Fundamentals of Public International Law, by Giovanni Distefano, provides an overview of public international law’s main principles and fundamental institutions. By introducing the foundations of the legal reasoning underlying public international law, the extensive volume offers essential tools for any international lawyer, regardless of the specific field of specialization. Dealing expansively with subjects, sources and guarantees of international law, university students, scholars and practitioners alike will benefit from the book’s treatment of what has been called the “Institutes” of public international law.

This book brings together world experts on the United Nations and international law, to examine not only the content of that legal regime but how it has been transformed since the second half of the twentieth century.

This book brings a new perspective to the subject of international investment law, by tracing the origins of foreign investor rights. It shows how a group of business leaders, bankers, and lawyers in the mid-twentieth century paved the way for our current system of foreign investment relations, and the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.

1. Introduction 2. Participants in International Law-making 3. Multilateral Law-making Processes 4. Codification and Progressive Development of International law 5. Law-making Instruments 6. The Role of Courts.

The 5th edition of Public International Law continues the book’s accessible, student-friendly tradition with a writing style that is both conversational and easy to read. Features designed to support learning include highlighted key cases, introductory chapter overviews, and end-of-chapter aides-mémoire and recommended further reading. Public International Law is unique in that it is both a textbook and a casebook. The facts of each case and the details of the court or tribunal’s decision are succinctly set out, followed by detailed commentary from the author, and, where appropriate, a brief explanation of subsequent events. The book covers all the major areas of public international law, and takes account of new developments relating to the codification of international law by the International Law Commission, State practice, and decisions of international courts and tribunals, in particular those of the International Court of Justice. Features new to this edition: A new dedicated chapter on the law of the sea Diagrammatic aides-mémoire at the end of each chapter Expanded coverage of the US approach to international law via its courts and executive. This book is an ideal learning tool for students of law or political science and provides a clear and straight-forward overview for anyone with an interest in the subject. Alina Kaczorowska-Ireland is Professor of International and EU Law at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. She is also author of the Routledge textbook, EU Law.