Peremptory Norms and Fundamental Values

 Adil Ahmad Haque

Rutgers Law School; Rutgers Law School

Date Written: August 16, 2022

Abstract

The International Law Commission recently adopted a set of draft conclusions and commentaries on peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens). It’s quite likely that the ILC’s work will be widely viewed as a definitive restatement of the law in this area. But the conclusions are at best ambiguous about what holds this area of law together. And, on balance, the commentaries tend to favor the view that non-derogability lies at the center of it all, explaining characteristics like hierarchical superiority and universal applicability, as well as consequences like the invalidity of conflicting rules. That’s the view I will reject.

My basic claim will be that peremptory norms—their characteristics, their consequences, and their content—are best explained by their moral function of reflecting and protecting the fundamental values of the international community. In contrast, the formal characteristic of non-derogability is a consequence of this moral function, rather than a basic or fundamental feature. This understanding makes us better positivists, because we better understand what this human artifact is for, how its various features enable it to perform its function, and why the dynamic process through which international law navigates its own uncertainties invites normative argument into legal reasoning. Since peremptory norms underwrite the unity of the international legal order, this understanding places consensus and contestation over fundamental values at the very heart of international law.

Keywords: Peremptory norms, jus cogens, international law

HAQUE, Adil Ahmad. Peremptory Norms and Fundamental Values (August 16, 2022). Rutgers Law School Legal Studies Research Paper Series. Disponível em: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4192022. Acesso em: 29 ago. 2022.

Legal Consequences of Serious Breaches of Peremptory Norms in the Law of State Responsibility: Observations in the Light of the Recent Work of the International Law Commission

Dire Tladi (ed.), Peremptory Norms of General International Law: Perspectives and Future Prospects (Brill Nijhoff, forthcoming 2021).

23 Pages Posted:

Helmut Aust

Freie Universität Berlin

Date Written: February 8, 2021

Abstract

The paper deals with the legal consequences of serious breaches of peremptory norms under general international law. After setting out some aspects of the complex relationship between jus cogens and the law of state responsibility, the contribution presents the recent work of the UN International Law Commission (ILC) on these questions. This work is contextualized in the light of the debates in the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly. The contribution discusses to what extent the Commission has offered the international community of States merely an ‘effort to imagine’ hypothetical consequences of breaches of jus cogens – or whether the special consequences for serious breaches of peremptory norms of general international law are now indeed firmly accepted in international law. In particular, the paper assesses recent practice with respect to the three additional consequences that the ILC included in the Articles on State Responsibility in 2001 – the obligation of cooperation as well as the obligations to refrain from recognizing situations brought about by serious breaches of peremptory norms as lawful and to render aid or assistance for maintaining such situations.

Suggested Citation

AUST, Helmut. Legal Consequences of Serious Breaches of Peremptory Norms in the Law of State Responsibility: Observations in the Light of the Recent Work of the International Law Commission (February 8, 2021). Dire Tladi (ed.), Peremptory Norms of General International Law: Perspectives and Future Prospects (Brill Nijhoff, forthcoming 2021). Disponível em: <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3781855>. Acesso em: 10 fev. 2021.

SCOTUS grants two important Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act cases: Hungary v. Simon and Germany v. Philipp

A Suprema Corte dos Estados Unidos decidiu dois importantes casos sobre imunidade de jurisdição.
Seguem resumos e links.

