Introduction to International Law

International Law

usually enforced through a set of structured institutions.

the state (including constitutional, administrative and criminal law)
“Private law" subjects

(including contract, tort, property)

Shall Not Kill
Second Proposition: If you kill, you will be

punished by…

first proposition

be labeled as “war criminal.”

the United Nations, maritime law, international criminal law and the

Geneva conventions.
International law (private) or conflict of laws, which addresses the question of which legal jurisdiction cases may be heard in.

since the domestic courts could generate the ruling toward the

legal case and enforce it.

locals to file divorce. If one of the couple were

a foreigner, then the foreign law should be considered by local court.
However, it does not mean that foreign country has any say in the legal consideration. It is a private and foreign individual versus the state legal system.
And the true international law is one legal system versus another, or others.

domestic enforcement did not get all the bad guys, (most

of time, the function of domestic law is a lot worse than international law) at least bad guys would not claim themselves as just, like most of bad states in the history and now.

international law, all the actions are determined by conflicts, struggles,

possible consensus, conspiracies, or sophisticated calculations.
So, isn’t it the, simply put, POLITICS?

and affairs as involving authority and government,” “activities concerned with

the acquisition or exercise of authority or government,”
Other occasions: office/family/couple
Harold Laswell: “Who gets what, when, how,” “Authoritative allocation of values,”
Mark Lai Definition: “Power and goods, their competition, compensation, implementation and continuation”

Politics and Taiwan Politics
Theoretical boundary between International Relations and Domestic

Politics: Anarchy vs. Hierarchy

a broken meter, what would you do?
Example: If Cuba invaded

Miami, what would the US do?
Example: If you had to go to a bad neighborhood with weak police enforcement, what would you prepare for this trip?
Definition: “No supreme power to govern,” “no overarching power,” “Self help system”
Anarchy vs. Chaos, Anarchic world still has order.
Value, legal and study system in an anarchic world

power over a particular geographic area. Sovereign power implies a

monopoly on the legitimate use of violence and must be recognized by other sovereign states.

problem solving arrangements and activities that states and other actors

have put into place to deal with various issues and problems.
They include international rules and laws, norms or soft law, and structures such as formal international intergovernmental organization as well as improvised arrangements that provide decision-making process, information gathering and analytical functions, dispute settlement procedures, and operational capabilities for managing technical and development assistance programs, relief aid, and force deployments.

to regulate relations among States
Original Function
Globalization
Expanded Function

and the criteria for identifying states as the principal actors

in the international legal system.
Why? Good or bad, Force is the final answer to conflict resolution and state is the actor with the strongest ability of using force.

immunity and the legal responsibility of states in their conduct

with each other.

became intense, frequent and sometimes complicated.
Globalization speeded up the growth,

created the interdependence but also spurred the proliferation of negative transactions such as terrorism, drug trafficking, and financial speculation.
Most importantly, globalization hampered the function and influence of nation state governance. Traditional role nation states played could not deal with this world anymore.

other.”
War
Money
People
The Earth

problems
Human rights
Maintenance of international peace and security
Arms control
The pacific settlement

of disputes
Regulation of the use of force
Principles to govern the conduct of hostilities and the treatment of prisoners
Global environment
International waters
Outer space
Global communications
World trade

politics is that of a loose anarchy. Observance of the

law is voluntary, for no superior political authority exists to compel obedience.

law made the learning of the subject become hazy and

sometimes cynical.

the solution for global problems and skeptics suspected that international

law would do any good for currently chaotic nation-state world system. However, also this truth made the learning of the subject so challenging and rewarding.

review the theory of international relations, scrutinize the regional politics

all over the world, as well as examine the conflict and cooperation between domestic law system and the international one.

through most of major issues touched in the four-years course

load and prepare students to the thesis writing and further graduate education.