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An Uncensored History of International Law - LAWS8084

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Kensington Campus

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Prerequisite: Academic Program must be either 9200, 9210, 9230, 5740, 9240, 5760, 9281, 5281, 9220 or 5750.

Excluded: JURD7584

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course aims to examine some of the fundamental issues underlying international law, against the background of its history. Attention will be paid both to classical analyses of the nature of international law (positivism and its alternatives) and to some of the recent critiques of international law from perspectives such as critical legal studies, feminist legal theory, international relations theory, etc. Particular topics to be examined will be chosen having regard to the interests of students taking the course.

LLM Specialisations

International Law

Recommended Prior Knowledge

LAWS8180 Principles of International Law or its equivalent is a recommended pre- or co-requisite for this course.

Course Objectives

This course aims to identify (or, at least, to reflect upon) the history of international law. It considers issues such as:

Does international law possess a history, or a set of historical engagements, upon which we infrequently pronounce?
Is all history of international law known and identifiable, or are there aspects that are ritually neglected or varnished for modern sensibilities?
What is this history, why may it be described as uncensored and what, if anything, does it tell us about the character of international law?
Taking on various topics and themes (ranging from slavery to sovereignty), this course will place great emphasis on the sorts of actions from the past that we describe as international law and, in so doing, we shall attempt to mark out the full tasks and purpose of the discipline.

At the end of this course, you should be able to:

Identify and reflect upon the history of international law;
Evaluate whether all history of international law is known and identifiable, or whether there aspects that are ritually neglected or varnished for modern sensibilities;
Assess what is the 'history of international law' and what, if anything, does it tell us about the character of international law;
Determine whether international law possesses a history, or a set of historical engagements.

Assessment