waters. (3) The high seas, beyond the territorial waters, which are open to all nations for such purposes as navigation, fishing, laying of submarine cables, and over-flying. Ships on the high seas are usually subject only to international law (for example, in relation to acts of piracy) and the law of the flagstate (usually dependent on registration in that state). There is also a limited right of hot pursuit. (4) The continental shelf, which – although geographically part of the high seas – is subject to specific rules. The law of the sea is contained in customary international law and in the four Geneva Conventions of 1958. Since 1982, when the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea came into force, there is a comprehensive code governing the whole of this law, which includes some completely new rules. To date (2006), 148 countries have established their consent to be bound by this Convention; the UK acceded to the treaty on 25 July 1997. In addition, many nations have subscribed to the related 1994 Agreement Regarding the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Even though some states chose not to ratify the 1982 Convention, many of the Convention's principles have now passed into the corpus of customary international law.

New International Economic Order A special session of the United Nations General Assembly was held in 1974 at which a Declaration (UNGA Res 3201 (S-VI)) and a programme of action (UNGA Res 3202 (S-VI)) on the establishment of a New International Economic Order were adopted. Both documents are concerned principally with economic matters, but their influence is wider and in a number of areas affects the legal position of states as members of the international community. The Declaration states that the new international economic order is to be based on “equity, sovereign equality, interdependence, common interest and cooperation among all states”. Its objective is to alter the traditional requirement of effective compensation for nationalization of foreign-owned property. The municipal law of the nationalizing state would thus govern, rather than the customary practice establishing a right of compensation for the taking of alien property.

occupation n. 1. (in land law) The physical possession and control of land. Under the Land Registration Act 2002 the proprietary rights of a person in actual occupation may be an overriding interest binding a purchaser of registered land, unless inquiry is made of that person and the rights are not disclosed or the occupation is not reasonably discoverable. Under the Family Law Act 1996, spouses have rights of occupation in the matrimonial home by virtue of marriage, which may be capable of protection as land charges.

2. (in international law) The act of taking control of territory belonging either to no one (peaceful occupation) or to a foreign state in the course of a war (belligerent occupation). Peaceful occupation is one of the methods of legally acquiring territory, provided the occupier can show a standard of control superior to that of any other claimant. Denmark acquired Greenland in this way, and the UK acquired Rockall. A belligerent occupant cannot acquire or annex the occupied territory during the course of the war. Certain provisions for the protection of enemy civilians in the Hague and Geneva Conventions are applied to those parts of the enemy territory that have been effectively occupied. A belligerent occupier must retain in force the ordinary penal laws and tribunals of the occupied power, but may alter them or impose new laws to ensure the security and orderly government of the occupying forces and administration. The government in exile is also regarded as continuing to represent the occupied state in international law without any special recognition being necessary.

opinio juris [Latin, from opinio juris sive necessitatis (whether the opinion of law is compulsory)]An essential element of custom, one of the four sources of international law as outlined in the Statute of the International Court of Justice. Opinio juris requires that custom should be regarded as state practice amounting to a legal obligation, which distinguishes it from mere usage.

optional clause An arrangement under which nations may give voluntary consent to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice prior to a dispute taking place with another member state. Such consent can be given by the state depositing a declaration that it accepts the compulsory jurisdiction of the court under Article 36(2) of the Statute of the United Nations until such time as notice may be given to withdraw that declaration. The original hope was that in the spirit of good international relations all, or the majority, of states would grant their consent. This hope applied particularly to the permanent members of the Security Council, whose principal function is to maintain international law and order. At present only 65 states have deposited a declaration under Article 36(2); the only permanent member of the Security Council to have done so is the UK, and its consent is subject to a reservation. France withdrew its consent following the Nuclear Test Case [1974] ICJ Rep 253 concerning French nuclear testing in the Pacific. The USA withdrew its declaration under the optional clause so as to attempt to deprive the Court of jurisdiction in the Nicaragua Case [1984] ICJ Rep 392, in which it was the defendant.
pactasuntservanda [Latin] Agreements are to be kept; treaties should be observed. Pacta sunt servanda is the bedrock of the customary international law of treaties and, according to some authorities, the very foundation of international law. Without such an acceptance, treaties would become worthless.

piracy n.

1. (piracy jure gentium) Any illegal act of violence, detention, or robbery committed on a private ship for personal gain or revenge, against another ship, people, or property on the high seas. Piracy may also be committed on or against an aircraft. Piracy also includes operating a pirate ship or aircraft and inciting or assisting any other act of piracy. However, acts committed for political purposes are not piracy; nor are any acts committed by a warship or government ship or aircraft. Piracy is an international crime and all nations may exercise jurisdiction over pirates, regardless of the nationality of the ship or aircraft or the pirates. A ship or aircraft involved in piracy is also subject to seizure by any state. British courts have traditionally exercised such jurisdiction, and the power to do so is confirmed in the Tokyo Convention Act 1967.

