A.
DEFINITION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
International law governs relations between independent states.
The rules of law
binding upon states/ therefore emanate from their own will as
expressed in conventions/
[treaties] or by usages generally accepted as expressing
principles of law established in
order to regulate the relations between these co-existing
independent communities or
with a view to the achievement of common aims. - SS Lotus
Case (France v Turkey)
The national territory comprises the Philippine
archipelago, with all the islands and waters embraced
therein, and all other territories over which the
Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting
of its terrestrial, fluvial, and aerial domains, including
its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular
shelves, and other submarine areas. The waters
around, between, and connecting the islands of the
archipelago, regardless of their breadth and
dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the
Philippines. - Art 1. CONSTI
Should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency
note of the Philippine Islands or obligations and
securities issued by the Government of the
Philippine Islands. - Art 2 (2) RPC
A. CONC
B. OBLIGATIONS ERGA OMNES
When a State admits into its territory foreign investments or
foreign nationals, whether natural or juristic persons, it is bound to
extend to them the protection of the law and assumes obligations
concerning the treatment to be afforded them. These obligations,
however, are neither absolute nor unqualified. In particular, an
essential distinction should be drawn between the obligations of a
State towards the international community as a whole, and those
arising vis-a-vis another State in the field of diplomatic protection.
By their very nature the former are the concern of all States. In
view of the importance of the rights involved, all States can be
held to have a legal interest in their protection; they are obligations
erga omnes. - Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Co Ltd
Case (Belgium v. Spain, (1970), ICJ
Rep. 4
The Judgment seems to draw a distinction between obligations of
a State erga omnes, obligations of a State which exist towards
certain other States under general international law, and
obligations of a State which only exist towards a State with which it
has entered into "treaty stipulations". This distinction can of course
be drawn. But it is still difficult to hold that this distinction would
necessarily correspond to an a priori classification in accordance
with the nature of the interests protected by such obligations, a
classification which is already in itself a fairly doubtful one. -
Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Co Ltd Case (Belgium v.
Spain, (1970), ICJ
Rep. 4
It is certainly not merely bilateral relations that are in issue in such
a case, since a State's obligation to keep within the limits of its
jurisdiction on the international plane is, without any doubt, an
obligation erga omnes. - Barcelona Traction, Light and Power
Co Ltd Case (Belgium v. Spain, (1970), ICJ
Rep. 4
A. CONCEPTS
C. JUS COGENS
Article 53 Treaties conflicting with a peremptory norm of
general international law (“jus cogens”) A treaty is void if,
at the time of its conclusion, it conflicts with a peremptory
norm of general international law. For the purposes of
the present Convention, a peremptory norm of general
international law is a norm accepted and recognized by
the international community of States as a whole as a
norm from which no derogation is permitted and which
can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general
international law having the same character. - VCLT
Article 64 Emergence of a new peremptory
norm of general international law (“jus
cogens”) If a new peremptory norm of
general international law emerges, any
existing treaty which is in conflict with that
norm becomes void and terminates. -
VCLT
D. CONCEPT OF AEGOU ET BONO - Ex aequo et bono in
justice and fairness, according to what is fair and jus
Under Article 38(2) of the Statute of the ICJ, equity means that
a decision may
be made ex aequo et bono, i.e. the court should decide the
case not on legal
considerations but solely on what is fair and reasonable in
the circumstances of
the case (equity contra legem). However, the parties must
expressly authorise
the court to decide a case ex aequo et bono. So far, the ICJ has
never delivered
any judgment based on Article 38(2) of its Statute.
Article 38(2) of the Statute of the ICJ allows the ICJ, if both
parties to a dispute agree, to
decide a case ex aequo et bono, i.e. the court should decide
the case not on legal considerations
but solely on what is fair and equitable in the circumstances of
the case (equity contra legem).
In the Gulf of Maine Case (Canada v US) 98 the Court held that
while a decision ex aequo et bono
would permit a court or tribunal to examine socio-economic and
political considerations,
equity within the meaning of Article 38(1)(c) as a component of
a legal decision would
involve the Court in taking a decision on the basis of legal
reasoning
E. RULES OF INTERPRETATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
B. INTERNATIONAL LAW AND NATIONAL LAW - A. TWO D
MONISM AND DUALISM
AL LAW - A. TWO DIFFERENT THEORIES OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL LAW
DOCTRINE OF INCORPORATION AND TRANSFORMATION
RNATIONAL LAW
PRINCIPLE OF AUTO LIMITATION
It is to be admitted that any state may, by its
consent, express or implied, submit to a restriction
of its sovereign rights. There may thus be a
curtailment of what otherwise is a power plenary in
character. That is the concept of sovereignty as
auto-limitation, which, in the succinct language of
Jellinek, "is the property of a state-force due to
which it has the exclusive capacity of legal self-
determination and self-restriction."7 A state then, if
it chooses to, may refrain from the exercise of what
otherwise is illimitable competence. - Reagan v.
CIR, G.R. No. L-26379,
December 27, 1969
ARTICLE 38 OF VCLT
ARTICLE 38
RULES IN A TREATY BECOMING BINDING ON
THIRD STATES THROUGH INTERNATIONAL
CUSTOM
Nothing in Articles 34 to 37 precludes a rule set forth in
a treaty from becoming binding upon a third State as a
customary rule of international law, recognized as
such.
A treaty can be defined as an agreement (usually
written) between two or more
States, governed by international law and intended to
create legal obligations.
THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE
1969 VIENNA CONVENTION
OF THE LAW OF TREATIES -
P 155
THE FUNDAMENTAL
PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF
TREATIES
"Rebus sic stantibus" is a Latin phrase meaning "things
thus standing." In law, it refers to the principle that a
contract or treaty is binding only as long as the
fundamental circumstances surrounding its creation
remain unchanged. This doctrine allows for the revision
or termination of a contract when unforeseen and
extraordinary changes in circumstances make
performance excessively difficult or inequitable.
THE DEFINITION OF A TREATY
UNDER THE VCLT
CONCLUSION OF TREATIES
RESERVATION OF TREATIES
B. SOUR
INTERPRETATIVE AND
CONDITIONAL
INTERPRETATIVE
DECLARATIONS AND THEIR
RELATIONSHIP WITH
RESERVATIONS
B. SOURCES - A. ARTICLE 38 OF THE STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONA
TREATIES
ENTRY INTO FORCE,
DEPOSIT, REGISTRATION
AND PUBLICATION OF
TREATIES
8 OF THE STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
TREATIES
VALIDITY OF TREATIES
APPLICATION OF TREATIES
AMENDMENT AND
MODIFICATION OF TREATIES
INTERPRETATION OF TREATIES
TERMINATION AND
SUSPENSION OF TREATIES
SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
HARD LAW AND SOFT LAW
