Abstract
Identifying ‘British’ contributions to international law is by no means straightforward: international law is, after all, international. From the very earliest days (Gentili in the sixteenth century), those teaching and even practising international law in Britain have included prominent individuals from abroad. One particularly British feature may lie in the fact that many of the leading British academics have also been practitioners before English and international courts, which may account for their practical approach to the subject. The influence of common law has been apparent, with its emphasis on the development of the law through decided cases and specific instances.
Britain has stood out for its strong commitment to international law, reflecting a long-standing commitment to the rule of law at home and abroad, and the expectation that the country will always seek to act in accordance with international law. This has been particularly so at moments of crisis, for example when force has to be used.
The present contribution is based on a talk given at the University of Innsbruck on 10 December 2019.
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Notes
- 1.
Robert Y Jennings, ‘Address at the Memorial Service to Professor Clive Parry on October 16th 1982 in Great St. Mary’s Church, Cambridge’ in Anthony Parry (ed), Collected Papers of Professor Clive Parry (Wildy, Simmonds & Hill Publishing 2012) vol. one, xxxvii.
- 2.
Antonio Cassese, Five Masters of International Law (Hart 2011) 121.
- 3.
Ibid. 123.
- 4.
See the Introduction, and the chapter by Christian Tomuschat. DHN Johnson, ‘The English Tradition in International Law’ (1962) 11 ICLQ 416-445; Emmanuel Roucounas, A Landscape of Contemporary Theories of International Law (Brill/Nijhoff 2019) 100-132 (on regional and national traditions). See also Jean d’Aspremont, ‘The European Tradition of the Sources of International Law’ in Denis Alland and others (eds), Unité et diversité du droit international/Unity and Diversity of International Law: Ecrits en l'honneur du Professeur Pierre-Marie Dupuy/Essays in Honour of Professor Pierre-Marie Dupuy (Brill/Nijhoff 2014) 201-216.
- 5.
Michael Wood, ‘A European Vision of International Law: For What Purpose?’ in Hélène Ruiz-Fabri, Emmanuelle Jouannet and Vincent Tomkiewicz (eds), Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law, Volume 1, 2006 (Hart 2008) 151 (“The approach of an international lawyer surely depends more on what he or she does than on which state, or continent, he or she comes from.”).
- 6.
International Law Commission, Fragmentation of International Law: Difficulties arising from the Diversification and Expansion of International Law, Conclusions of the Study Group (Yearbook of the International Law Commission 2006 Vol II (Part Two)) 175, 177-178, Conclusion (1). The Conclusion actually makes a rather different point. It reads in full: “International law is a legal system. Its rules and principles (i.e. its norms) act in relation to and should be interpreted against the background of other rules and principles. As a legal system, international law is not a random collection of such norms. There are meaningful relationships between them. Norms may thus exist at higher and lower hierarchical levels, their formulation may involve greater or lesser generality and specificity and their validity may date back to earlier or later moments in time”. See also Judge Greenwood’s Declaration in Diallo (“International law is not a series of fragmented specialist and self-contained bodies of law, each of which functions in isolation from the others; it is a single, unified system of law and each international court can, and should, draw on the jurisprudence of other international courts and tribunals, even though it is not bound necessarily to come to the same conclusions”): Amadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v. Democratic Republic of the Congo), Compensation, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2012, p. 324, at p. 394, para. 8.
- 7.
Different conventional commitments arise because States are not necessarily party to the same treaties, or have varying reservations in place. This is particularly striking, even among allies, in the case of the law of armed conflict, where some key States are not parties to Additional Protocol II, and in international human rights law.
- 8.
As the International Law Commission has recently said, “Whereas rules of customary international law are binding on all States, … [there are] two exceptional cases: the persistent objector; and particular customary international law (rules of customary international law that apply only among a limited number of States)”: International Law Commission, Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its Seventieth session (30 April–1 June and 2 July–10 August 2018) (A/73/10, 2018) 119, 123, para (5) of the general commentary to the conclusions on Identification of customary international law. The conclusions were endorsed by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 73/203 of 20 December 2018.
- 9.
See, among others, Hersch Lauterpacht, ‘The So-Called Anglo-American and Continental Schools of Thought in International Law’ (1931) 12 BYIL 31-62.
- 10.
