The Taking of Hostages in Theory and Practice

1944 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Hammer ◽  
Marina Salvin
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Total War ◽  
Legal Foundation ◽  
The Law

The current war has been marked by a drastic extension of the practice of taking hostages. Ever since antiquity such action has constituted a permissible expedient, as frequent in peacetime as during war. Only recently, however, has it become a major weapon of warfare. The contemporary experience of total war necessitates a revaluation of the law and practice in regard to hostages. German actions in this war have involved such marked disregard of international law as to bring into question the entire legal foundation of the taking of hostages.

Special Act on the Interpretation of Law – Dictates of the Time!

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-48
Author(s):  
I. A. Fargiev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Constant Attention ◽  
Dialectical Relationship ◽  
The Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Relationship Of

Introduction. As a result of the Russian legal reform, a new legal system was formed; an important feature of which is the power of a lawyer to interpret various forms of national and international law implemented by the state. The scientific understanding of the interpretation of the law has significant gaps which make it difficult to apply in practice. Theoretical basis. Methods. The theoretical basis of the study was the work of Russian and foreign scientists on the interpretation of law. Research methods were as follows: systematic, historical, formally logical, comparative approaches, interpretation of legal and philosophical ideas. Results. The article presents the author’s opinions on problematic issues of the theory and practice of interpretation of law, which are the subject of constant attention of legal scholars, law-makers and law enforcement agencies. The author justifies the need to adopt a special law on normative legal acts, which should give a legal definition of “interpretation of law”, establish a procedure for the interpretation of law, fix the range of subjects of interpretation and other important scientific and applied issues. Discussion and Conclusion. The term “interpretation”, in modern legislation, is used to address the issue of official clarification and explanation of the content of norms and principles of international law employed in developing a multi-level system of forms of national and/or international law, which is then implemented by the state. Other interpretations of the law, referred to as doctrinal, ordinary, professional, etc, can be called a conditional interpretation of the law. Using scientific conclusions about the dialectical relationship of law with philosophy and sociology, history and politics, economics and ideology, etc, the author came to conclusion that there is a need to adopt a special law on the interpretation of law.

Carl Schmitt's Vattel and the 'Law of Nations' between Enlightenment and Revolution

Grotiana ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Nakhimovsky
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Just War Theory ◽  
Total War ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
The Law ◽  
History Of International Law

AbstractThis article questions the status of Vattel's Law of Nations as an exemplary illustration of eighteenth-century developments in the history of international law. Recent discussions of the relation between eighteenth-century thinking about the law of nations and the French Revolution have revived Carl Schmitt's contention about the nexus between just war theory and the emergence of total war. This evaluative framework has been used to identify Vattel as a moral critic of absolutism who helped undermine the barriers against total war, as well as an architect and defender of those very barriers. Neither of these opposing readings is corroborated by late-eighteenth-century commentators on Vattel's treatise. To its late-eighteenth-century critics and defenders alike, Vattel's Law of Nations was distinguished by the weakness of its derivation of the law of nations from principles of natural law. Insofar as these readers did link Vattel to justifications of relatively unrestrained forms of warfare, they did so in connection with the perceived weakness of Vattel's moral position rather than with its strength. This late-eighteenth-century consensus on the defining features of Vattel's approach to the law of nations sits uncomfortably with Schmitt's evaluative framework, and indeed with other assessments of Vattel that limit themselves to orienting his treatise along fault lines in the historiography of international law.

scholarly journals CONFLICT OF LAW RULES ON MARITAL PROPERTY RELATIONS IN UKRAINE: THEORY AND PRACTICE

2018 ◽  
pp. 48-57
Author(s):  
V. Kisil ◽  
A. Pashynskyi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
Choice Of Law ◽  
Property Relations ◽  
Marital Property ◽  
The Law ◽  
Legal Concepts ◽  
Legal Consequences ◽  
Conflict Of Law

This article is about the theoretical and practical aspects of conflict of law regulation of marital property relations under the Law of Ukraine “On Private International Law”. Inter alia, the paper deals with the possibility of the choice of law applicable to prenuptial contracts and marital property relations as well as the conflict of law rules applicable to property consequences of marriage in the event of absence of the choice of law. The author analyses the limitations to applying the principle of autonomy of will in marital property relations, the correlation between legal concepts of “marital property relations” and “legal consequences of marriage” and the possible forms of performing lex voluntatis. With a view to protecting the interests of the child and the weaker party in a marriage, the author proposes amendments to para 1 of Art. 61 of the Law, pursuant to which the law chosen by the parties must not impair the standing of the child or one of the spouses as compared to the law to be applied to property consequences of marriage in the event of absence of a choice of law. The paper also focuses on the overview of relevant Ukrainian court practice regarding the application of the Law during proceedings on marital property relations with a foreign element.

