Academic

Democratic Statehood in International Law In the book Democratic Statehood in International Law, I develop an argument that state creation is a political process of overcoming a competing claim to territorial integrity. The emergence of a new state is not an automatic or factual occurrence upon meeting the statehood criteria. …

The Security Council and the ICC The University of California Irvine Law School’s International Justice Clinic recently issued an important report examining the relationship between the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court.   The report, authored by UCI Irvine Prof David Kaye, is the culmination of a project on the Council and the Court run …

UK Supreme Court Decides Smith (No. 2) v. The Ministry of Defence Last week the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Smith (No. 2) v. The Ministy of Defence (judgment; BBC News report). This is a follow-up to the Smith (No. 1) case decided three years ago, with a …

Iran’s (Non-)Compliance with its Non-Proliferation Obligations Revisited A recent statement issued by the EU entitled ‘Common messages regarding EU sanctions against the Iranian nuclear programme’, posted on the websites of various EU embassies in Tehran (and translated into Farsi), attempts to sum up the reasons which have allegedly justified not …

Does Use of Chemical Weapons Justify Intervention in Syria? Over the last few days, various media outlets have reported that the US, UK and other countries believe that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict (see BBC report). Apparently, there is not yet conclusive evidence of this …

Scottish Independence: Political Rhetoric and Legal Realities The recent publication of Professors Crawford and Boyle’s opinion on the international law aspects of Scottish independence is an event not because it says anything new – most commentators (including the present writer) come to the same conclusions – but because it puts …

Boyle and Crawford on Scottish Independence Last month, Joseph Weiler’s post on Catalonian independence and the European Union triggered a lively discussion here on EJIL!Talk (including Nico Krisch’s reply). Yesterday’s publication by the British government of a legal opinion by Alan Boyle of the University of Edinburgh and James Crawford of the …

Incorporating UN General Assembly Declaratory Texts into Domestic Law? Last week in Canada, with federal MPs returning to Parliament amidst the continuation of countrywide protests by indigenous peoples, an opposition MP introduced a private member’s bill (Bill C-469) to require the Canadian government to ensure that all federal laws are …

Iceland not responsible for the liabilities of its deposit insurance scheme In a landmark decision, the EFTA Court on 28 January 2013 dismissed all claims brought by the EFTA Surveillance Authority against Iceland in the Icesave case. The Authority had alleged that Iceland had breached its obligations under Directive 94/14/EC …

The ECtHR Finds Macedonia Responsible in Connection with Torture by the CIA, but on What Basis? André Nollkaemper is Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam. He directs the project on ‘Shared Responsibility in International Law’ (SHARES); this piece is cross-posted on …

Catalonian Independence and the European Union This post is part of an editorial that appears in the issue of EJIL (Vol. 23/4) that is published today ‘Vive le Québec libre!’ Who can forget de Gaulle’s mischievous and irresponsible speech in July 1967 during his visit to that hapless province, a catchphrase which has …

ITLOS order Ghana to release Argentine navy ship On 15 December, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) ordered Ghana to release the Argentine military training vessel ARA Fragata Libertad (see oral proceedings). NML Capital, an investment company focused on distressed debt based in the Cayman Islands …