Cecil Hurst, ‘A Plea for the Codification of International Law on New Lines’ (1946) 32 Transactions of the Grotius Society 135, 146.
- 11.
Ibid. 146.
- 12.
Ibid.
- 13.
Robert McCorquodale and Jean-Pierre Gauci (eds), British Influences on International Law, 1915-2015 (Brill/Nijhoff 2016).
- 14.
Jill Barrett and Jean-Pierre Gauci (eds), British Contributions to International Law, 1915-2015: An Anthology Set (Brill/Nijhoff 2020).
- 15.
Jill Barrett and Jean-Pierre Gauci, ‘General Introduction’ in ibid. xxv.
- 16.
Michael Wood, ‘The Iraq Inquiry: Some Personal Reflections’ (2016) 87 BYIL 149, 151 (referring to a statement to the Chilcot Inquiry by former Prime Minister Blair).
- 17.
Barrett and Gauci (n 15) xxvi-xxvii. One question that faces anyone seeking to describe ‘British’ contributions to international law is the meaning of ‘British’. In its contemporary sense it refers to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (that is, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland), but the term ‘British Islands’, and thus ‘British’, refers to the Crown Dependencies (the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) as well as the UK. Other territories for whose international relations the United Kingdom is responsible may also be included in ‘British’. In the past, the term may have referred to what was known as the British Empire and British influence may to a greater or lesser extent have played—and may continue to play—a role in shaping the contributions to international law of States formerly within the Empire. The name and geographic scope of the State now officially known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has changed over the centuries, and usage is inconsistent.
- 18.
Ibid. xxvii-xxx. For a description of various influences in one field (the international law of the sea), see David H Anderson, ‘British Influence on the Law of the Sea 1915-2015’ in British Influences (n 13) 167, 168-169.
- 19.
See the International Law Commission’s 2018 Conclusions and commentaries on Identification of customary international law (n 8).
- 20.
Michael Wood, ‘European perspectives on inter-state litigation’ in Natalie Klein (ed), Litigating International Law Disputes: Weighing the Options (CUP 2014) 130-147.
- 21.
United Nations Secretariat, Identification of customary international law: Ways and means for making the evidence of customary international law more readily available, Memorandum by the Secretariat (A/CN.4/710/Rev.1, 2019) <https://legal.un.org/docs/?symbol=A/CN.4/710/Rev.1> accessed 25 February 2020.
- 22.
Clive Parry, British Digest of International Law (Stevens and Sons 1965–1967) (5 volumes).
- 23.
Clive Parry, British International Law Cases (Oceana 1964-1973) (9 volumes).
- 24.
Clive Parry, Commonwealth International Law Cases (Oceana 1974-1996) (19 volumes, of which volumes 11-19 were compiled by John Hopkins).
- 25.
Clive Parry, Index of British Treaties (HMSO) (4 volumes).
- 26.
Clive Parry, Consolidated Treaty Series (Oceana 1969-1986) (231 volumes).
- 27.
Clive Parry, Law Officers’ Opinions to the Foreign Office 1793–1860 (Gregg Publishing 1970) (97 volumes).
- 28.
Geoffrey Marston, ‘The Evidences of British State Practice in the Field of International Law’ in Anthony Carty and Gennady Danilenko (eds), Perestroika and International Law: Current Anglo-Soviet Approaches to International Law (Edinburgh University Press 1990) 27-47.
- 29.
The word ‘materials’ avoids the implication that all the content necessarily amounts to State practice. British practice prior to 1978 may be found in some of the works listed in the annex to this chapter.
- 30.
For an overview of British influences, see Robert McCorquodale and Jean-Pierre Gauci, ‘Introduction – From Grotius to Higgins: British Influences on International Law 1915-2015’ in British Influences (n 13) 1-7.
- 31.
The FCO legal advisers attach great importance to outreach. They have for many years organized an annual day at the Foreign Office for academic international lawyers; in 2019 they assisted BIICL in the organization of the London Conference on International Law, which brought together international law academics, judges, practitioners, representatives of civil society, business-leaders, and other stakeholders to see how States and all other actors engage with international law. There is also the much-followed UK International Law Twitter account @UKintlaw, initiated by Shehzad Charania when he was at the British Embassy in The Hague and still run by him. In addition, for a number of years, the Embassy in The Hague has organized an annual lecture on international law.
- 32.