English municipal law has created certain offences of piracy that are not covered by international law, but they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the English courts unless committed on board a British ship or within British territorial waters. Examples of such offences are revolt by the crew of a ship against their master and hijacking of the ship by the crew. These offences, if tried as piracy, are subject to life imprisonment (the death penalty for piracy accompanied by acts endangering life, or by an assault with intent to murder, has been abolished).

2. (in marine insurance) One of the risks covered by a marine insurance policy, which extends beyond the criminal offence to include a revolt by the crew or passengers and plundering generally.

3. Infringement of copyright, trade marks, or other intellectual property rights. The owner's usual remedy is to obtain an injunction to end the infringement, although piracy is often also a criminal offence.

reciprocity n. A provision of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under which a state may limit its consent to the Court's compulsory jurisdiction. This form of consent to suit imposes the prior condition that in any future litigation that state may invoke a claimant state's narrower terms of general consent to ICJ jurisdiction. Reciprocity thus enables the consenting state to avoid suit on the same basis that would be available to the claimant state, if the latter were a defendant in similar ICJ litigation.

recognition n. (in international law)

1. The process by which one state declares that another political entity fulfils the conditions of statehood and that it is willing to deal with it as a member of the international community. Recognition usually takes place when a new state comes into being. Some authorities believe that recognition is constitutive, i.e. it is one of the conditions that create a state in international law. Most, however, regard it as being merely declaratory, i.e. an acceptance of a fact that already exists.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the 1990s it became imperative for states of the European Union to adopt a common policy with regard to recognition of the newly emerging sovereign states of E and SE Europe. In December 1991 the EC published its Declaration on Yugoslavia and on the Guidelines on the Recognition of New States. This made it a precondition of recognition that the new state should respect human rights and oppose the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

2. Acceptance of a government as the legal representative of the state. This may be de facto or de jure. The distinction is a fluid one, often involving a political element, since international law allows states discretion as to whether or not to accord recognition and of which kind. The according of recognition of either kind is usually an acknowledgment that the government recognized has effective control, but the decision to give merely de facto recognition may reflect a wish not to show approval of the nature of the government concerned (and at the same time to be able to continue to give de jure recognition to the ousted government). The significance of the distinction (which is of little legal consequence) therefore depends on the intention of the recognizing government. Recognition may be express or implied (for example, by entering into diplomatic relations with a new government).

For purposes of English municipal law, the question of whether or not a state is recognized is sometimes relevant. Thus: (1) only a recognized state is entitled to sovereign immunity from jurisdiction; (2) an unrecognized state cannot sue in English courts; and (3) when a foreign law is to be applied under the principles of private international law, this can only be the law of a recognized state or subsidiary body set up by it. A Foreign and Commonwealth Office certificate stating that an entity is or is not recognized by the British government is usually taken as conclusive evidence in the courts. Since 1980 Britain has abandoned the practice of recognizing governments – only states are now the subject of express recognition.

reparations pl. n. (in international law)

1. Compensation for injuries or international torts (breaches of international obligations). Whenever possible, international courts or arbitration tribunals will rule that reparations be made by means of restitution in kind; if this is not possible, compensation is by payment of a sum equivalent to the value of restitution in kind. The aim of reparations is to eradicate the consequences of the illegal act. It is not clear, however, whether there is an obligation to make reparations for all breaches of international law.

2. Payments made by a defeated state to the conquering state to compensate for damage suffered by the victor.

self-defence n. 1. A defence at common law to charges of offences against the person (including homicide) when reasonable force is used to defend oneself, or one's family, or anyone else against attack or threatened attack. The scope of the defence often overlaps with the statutory right to use reasonable force to prevent a crime, but also extends to cases in which the statutory right is inapplicable (for example, when the attacker is for some reason not guilty of a crime). There is no rule of law that a person must retreat before acting in self-defence. If a person acting in self-defence mistakenly uses more force than was necessary in the circumstances and kills his attacker, he has no defence of self-defence (since the force was not reasonable) and the killing will therefore amount to murder, unless he can show that there was also provocation. However, in deciding whether the force used was justified or reasonably thought to be justified, the jury must bear in mind the difficulty of quickly assessing the correct amount of force to be used.

2. One of the very few bases for a legal use of force under international law. Under Chapter VII (Article 51) of the United Nations Charter, the inherent right of self-defence is preserved. Reference to “inherent right” has promoted the belief that the pre-Charter right of self-defence in customary international law is specifically preserved by the Charter. However, the pre-existing right is arguably wider in scope than that allowed for by the terms of Article 51 and may arguably also allow for anticipatory self-defence. The UK relied on the argument of self-defence in the Falklands Conflict of 1982.

self-determination n. (in international law) The right of a people living within a non-self-governing territory to choose for themselves the political and legal status of that territory. They may choose independence and the formation of a separate state, integration into another state, or association with an independent state, with autonomy in internal affairs. The systems of mandates and trusteeship marked a step towards recognizing a legal right of self-determination, but it is not yet completely recognized as a legal norm. It is probably illegal for another state to intervene against a liberation movement and it may be legal to give assistance to such a movement.

