The purpose of this book is to explore what role ethical discourse plays in public and private international law. The book seeks (1) to delineate the role of ethical investigation in creating, sustaining, challenging and changing international law and (2) to open up a conversation between two related disciplines - public and private international law - that frequently labor in different vineyards. By examining the role of ethical discourse in international law's public and private dimensions, this volume will hopefully open new avenues for cross-disciplinary exchange in these important fields and related disciplines. The chapters in this book show that there is a way to engage the ethical dimension of international law without seeking to use ethics as raw politics and the will to power.

Offering a new interdisciplinary approach to global justice and integrating the insights of international relations and contemporary ethics, this book asks whether the core norms of international law are just by appraising them according to a standard of global justice grounded in the advancement of peace and protection of human rights.

This book focuses on the legal regulation, mainly from an international law perspective, of autonomous artificial intelligence systems, of their creations, as well as of the interaction of human and artificial intelligence. It examines critical questions regarding both the ontology of autonomous AI systems and the legal implications: what constitutes an autonomous AI system and what are its unique characteristics? How do they interact with humans? What would be the implications of combined artificial and human intelligence? It also explores potentially the most important questions: what are the implications of these developments for collective security –from both a state-centered and a human perspective, as well as for legal systems? Why is international law better positioned to make such determinations and to create a universal framework for this new type of legal personality? How can the matrix of obligations and rights of this new legal personality be construed and what would be the repercussions for the international community? In order to address these questions, the book discusses cognitive aspects embedded in the framework of law, offering insights based on both de lege lata and de lege ferenda perspectives.

The Role of Legal Advisers in International Law sheds light on the position, activities and influence of legal advisers in the domain of international law. This is a novel and edifying perspective in that it surveys and appraises important undertakings of legal advisers in domestic and international legal forums and their role in the development, interpretation and application of international law. Building upon their extensive knowledge and experience, contributors to the book analyse themes such as influence of various legal traditions (including the British) on the work of legal advisers, their position in the diplomatic decision-making process, the role of ethics in providing legal advice, and their contributions – in various forms – to the development and strengthening of the international legal system. Please also see the following related titles: - British Influences on International Law, 1915-2015 - British Contributions to International Law, 1915-2015

Recasting the critical challenge to international law in positive terms, this book examines what is left of international law if we accept both that apolitical rules are impossible and that the values used to justify them are irreducibly, radically subjective.

This book examines an interesting and relatively understudied area of the evolution of the international rule of law and the role of professional ethics. The rule of law has been gradually developed and promoted at the national level over centuries, however at the international level it has only recently received (more in rhetoric than in implementation) support from a macro perspective - developments of international rules and institutions, and from a micro perspective - ethical codes, independence and un-bias of professionals, working in international organizations and tribunals. The book offers analysis and recommends policies to strengthen the rule of law at international level to meet a major global governance demand in ensuring equity, justice, stability and consistency in international affairs.

Although working on the sidelines of armed conflicts, physicians are often at the centre of attention. First Do No harm: Medical Ethics in International Humanitarian Law was born from the occasionally controversial role of physicians in recent armed conflicts and the legal and ethical rules that frame their actions. While international humanitarian, human rights and criminal law provide a framework of rights and obligations that bind physicians in armed conflicts, the reference to ‘medical ethics’ in the laws of armed conflict adds an extra-legal layer. In analysing both the legal and the ethical framework for physicians in armed conflict, the book is invaluable to practitioners and legal scholars alike.