House of Lords, House of Commons, The Government’s policy of the use of drones for targeted killings (HL 141, HC 574, 2015/2016), discussed in Michael Wood, ‘The use of force against Da‘esh and the jus ad bellum’ (2017) 1 Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law 9-34.
- 33.
The voluminous documentation of the Iraq Inquiry is available on the website of the National Archives, <https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20171123123237/http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/> accessed 25 February 2020. For a discussion of legal aspects, see ‘Symposium on the Iraq Inquiry’ (2016) 87 BYIL 98-230.
- 34.
See, for example, the Written Ministerial Statement on the Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (5 November 2019) <https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-11-05/HCWS90/> accessed 25 February 2020.
- 35.
For a lively account see Brian Simpson, ‘The Rule of Law in International Affairs’ (2004) 125 Proceedings of the British Academy 211-263.
- 36.
For the early history of the FO Legal Advisers, see Kate Jones, ‘Making Foreign Policy by Justice: The Legal Advisers to the Foreign Office, 1876-1953’ in British Influences (n 13) 28-55.
- 37.
For the contemporary organization and role of the FCO Legal Directorate, see the Council of Europe database on The organisation and functions of the Office of the Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Contribution of the United Kingdom (September 2014) <http://www.cahdidatabases.coe.int/Contribution/Details/12> accessed 25 February 2020.
- 38.
See, for example, various chapters in Andraž Zidar and Jean-Pierre Gauci (eds), The Role of Legal Advisers in International Law (BIICL and Brill/Nijhoff 2017). Among works dealing with specific periods or events, see Geoffrey Marston, ‘Armed Intervention in the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis: The Legal Advice Tendered to the British Government’ (1988) 37 ICLQ 773-817; Lorna Lloyd, Peace through Law: Britain and the International Court in the 1920s (Royal Historical Society 1997); Isabel V. Hull, A Scrap of Paper: Breaking and Making International Law during the Great War (Cornell University Press 2014).
- 39.
Jones (n 36) 29.
- 40.
On that conference, see James Brown Scott, The Hague Peace Conferences of 1989 and 1907 (John Hopkins University Press 1909) 148.
- 41.
Ibid. 69.
- 42.
Eric Beckett, ‘Sir Cecil Hurst’s Services to International Law’ (1949) 26 BYIL 1-5; Jones (n 36) 34-43.
- 43.
For a detailed account of Sir William Malkin’s work, see Jones (n 36) 43-49. Malkin was lost at sea when a plane carrying a section of the British delegation returning from the San Francisco Conference crashed in the night of 3/4 July 1945.
- 44.
Gerald G Fitzmaurice and Francis A Vallat, ‘Sir (William) Eric Beckett, K.C.M.G, QC (1896-1966): An Appreciation’ (1968) 17 ICLQ 267-326; Ian Brownlie, ‘Beckett, Sir (William) Eric (1896-1968)’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press 2004).
- 45.
Robert Jennings, ‘Gerald Gray Fitzmaurice’ (1984) 55 BYIL 1-64.
- 46.
Maurice Mendelson, ‘Sir Francis Vallat GBE, KCMG, QC (1912-2008)’ (2008) 79 BYIL 3-6.
- 47.
Franklin Berman, ‘Sir Vincent Evans (1915-2008)’ (2007) 78 BYIL 1-7.
- 48.
Franklin Berman and Michael Wood, ‘Sir Ian Sinclair, KCMG, QC (1926-2013)’ (2013) 83 BYIL 1-12.
- 49.
Franklin Berman and Michael Wood, ‘Sir John Freeland, KCMG, QC (1927-2014)’ (2015) 85 BYIL 1-9.
- 50.
Elihu Lauterpacht, ‘Sir Arthur Watts (1931-2007)’ (2007) 78 BYIL 7-16.
- 51.
Elihu Lauterpacht, ‘Jenks, Clarence Wilfred (1909–1973)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press 2004); Jaci Leigh Eisenberg, ‘Jenks, Clarence Wilfred’ in Bob Reinalda, Kent J Kille and Jaci Eisenberg (eds), IO BIO, Biographical Dictionary of Secretaries-General of International Organizations <www.ru.nl/fm/iobio> accessed 25 February 2020.
- 52.
Ralph Zacklin, The United Nations Secretariat and the Use of Force in a Unipolar World: Power v. Principle (Cambridge University Press, 2010).