Republic of Hungary v. Simon
Issue: Whether a district court may abstain from exercising jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for reasons of international comity, in a matter in which former Hungarian nationals have sued the nation of Hungary to recover the value of property lost in Hungary during World War II but the plaintiffs made no attempt to exhaust local Hungarian remedies.
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/republic-of-hungary-v-simon/

Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp
Issues: (1) Whether the “expropriation exception” of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which abrogates foreign sovereign immunity when “rights in property taken in violation of international law are in issue,” provides jurisdiction over claims that a foreign sovereign has violated international human-rights law when taking property from its own national within its own borders, even though such claims do not implicate the established international law governing states’ responsibility for takings of property; and (2) whether the doctrine of international comity is unavailable in cases against foreign sovereigns, even in cases of considerable historical and political significance to the foreign sovereign, and even when the foreign nation has a domestic framework for addressing the claims.
https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/federal-republic-of-germany-v-philipp/

Comparative Method and International Litigation

Journal of Dispute Resolution, Forthcoming

U. of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2020-03

31 Pages Posted: 6 Feb 2020

Ronald A. Brand

University of Pittsburgh - School of Law

Date Written: February 4, 2020

Abstract

In this article, resulting from a presentation at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law, I apply comparative method to international litigation. I do so from the perspective of a U.S.-trained lawyer who has been involved for over 25 years in the negotiations that produced both the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements and the 2019 Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters. The law of jurisdiction and judgments recognition is probably most often taught in a litigation context. Nonetheless, that law has as much or more importance to the transaction planning lawyer as to the litigator, and affects my focus here for comparative study of developments both in the Hague Conference process and in national (and regional) legal systems during the negotiation of the two treaties with which I have been involved. I look not only at domestic law, but also at treaties and other international legal instruments–the comparative evolution of the law. Moreover, I look at both legal rules and legal systems, addressing the comparative evolution of the institutions that make the law. This includes a comparison of the most influential legal systems at the start of the Hague negotiations. The differences resulting from that comparison ultimately affected the focus of the negotiations and the text of the resulting legal instruments. I end with a set of four conclusions based on these observations and comparisons.

REFERÊNCIA
Brand, Ronald A. Comparative Method and International Litigation (February 4, 2020). Journal of Dispute Resolution, Forthcoming; U. of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2020-03. Disponível em: <https://ssrn.com/abstract=3532035>. Acesso em: 17 mail 2020.

Koskenniemi: International Law and the Far Right: Reflections on Law and Cynicism

Aperte aqui para baixar o livro.

Martti Koskenniemi (Univ. of Helsinki - Law) has published International Law and the Far Right: Reflections on Law and Cynicism (Fourth Annual T.M.C. Asser Lecture). Here's the abstract:

Since the emergence of the profession in the 1870s, international lawyers have lent themselves to supporting various political projects, from ruling of empire to decolonisation, from supporting national self-determination to arguing in favour of global governance of the transnational economy. They have celebrated sovereignty and supported human rights.

The recent backlash against global rule and the international institutions of the liberal 1990s, should be viewed as a political attack from a relatively privileged part of the world on the system of values and distributive power that have governed post-1968 internationalism. This backlash is often treated as a social pathology, arisen from the anger felt by European and American middle classes “left behind” by globalisation.

I do not share this analysis. Whatever the social composition of the “backlash”, the policies of its leaders are neither reformist nor “conservative”. They are reactionary, and the question is, how to devise an effective policy to counter them.

The coming struggle will be about whether reactionary, colonialist, white and male supremacist values will play a role in the international world after globalisation. If international law is not to become a servant to far right policies, or fall into irrelevance, it had better sharpen its strategic insights. Alongside self-criticism, this involves taking a break from the interminable production of minor reforms. Greater openness is needed. Not to “populist” leaders, but to problems of global inequality.

Disponível em: <http://ilreports.blogspot.com/2019/11/koskenniemi-international-law-and-far.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FRfRRI+%28International+Law+Reporter%29>. Acesso em: 26 nov. 2019.

