This book deals with the identification of the aggressor state under International Law. This issue raises a deceptively easy question, that is, how does one distinguish the aggressor state from the victim state in situations involving the unilateral use of force? In a straightforward situation where state A attacks state B without any provocation, it is clear that state A is the aggressor. However, confusion begins to arise when state A first attacks state B as a form of 'anticipatory' self-defence; or when state A first attacks state B as a form of 'pre-emptive' self-defence; or when state A attacks state B in order to prevent state B from committing gross human rights atrocities against its own nationals. In all of these latter situations, the current rules are unclear and therefore either make it impossible to distinguish between the aggressor state and the victim state or give the aggressor state an unfair advantage over the victim state. This book utilizes general principles of Criminal Law in an attempt to tackle these questions and ultimately to devise a solution for distinguishing between the aggressor and the victim state regardless of the circumstances. Attention has also been given to the field of international relations.

The 1969 and 1986 Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties are essential components of the international legal order. This is the first Commentary on their provisions, containing thorough and well-structured analyses of each of their Articles. It draws on preparatory works and practice and is written by a large collection of experts from the field

The 2010 Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute empowered the International Criminal Court to prosecute the 'supreme crime' under international law: the crime of aggression. This landmark commentary provides the first analysis of the history, theory, legal interpretation and future of the crime of aggression. As well as explaining the positions of the main actors in the negotiations, the authoritative team of leading scholars and practitioners set out exactly how countries have themselves criminalized illegal war-making in domestic law and practice. In light of the anticipated activation of the Court's jurisdiction over this crime in 2017, this work offers, over two volumes, a comprehensive legal analysis of how to understand the material and mental elements of the crime of aggression as defined at Kampala. Alongside The Travaux Préparatoires of the Crime of Aggression (Cambridge, 2011), this commentary provides the definitive resource for anyone concerned with the illegal use of force.

Self-defense and the right to go to war. Originally published: New York: Praeger, [1958]. xv, 294 pp. Bowett observes that the use or threat of force by any state can be a delict, an approved sanction, or a measure taken in self-defense. He examines the evolution of self-defense doctrine in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, with the assumption of the existence of a state's unlimited 'right' to go to war. He then attempts to outline the limited and provisional effects of this right under the U.N. Charter. This book was written after Bowett's term as a United Nations legal officer from 1957-1959. "Throughout the work there is a refusal to dogmatize or to state in absolute terms any aspect of the 'privilege' of self-defence in its present context. (...) [Bowett] is to be congratulated on producing a timely and scholarly survey of one of the most fundamental, and often abused, sovereign rights known to international law." --K.R. Simmonds, British Year Book of International Law 34 (1958) 432. SIR DEREK WILLIAM BOWETT [1927-2009], an international lawyer, was President of Queens' College, Cambridge from 1969-1982 and Whewell Professor of International Law, Cambridge, from 1981-1991. He was awarded a CBE in 1983 and a knighthood in 1998. He is the author of The Law of International Institutions (1963), United Nations Forces: A Legal Study (1964), The Law of the Sea (1967), The Search for Peace (1972) and The International Court of Justice (1996).

This book deals with the identification of the aggressor state under International Law. This issue raises a deceptively easy question, that is, how does one distinguish the aggressor state from the victim state in situations involving the unilateral use of force? In a straightforward situation where state A attacks state B without any provocation, it is clear that state A is the aggressor. However, confusion begins to arise when state A first attacks state B as a form of 'anticipatory' self-defence; or when state A first attacks state B as a form of 'pre-emptive' self-defence; or when state A attacks state B in order to prevent state B from committing gross human rights atrocities against its own nationals. In all of these latter situations, the current rules are unclear and therefore either make it impossible to distinguish between the aggressor state and the victim state or give the aggressor state an unfair advantage over the victim state. This book utilizes general principles of Criminal Law in an attempt to tackle these questions and ultimately to devise a solution for distinguishing between the aggressor and the victim state regardless of the circumstances. Attention has also been given to the field of international relations.

This report was prepared for the Working Group on the Crime of Aggression at the 8th session of Preparatory Commission, held in September-October 2001. The paper consists of four parts relating to: the Nuremberg tribunal; tribunals establish pursuant to Control Council Law number 10; the Tokyo tribunal; and the United Nations. Annexes contain tables regarding aggression by a State and individual responsibility for crimes against peace. The paper seeks to provide an objective, analytical overview of the history and major developments relating to aggression, both before and after the adoption of the UN Charter.

This book provides a modern and basic introduction to a branch of international law constantly gaining in importance in international life, namely international humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict). It is constructed in a way suitable for self-study. The subject-matters are discussed in self-contained chapters, allowing each to be studied independently of the others. Among the subject-matters discussed are, inter alia: the Relationship between jus ad bellum / jus in bello; Historical Evolution of IHL; Basic Principles and Sources of IHL; Martens Clause; International and Non-International Armed Conflicts; Material, Spatial, Personal and Temporal Scope of Application of IHL; Special Agreements under IHL; Role of the ICRC; Targeting; Objects Specifically Protected against Attack; Prohibited Weapons; Perfidy; Reprisals; Assistance of the Wounded and Sick; Definition of Combatants; Protection of Prisoners of War; Protection of Civilians; Occupied Territories; Protective Emblems; Sea Warfare; Neutrality; Implementation of IHL.