sovereign immunity The exemption of the sovereign or other head of a foreign state and foreign governmental departments from the jurisdiction of the English courts. The principles governing this exemption are now contained in the State Immunity Act 1978 and are consistent with the European Convention on State Immunity. The immunity granted is no longer absolute; it is subject to numerous exceptions outlined in the Act. Subject to modifications, the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964 extends to foreign sovereigns the same privileges and immunities as are granted to heads of diplomatic missions. It is now clear under English law that such immunity does not apply to former heads of state who are alleged to have committed crimes against humanity.

territorial waters The band of sea between the limit of the internal waters of a state and the high seas, over which the state has certain specified rights. These rights are governed by a 1958 Geneva Convention, which is taken to represent the position under customary international law. New rules were proposed in a 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. A coastal state exercises sovereignty over its territorial waters, which includes, in particular, the following:
(1) An exclusive right to fish and to exploit the resources of the seabed and subsoil of the seabed and exclusive use of the airspace above the territorial sea.
(2) The exclusive right to use the territorial waters to transport people and goods from one part of the state to another.
(3) The right to enact laws concerning navigation, immigration, customs dues, and health, which bind all foreign ships.
(4) The right to ask a warship that ignores navigation regulations to leave the territorial waters.
(5) Certain powers of arrest over merchant ships and people on board and jurisdiction to try crimes committed on board such ships within the territorial waters.
(6) The right to exclude fighting in the territorial waters during a war in which the coastal state is neutral. All foreign ships, however, have a right of innocent passage through the territorial sea, i.e. the right to pass through, provided they do not prejudice the peace, security, or good order of the coastal state (submarines must navigate on the surface). The extent of the territorial sea is usually measured from the low-tide mark on the shore, but in estuaries and small bays it is measured from a closing line between two points on the shore, which delimits the state's internal waters. The width of the territorial sea is a matter of dispute in international law. Traditionally it has been fixed at 3 nautical miles, but many states have claimed 12 miles or more, and this will probably become the normal width. The Territorial Sea Act 1987 fixes the territorial waters of the UK at 12 nautical miles. Beyond the territorial sea, states have a contiguous zone, not exceeding 24 nautical miles, in which they may exercise jurisdiction over certain infringements of their customs, fiscal, immigration, or sanitary regulations. In recent years many states (including the UK) have also claimed exclusive fishery zones extending 200 miles beyond the low-tide mark. The UK is subject to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy in relation to fishing.

treaty n. An international agreement in writing between two states (a bilateral treaty) or a number of states (a multilateral treaty). Such agreements can also be known as conventions, pacts, protocols, final acts, arrangements, and general acts. Treaties are binding in international law and constitute the equivalent of the municipal-law contract, conveyance, or legislation. Some treaties create law only for those states that are parties to them, some codify pre-existing customary international law, and some propound rules that eventually develop into customary international law, binding upon all states (e.g. the Genocide Convention). Federal states, colonial states, and public international organizations are sometimes also able to enter into treaty obligations. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) defines in detail the rules relating to inter-state treaties and is itself generally considered to declare or develop customary international law in this area. Treaties are normally concluded by the process of ratification.

In the UK the power to make or enter into treaties belongs to the monarch, acting on the advice of government ministers, but a treaty does not become part of municipal law until brought into force by an Act of Parliament.

utipossidetis [Latin: as you possess] A principle usually applied in international law to the delineation of borders. When a colony gains independence, the colonial boundaries are accepted as the boundaries of the newly independent state. This practice, first adopted for the sake of expediency by the Spanish American colonies when they declared independence, has since been employed elsewhere in the world following the withdrawal of empire.

The principle of uti possidetis is also applied to the status of movable public property of belligerent states. Unless a peace treaty provides to the contrary, each party will retain such property as was in its possession on the day the hostilities ceased.

veto n. 1. (in international law) The power given to any permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations to refuse to agree to any nonprocedural proposal (there is no such power in relation to procedural matters) and thereby defeat it. An abstention is not equivalent to a veto. The President of the Security Council has power to determine which questions are nonprocedural. The General Assembly of the UN passed a Uniting for Peace Resolution in 1950, providing for the Assembly to take over some of the functions of the Security Council when the Council's work has been paralysed by use of the veto. This resolution, however, was only a political gesture and failed to overcome the veto power.

2. (in EU law) a The power of a member state in the Council of the European Union to block legislation when a unanimous decision in favour of a measure is required. Although much EU legislation only requires a qualified majority decision of the Council, unanimity votes are required in such areas as taxation, budgets, foreign policy, and the admission of new member states. b The power of the European Parliament to reject legislation proposed by the Commission by means of the codecision procedure.

Source: Oxford Dictionary of Law. Ed. Elizabeth A. Martin and Jonathan Law. Oxford University Press, 2006. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 10 February 2009 www.oxfordreference.com

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Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Selected International Law Terms.

Selected International Law Terms