The Trade – (Cyber)security Dilemma and Its Impact on Global Cybersecurity Governance

Journal of World Trade (Forthcoming); Centre for International Law Working Paper Series 19/05

21 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2019

Neha Mishra

Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore; University of Melbourne, Law School, Students

Date Written: November 19, 2019

Abstract

Governments are adopting various measures to address cybersecurity-related concerns. Some of these measures restrict cross-border flows of digital services/data, and thus inconsistent with obligations in trade agreements such as General Agreement on Trade in Services (‘GATS’). However, certain governments might argue that such measures are justified under the GATS security exception (art XIVbis) as they protect national security. This article investigates whether GATS art XIVbis is relevant in justifying cybersecurity measures and its potential impact on cybersecurity governance. It argues that GATS art XIVbis has limited relevance, and is potentially problematic, when used in justifying majority of cybersecurity measures. First, a large majority of cybersecurity measures do not fall within the limited set of exceptional circumstances listed in GATS art XIVbis. Further, in applying this exception to cybersecurity measures, WTO Panels will be unfairly forced to balance trade and security interests in an environment of political, technological and policy uncertainty. Given these practical limitations and the normative boundaries of GATS art XIVbis, countries must avoid casually relying upon security exceptions as a basis for adopting/implementing unilateral measures on cybersecurity, but rather engage in meaningful cyber-diplomacy and regulatory cooperation mechanisms to resolve their differences on cybersecurity governance.

Referência
MISHRA, Neha.  The Trade – (Cyber)security Dilemma and Its Impact on Global Cybersecurity Governance (November 19, 2019). Journal of World Trade (Forthcoming); Centre for International Law Working Paper Series 19/05. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 23 nov. 2019.

ÉTICA E LEGISLAÇÃO PROFISSIONAL: Ética na advocacia

Bom dia!

Este post é uma atividade para a turma de Ética e Legislação Profissional (2019.2) do Curso de Direito da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão.

Vamos trabalhar a seguinte temática: Ética na advocacia (autonomia, sigilo e publicidade), processo disciplinar, órgãos componentes da ordem dos advogados.

Proponho a seguinte questão para discussão: A seu ver, qual é o principal desafio ético ao exercício da profissão de advogado? Justifique a sua resposta.

Vocês devem discutir o assunto e registrar sua participação fundamentada, individual ou em equipes com até quatro integrantes, nos comentários a esta postagem.

Essa atividade integra a terceira avaliação da disciplina.

Instruções para a 3ª avaliação:

1) publicarei três postagens nos dias 11, 18 e 25 de novembro;

2) durante o mês, espero que cada aluno ou equipe (até 4 pessoas) faça pelo menos um comentário;

3) os comentários devem possuir de 100 a 200 palavras;

4) o prazo para comentar cada postagem vai até a sexta-feira da semana em que a mesma foi publicada;

5) avisem se houver outras dúvidas.

RESPONSABILIDADE CIVIL: Despatrimonialização da responsabilidade civil

Bom dia!

Este post é uma atividade para a turma de Responsabilidade Civil (2019.2) do Curso de Direito da Universidade Estadual do Maranhão.

Vamos trabalhar o seguinte artigo científico:

MILAGRES, Marcelo de Oliveira. Breves notas sobre a (des)patrimonialização da responsabilidade civil: ainda a fundamentalidade do dano. In: ROSENVALD, Nelson; MILAGRES, Marcelo. Responsabilidade Civil:  Novas Tendências. Indaiatuba: Foco, 2018. 583p. p. 189-196.

Proponho a seguinte questão para discussão: É possível configurar-se a responsabilidade civil sem dano? Justifique sua resposta.

Vocês devem discutir o artigo e registrar sua participação fundamentada, individual ou em equipes com até quatro integrantes, nos comentários a esta postagem.

Essa atividade integra a terceira avaliação da disciplina.

Instruções para a 3ª avaliação:

1) publicarei três postagens nos dias 11, 18 e 25 de novembro;

2) durante o mês, espero que cada aluno ou equipe (até 4 pessoas) faça pelo menos um comentário;

3) os comentários devem possuir de 100 a 200 palavras;

4) o prazo para comentar cada postagem vai até a sexta-feira da semana em que a mesma foi publicada;

5) avisem se houver outras dúvidas.