Focusing on damage affecting the seas--tank spills, for example, or the dumping of wastes--this book seeks to identify and illustrate a set of international legal rules for determining if and when a country should be held responsible for environmental harm.

The oceans cover more than seventy per cent of the surface of the planet and they provide many vital ecosystem services. However, the health of the world's oceans has been deteriorating over the past decades and the protection of the marine environment has emerged as one of the most pressing legal and political challenges for the international community. An effective solution depends upon the cooperation of all states towards achieving agreed objectives. This book provides a critical assessment of the role that international law plays in this process, by explaining and evaluating the various legal instruments that have been negotiated in this area, as well as key trends in global ocean governance. Starting with a detailed analysis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the book considers the main treaties and other legal texts that seeks to prevent, reduce, and control damage to the marine environment caused by navigation, seabed exploitation, fishing, dumping, and land-based activities, as well as emerging pressures such as ocean noise and climate change. The book demonstrates how international institutions have expanded their mandates to address a broader range of marine environmental issues, beyond basic problems of pollution control to include the conservation of marine biological diversity and an ecosystems approach to regulation. It also discusses the development of diverse regulatory tools to address anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment and the extent to which states have adopted a precautionary approach in different maritime sectors. Whilst many advances have been made in these matters, this book highlights the need for greater coordination between international institutions, as well as the desirability of developing stronger enforcement mechanisms for international environmental rules.

The Shared Responsibility in International Law series examines the underexplored problem of allocation of responsibilities among multiple states and other actors. The International Law Commission, in its work on state responsibility and the responsibility of international organisations, recognised that attribution of acts to one state or organisation does not exclude possible attribution of the same act to another state or organisation, but has provided limited guidance on allocation or reparation. From the new perspective of shared responsibility, this volume reviews the main principles of the law of international responsibility as laid down in the Articles on State Responsibility and the Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations, such as attribution of conduct, breach, circumstances precluding wrongfulness and reparation. It explores the potential and limitations of current international law in dealing with questions of shared responsibility in areas such as military operations and international environmental law.

This fifth edition of Malcolm Shaw's bestselling textbook on international law provides a clear, authoritative and comprehensive introduction to the subject, fully revised and updated to Spring 2003. Basically preserving the structure which made the previous edition so successful, a new chapter on Inter-state Courts and Tribunals considers the role of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, and there is a new chapter on international humanitarian law. Also examined are arbitration tribunals and the role of international institutions such as the WTO in resolving conflicts. The prosecution of individuals for violations of international law is examined. Additional coverage of events in Kosovo and Iraq analyses the questions of humanitarian intervention and the role of the UN. Written in a clear and accessible style, setting the subject firmly in the context of world politics and the economic and cultural influences affecting it, this book remains a highly readable and invaluable resource for students and practitioners alike. The scope of the text makes this essential reading for students of international law, international relations and the political sciences. The book is also valuable to professionals and governmental and international civil servants.

This book reviews the practice of shared responsibility in multiple issue areas of international law, to assess its application and development.

The law of international responsibility is one of international law's core foundational topics. Written by international experts, this book provides an overview of the modern law of international responsibility, both as it applies to states and to international organizations, with a focus on the ILC's work.