Fall 2011 Class Descriptions

As of 5/18/2013 3:17:18 AM

Impact of Hum Rts on Int Law

The Impact of Human Rights on International Law

The efforts to protect human rights by means of international law are no less than revolutionary. They have turned states' insides out in an almost literal sense: The ways in which states treat their own nationals used to be the very core of "domestic jurisdiction" in which no foreign state or international organization was allowed to intervene.But over the last 50 years or so the relationship between governments and the people under their authority has turned into a subject of international (also:legal) concern, ranging from laying down human rights obligations in treties, the discussion of human rights matters in international bodies and conferences, public censure and condemnation, the international "mobilization of shame", to judgments of human rights courts and sanctions against persistent violators. This development has had a profound impact not only on international politics but also on general international law - a body of principles, rules and procedures traditionally developed to cope with tasks and challenges arising at the level of inter-state (inter-sovereign) relations. The Seminar will analyze in depth the ways in which this development has manifested itself - and the difficulties to which it has led - in the most important fields of international law: international legal personality, the sources of international law, the law of treaties, state responsibility, jurisdictional immunities of states, the use of force, and the activities of international courts and tribunals.

The Seminar will be offered for two credits, with an option of one additional credit point to be acquired by students enrolling in the #800 Seminar Supplement course and writing a more comprehensive paper. Participants must have attended at least one of the following three courses: 606 Transnational Law; 689 Leading Cases in International Law; or 605 Advanced Transnational Law.