UNSW Handbook Course - Public International Law

Public International Law - LAWS3381


	Faculty: Faculty of Law
	School: Faculty of Law
	Course Outline: See below
	Campus: Kensington Campus
	Career: Undergraduate
	Units of Credit: 6
	EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
	Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3
	Enrolment Requirements:
	Prerequisite: LAWS1001 and LAWS1011 and Corequisite: LAWS2311; Prerequisite: JURD7101 and JURD7111 and Corequisite: JURD7211
	Excluded: JURD7481
	Fee Band: 3 (more info)
	Further Information: See Class Timetable

Description

This course aims to provide students with a solid introduction to some central topics within the field of public international law. It is a recommended pre- or co-requisite for all other international law courses offered by the School of Law.

International law seeks to order human affairs at the international level. Accordingly, it covers a vast field, including autonomy of peoples and territories, the allocation of resources (land, maritime, air), the preservation of the environment, the regulation of inter-State transactions, the resolution of disputes and the maintenance of international peace and security. International law has become not only an important, but an integral, part of both the international and domestic legal orders. The centrality of international law to our everyday lives and, in particular, to our practice as lawyers, cannot be overstated.

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

The specific aims of the course are:

To assist students to develop an understanding of the issues involved in the regulation of human affairs beyond a single State
To give students a basic working knowledge of the structure of the international legal system and its relationship to the Australian legal system
To enable students to develop an awareness of different methods of international as compared to national law, in such matters as textual interpretation and working with judicial decisions
To assist students to recognize international legal problems in their subsequent careers and to point them in the direction of ways of resolving them

Main Topics

Nature, scope and development of international law
Structure of the international legal system
Sources of international law
Law of treaties
International and municipal law
Personality, statehood and recognition
Title to territory
State jurisdiction
Immunity from jurisdiction
State responsibility

Assessment

Class participation - 10%

Mid-term research assignment (optional) - 25%

Final exam - either 65% or 90% depending on optional essay

Course Texts

Prescribed

DJ Harris, Cases and Materials on International Law (6th ed., Sweet & Maxwell 2004) or the 7th edition, if available (please check with the UNSW Bookshop).
JP Fonteyne, A. McNaughton and JS Stellios (eds) Harris - Cases and Materials on International Law: an Australian Supplement (Lawbook Co., 2003)

Recommended

S Blay, R Piotrowicz and M Tsamenyi, Public International Law: An Australian Perspective (2nd edn OUP Melbourne 2005)
I Brownlie, Basic Documents in International Law (5th edn OUP Oxford 2002)
M Evans (ed) International Law Documents (7th edn OUP Oxford 2005)
M Shaw, Public International Law (6th edn CUP Cambridge 2008)
G Triggs, International Law: Contemporary Principles and Practices (LexisNexis Butterworths 2006).

Note that all international instruments are available online.

A particularly useful resource can be found at http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/statutes/books/02international/weblinks, with links to all the major treaties.

Order from UNSW Bookshop