- 53.
Franklin Berman and Michael Wood, ‘Hugh Thirlway (1926-2019)’ (forthcoming 88 BYIL).
- 54.
Shavana Musa, ‘The British and the Nuremberg Trial’ in British Influences (n 13) 367-386.
- 55.
There was no British member between 1987 and 1992. This came about when Sir Ian Sinclair was not re-elected at the elections held in November 1986. For possible explanations, see Berman and Wood (n 48) 8.
- 56.
James Brierly (1949-1951); Hersch Lauterpacht (1952-1954); Gerald Fitzmaurice (1955-1960); Humphrey Waldock (1961-1972); Francis Vallat (1973-1981); Ian Sinclair (1982-1986); Ian Brownlie (1997-2008); Michael Wood (2008-).
- 57.
The editors of a volume prepared in connection with the ILC’s fiftieth anniversary referred to “the high regard and importance with which international lawyers from the United Kingdom have consistently viewed the ILC. The great contribution to the ILC by British lawyers has been evident from its inception. It was Sir Hersch Lauterpacht’s Survey of International Law in 1948 which first shaped the ILC agenda and has influenced it ever since. The work of the successive British members of the ILC displays a strength of commitment to the Commission, as demonstrated, for example, by the work of various special rapporteurs in the Commission’s study of the law of treaties, culminating in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The list of British members also raises the second general point in that each of them is renowned as both scholar and practitioner. The challenge of the International Law Commission is that it seeks to combine the highest academic standards with outcomes of greatest practical utility, and its most significant work has been notable for succeeding on both fronts.”: MR Anderson and others, The International Law Commission and the Future of International Law (BIICL 1998) xii.
- 58.
Kasey McCall-Smith, ‘British Influence on the Law of Treaties’ in British Influences (n 13) 93-109.
- 59.
Philippe Sands and Arman Sarvarian, ‘The Contribution of the UK Bar to International Law’ in British Influences (n 13) 497-519. See also Ian Brownlie, ‘The Perspective of International Law from the Bar’ <https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/orc/resources/law/intl/evans4e/resources/insights/evans4e_insights_14piece3.pdf> accessed 25 February 2020. This short piece, written for the first edition of Evans’s International Law (2003), contains many words of wisdom, some of which may indicate important differences between the approach of the English Bar and lawyers from other legal traditions. It ends as follows: “… it is worth emphasizing that, at least in the tradition of the English Bar, the legal adviser or advocate represents the client, but retains a significant degree of independence and aloofness. If the barrister simply identifies with the client in all respects, his value will diminish. The purpose of advocacy is to establish a link with the court and, if a client ignorant of or indifferent to the judicial context imposes inappropriate instructions the desired link with the court will be weakened or broken. Pleasing the client is one thing, winning a case is another, although if one is fortunate, both outcomes may be achieved.” See also J. Crawford and Alain Pellet, ‘Anglo Saxon and Continental Approaches to Pleading Before the ICJ/Aspects des modes continentaux et Anglo-Saxons de plaidoiries’ in Isabelle Buffard and others (eds), International Law Between Universalism and Fragmentation: Festschrift in Honour of Gerhard Hafner (Brill/Nijhoff 2008) 831-867.
- 60.
For a lively account by a solicitor, see Tim Daniel, ‘The Thread of Public International Law In the Life of a Solicitor In Private Practice’ (2014) <https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/orc/resources/law/intl/evans4e/resources/insights/evans4e_insights_15piece4.pdf> accessed 25 February 2020.
- 61.
Geoffrey Lewis, ‘Mann, Frederick Alexander [Francis] (1907–1991)’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press 2004).
- 62.
See also Jack Beatson and Reinhard Zimmermann (eds), Jurists Uprooted: German Speaking Emigré Lawyers in Twentieth Century Britain (Oxford University Press 2004), including chapters by James Crawford (on public international law in twentieth century England); Lawrence Collins (on FA Mann); Mathias Schmoekel (on Lassa Oppenheim); John Bell (on Wolfgang Friedman); Martti Koskenniemi (on Hersch Lauterpacht); and Stephanie Steinie (on Georg Schwarzenberger).
- 63.
FA Mann’s main writings can be found in The Legal Aspects of Money (Charles Proctor, Mann’s Legal Aspects of Money (7th edn, Oxford University Press 2012)); Studies in International Law (Oxford University Press 1972); Foreign Affairs in English Courts (Oxford University Press 1986); Further Studies in International Law (Oxford University Press 1990).