The Chaotic Status of the Laws of War and the Urgent Necessity for Their Revision

1951 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef L. Kunz
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Wishful Thinking ◽  
Laws Of War ◽  
Total War ◽  
International Lawyer ◽  
Dark Ages ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
The Law ◽  
Urgent Necessity

Once more, as he did sixteen years ago, this writer wants to raise his voice in order to point at the actual chaotic status of the laws of war, at the grave inherent dangers, and at the urgent necessity for the revision of this part of international law. The problem involves the very survival of our Western Christian civilization, if not of mankind. Under these circumstances it becomes the duty of an international lawyer to treat this subject, notwithstanding its “unpopularity” since 1920. It was Grotius who, under the impression of the “total war” of thirty years urged upon men the necessity of the “temperamenta belli.” It is amazing to see that the men of this generation, living under a more terrible total war, turn their backs upon the laws of war. This neglect is the outcome of different and often contradictory ideologies: indifference, apathy, over-optimistic wishful thinking, political wishes to keep one’s hands free in the next war, and pessimistic fatalism. All the arguments for this neglect are untenable, are in contradiction with the law as well as the facts; and yet, strong drives by writers and statesmen have nearly succeeded in putting over men a veil of voluntary blindness in adopting a policy of the ostrich which may lead to disaster, to the return of new and more terrible “dark ages.” A full exposé would need a book, not an article. But while no full picture can be given here, it will be attempted to give, at least, a complete sketch, dealing with the law and the facts, with the arguments pro and con.

Applicability of Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom in the West Bank

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaël Ronen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The West ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Legal Regimes ◽  
The Law

This article examines the applicability of Israel's Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom in the West Bank in light of international law, in theory and practice. The first part of the article concerns the need for such applicability in light of alternative domestic and international legal regimes. The article then explores three bases for the extraterritorial application of the law, and examines relevant practice. Finally, the article addresses the consequences of the extraterritorial applicability of the Basic Law for Israel's compliance with its obligations under the law of occupation. It argues that the application of the Basic Law extraterritorially in the West Bank may result in violation of Israel's obligations under the law of occupation.

scholarly journals Cyber Attribution: Technical and Legal Approaches and Challenges

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Tsagourias ◽  
Michael Farrell
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
State Responsibility ◽  
Standard Of Proof ◽  
Regulatory Potential ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Law ◽  
Attribution Process

Abstract Considering the role of attribution in the law of state responsibility, this article examines the technical and international law methodologies and determinants used when attributing malicious cyber activities falling below the use-of-force threshold to a state, and identifies the challenges that arise which lead to responsibility gaps. The article goes on to discuss a number of proposals that aim to improve the effectiveness of the attribution process and also close some of the existing responsibility gaps. They include institutional proposals envisaging the creation of an international attribution agency; normative proposals advocating the revision of the legal determinants of attribution; and proposals concerning the standard of proof. The aim of the article is to reconstruct the theory and practice of cyber attribution in order to enhance the regulatory potential of international law in this area.

The New Terrain of International Law

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen J. Alter
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
Delegation Of Authority ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law

In 1989, when the Cold War ended, there were six permanent international courts. Today there are more than two dozen that have collectively issued over thirty-seven thousand binding legal rulings. This book charts the developments and trends in the creation and role of international courts, and explains how the delegation of authority to international judicial institutions influences global and domestic politics. The book presents an in-depth look at the scope and powers of international courts operating around the world. Focusing on dispute resolution, enforcement, administrative review, and constitutional review, the book argues that international courts alter politics by providing legal, symbolic, and leverage resources that shift the political balance in favor of domestic and international actors who prefer policies more consistent with international law objectives. International courts name violations of the law and perhaps specify remedies. The book explains how this limited power—the power to speak the law—translates into political influence, and it considers eighteen case studies, showing how international courts change state behavior. The case studies, spanning issue areas and regions of the world, collectively elucidate the political factors that often intervene to limit whether or not international courts are invoked and whether international judges dare to demand significant changes in state practices.

«Soft law» in the law of the Eurasian Ec onomic Union: place and possibility of challenging

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
P.P. Myslivsky ◽  
◽  
I.N. Shchurova
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Binding Force ◽  
Eurasian Economic Union ◽  
Economic Commission ◽  
Economic Union ◽  
The Law

In international law, there are sources that do not formally have binding force, but may indicate the emergence of the opinio juris of states, as well as emerging practice. The Eurasian Economic Union also issues acts that are not formally binding: they are adopted by the Eurasian Economic Commission in the form of recommendations. In addition, the Union takes into account the recommendatory acts of other international organizations. At present, the practice of the EAEU Court indicates that this body takes into account “soft law” in the course of argumentation, but proceeds from the impossibility of challenging acts that are recommendations of the EEC. The authors give ways to establish the possibility of challenging the EEC recommendations in the EAEU Court.

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