- 64.
Nigel S Rodley, ‘The Contribution of British Human Rights NGOs to the Development of International Law’ in British Influences (n 13) 236-263.
- 65.
As regards the determination of rules of customary international law, see the International Law Commission’s Conclusions on Identification of customary international law (n 8) 149-150, conclusion 13(2): “Regard may be had, as appropriate, to decisions of national courts concerning the existence and content of rules of customary international law”.
- 66.
See United Nations Secretariat, The role of decisions of national courts in the case law of international courts and tribunals of a universal character for the purpose of the determination of customary international law (A/CN.4/691, 2016); André Nollkaemper and others (eds), International Law in Domestic Courts: A Casebook (Oxford University Press 2018).
- 67.
Lord Collins of Mapesbury and Tom Cross, ‘The Law of International Custom in the case law of the House of Lords and the United Kingdom Supreme Court’ in Liesbeth Lijnzaad and Council of Europe (eds), The Judge and International Custom (Brill/Nijhoff 2016) 160-179.
- 68.
Case-notes on a selection of decisions of British courts involving questions of public international law appear in each volume of the British Yearbook of International Law. The most recent volume (2016) covers eight cases, dealing with United Nations sanctions and evidence obtained under torture; a series of questions concerning an investment arbitration award; questions of State and diplomatic immunity; whether a functional test could be applied to diplomatic status; the application of the Refugees Convention to the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus; the attributability of acts of British forces to the UK or the UN; the customary international law status of the immunity of persons on special missions; and questions arising under the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention against Torture.
- 69.
Rosalyn Higgins, ‘International Law’ in Louis Blom-Cooper, Brice Dickson and Gavin Drewry (eds), The Judicial House of Lords 1876-2009 (Oxford University Press 2009) 457. In 2019, on the occasion of the London Conference on International Law (whose participants were invited to join a session at the Supreme Court), the UK Supreme Court published a collection of cases entitled Public International Law in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. A selection of cases from the Court’s first ten years.
- 70.
Antonios Tzanakopoulos, ‘The Influence of English Courts on the Development of International Law’ in British Influences (n 13) 11-27.
- 71.
For example, Lord Mance (a member of the House of Lords/Supreme Court between 2005 and 2018) has been Chair of the Executive Council of the International Law Association for a number of years.
- 72.
“The Ferrini decision cannot in my opinion be treated as an accurate statement of international law as generally understood; and one swallow does not make a rule of international law.”: Jones v. Ministry of Interior Al-Mamlaka Al-Arabiya AS Saudiya (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and others [2006] UKHL 26, [22] (Lord Bingham).
- 73.
Ibid. [63] (Lord Hoffman, referring to academic opinion that “the Ferrini case should be seen rather as giving priority to the values embodied in the prohibition of torture over the values and policies of the rules of state immunity”, said: “I think that this is a fair interpretation of what the court was doing and, if the case had been concerned with domestic law, might have been regarded by some as “activist” but would have been well within the judicial function. As Professor Dworkin demonstrated in Law’s Empire (1986), the ordering of competing principles according to the importance of the values which they embody is a basic technique of adjudication. But the same approach cannot be adopted in international law, which is based upon the common consent of nations. It is not for a national court to “develop” international law by unilaterally adopting a version of that law which, however desirable, forward-looking and reflective of values it may be, is simply not accepted by other states (See Al-Adsani 34 EHRR 273, 297, para O-II9 in the concurring opinion of Judges Pellonpää and Bratza).)”.
- 74.
Philippa Webb, ‘British Contribution to the Law on Immunity’ in British Influences (n 13) 145-166.
- 75.
Freedom and Justice Party and others v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and others [2016] EWHC 2010 (Admin) (Divisional Court); R (on the application of The Freedom and Justice Party and others) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2018] EWCA Civ 1719 (Court of Appeal). See Michael Wood, Andrew Sanger and the Council of Europe, Immunities of Special Missions (Brill/Nijhoff, 2019); Andrew Sanger and Michael Wood, ‘The Immunities of Members of Special Missions’ in Tom Ruys, Nicolas Angelet and Luca Ferro (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Immunities and International Law (Cambridge University Press 2019) 452-480.
- 76.
See Norman Marsh, British Institute of International and Comparative Law. A brief history: 1895–1958 (November 1998) <https://www.biicl.org/documents/14_12_a_brief_history_of_biicl.pdf> accessed 25 February 2020.
- 77.
Merio Scattola, ‘Alberico Gentili (1552-1608)’ in Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (Oxford University Press 2012) 1092-1097; Gesina Hermina Johanna van der Molen, Alberico Gentili and the Development of International Law: his Life, Work and Times (2nd edn, Sijthoff, 1968).
- 78.
Carlo Focarelli deals at some length with Gentili’s legal thinking in his chapter in this volume on ‘the Italian perspective’. There can no objection to that since Gentili was born in the Papal States, though he spent the whole of his professional and academic career in England. See also Michael Wood, ‘Diplomatic Law Today: Alberico Gentili Would Not Have Felt out of Place’ in Vincenzo Lavenia (ed), Alberico e Scipione Gentili nell’Europa di ieri e di oggi (eum editioni università di macerata 2018) 191-204.
- 79.
The professorship was established by the will of William Whewell, a scientist and moral philosopher. According to the second Whewell Professor of International Law, in his will Whewell “laid an earnest and express injunction on the occupant of this chair that he should make it his aim, in all parts of his treatment of the subject, to lay down such rules and suggest such measures as might tend to diminish the evils of war and finally to extinguish war among nations”: Henry Sumner Maine, International Law: A Series of Lectures Delivered before the University of Cambridge, 1887 (John Murray 1888) 1.
- 80.
Mathias Schmoeckel, ‘Lassa Oppenheim (1858-1919)’ in Oxford Handbook (n 77) 1152-1155.
- 81.
A new edition of Oppenheim’s International Law is in preparation. It is to consist of three parts, covering (i) the law of peace; (ii) dispute settlement, the use of force, and the law of armed conflict; and – a new part – (iii) United Nations (comprising two volumes, published by Oxford University Press in 2017).
- 82.
Antonio Cassese, ‘Sir Robert Jennings’ in Five Masters of International Law (n 2) 115-182; Christine Jennings, Robbie: The Life of Sir Robert Jennings (Matador 2019) (with a list of published writings).
- 83.
Elihu Lauterpacht, The Life of Sir Hersch Lauterpacht QC, LLD, FBA (Cambridge University Press 2010).
- 84.
C Wilfred Jenks, ‘Fischer Williams—The Practitioner as Reformer’ (1964) 40 BYIL 233-285.
- 85.
Parry (ed) (n 2).
- 86.
Ian Scobbie, ‘Out of the Shadows: An Appreciation of Sir Elihu Lauterpacht’s Contribution to the Doctrine of International Law’ (2017) 87 BYIL 1-17.
- 87.
This qualification is important, as many excellent textbooks are available in other languages. One of the best is Patrick Daillier, Mathias Forteau and Alain Pellet, Droit international public (8th edn, L.G.D.J. 2009).
- 88.
Americans generally do not seem to write textbooks, preferring for obvious reasons to produce case-books (some of which are excellent, as in my days as a student was Herbert W. Briggs’s The Law of Nations: Cases, Documents, and Notes (2nd edn, Appleton-Century-Crofts 1952). There are some notable exceptions (for example, Sean D Murphy, Principles of International Law (2nd edn, West 2019), though even these tend to have a heavy focus on peculiarly American aspects of the subject.
- 89.
Andrew Clapham (ed), Brierly’s Law of Nations (7th edn, Oxford University Press 2012).
- 90.
James Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (9th edn, Oxford University Press 2019).
- 91.
Malcolm Shaw, International Law (8th edn, Cambridge University Press 2017).
- 92.
M. Evans (ed.), International Law (Oxford University Press 5th edn, 2018).
- 93.
“The idea underlying the Sørensen Manual was to capitalize on this perceived new era [the early 1960s] by preparing and publishing a treatise on public international law written from an international rather than a national perspective. The authors were to be from different regions and different legal systems, representative of the new dispensation of the community of nations: East–West, North–South. While each contributor would be assigned individual topics, the final edited text would represent the collective views of the group as a whole.”: Ralph Zacklin, ‘A Personal Perspective on International Law’ (2014) <https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/orc/resources/law/intl/evans4e/resources/insights/evans4e_insights_16piece5.pdf)> accessed 25 February 2020.
- 94.
David Harris and Sandesh Sivakumaran, Cases and Materials on International Law (8th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2015).
- 95.
Malcolm Evans, Blackstone’s International Law Documents (14th edn, Oxford University Press 2019).
- 96.
Jennings (n 1).
- 97.
See Halsbury’s Laws of England (5th edn, LexisNexis 2018) vol 61 (on ‘International Law and Foreign Relations’). Volume 61 replaced the title ‘International Relations Law’ in the 2010 edition, which itself replaced the title ‘Foreign Relations Law’ in volume 18 of the 4th edition (1977), edited by Clive Parry and John Collier.
- 98.
See also Philip Allott, ‘Language, Method and the Nature of International Law’ (1971) 45 BYIL 79, 97 (observing that the “British tradition has contributed much by its calm speculation”, including in writings on international law, by employing a generally inductive method “inviting the reader to think slowly and quietly and to form a view, preferably in the same sense as the author’s view, but in any case after the application of common sense and good faith”).
- 99.
Jennings (n 1).
- 100.
Ralph Zacklin captured this well in his short piece written in connection with Malcolm Evans’s International Law: “I have been privileged to work for almost thirty years as an international lawyer in the United Nations and from this vantage point international law is neither the omnipotent solution to the world’s problems nor is it an illusion that only die-hard pacifists cling to. It is, in fact, for the practitioner a very real and pragmatic discipline. That it may be uncertain, incomplete, and difficult to enforce does not lessen the need for the rule of law on the international plane nor does it mean that the efforts to codify the law and develop its institutions should cease or be diminished.”: Zacklin (n 93).
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Annex
Annex
1.1 Identification of Customary International Law, Ways and Means for Making the Evidence of Customary International Law More Readily Available, Memorandum by the Secretariat (UN Doc A/CN.4/710/Rev.1, 14 February 2019 (Extract)
1.1.1 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
1.1.1.1 Resources Relating Specifically to International Law
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Parry, Clive, A British Digest of International Law (8 vols.), Stevens and Sons, 1965–1967.
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British and Foreign State Papers, Foreign Office, 1812–1968, printed and online, https://home.heinonline.org/titles/World-Treaty-Library/British-and-ForeignState-Papers/.
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British Practice in International Law, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 1964–1967.
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British Yearbook of International Law, 1920–, printed and online, https://academic.oup.com/bybil.
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Lauterpacht, Elihu, Contemporary Practice of the United Kingdom in the Field of International Law, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 1962–1963.
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Smith, Herbert A., Great Britain and the Law of Nations, P. S. King and Son, 1932–1935.
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International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 1952–, printed and online, www.biicl.org/iclq.
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McNair, Arnold, International Law Opinions (3 vols.), Cambridge University Press, 1956.
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Parry, Clive, Law Officers’ Opinions to the Foreign Office 1793–1860 (97 vols.), Gregg Publishing, 1970.
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United Kingdom Treaties Online, http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/treaties/treaty.htm.
1.1.1.2 General Resources
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BAILII: British and Irish Legal Information Institute, www.bailii.org.
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Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, www.judiciary.gov.uk.
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Foreign and Commonwealth Office, www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office.
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GOV.UK, www.gov.uk.
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Hansard: the Official Report of all Parliamentary Debates, 1909–, printed and online, http://hansard.parliament.uk.
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House of Commons Library, printed and online, www.parliament.uk/commonslibrary.
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Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, www.jcpc.uk.
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LexisNexis, www.lexisnexis.co.uk, available by subscription.
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Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service, www.courtsni.gov.uk.
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Scottish Courts and Tribunals, www.scotcourts.gov.uk.
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The Gazette: Official Public Record, printed and online, www.thegazette.co.uk.
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The National Archives, printed and online, http://nationalarchives.gov.uk.
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The Supreme Court, www.supremecourt.uk.
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The UK Supreme Court Yearbook, Appellate Press Ltd, 2010–, printed and online, www.ukscy.org.uk.
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United Kingdom Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/foreign-affairs-committee/.
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Westlaw International, http://westlawinternational.com, available by subscription.
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Westlaw UK, http://legalresearch.westlaw.co.uk.
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Wood, M. (2021). British Contributions to Public International Law. In: Hilpold, P. (eds) European International Law Traditions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52028-1_6
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