News

Last published : volumes 338, 344 and 347

TOME 338 (2008)

ISBN 978-90-04-17293-7

Daniel Thürer: International Humanitarian Law: Theory, Practice, Context.
This book is about international humanitarian law or - as it is also called - the "law of armed conflict" or "law of war". It emerged from a series of lectures delivered at the Hague Academy of International Law. Daniel Thürer deals with war and the means by which international law attempts to contain and, as it were, "humanize" organized violence. But the ambitions of the author go beyond the battlefield. The book explores the many complex ways in which law functions to regulate warfare, in theory and in practice. The author looks into treaties and other sources of international law, but he also tries to step outside the boundaries of "black-letter law" to deal broadly with such matters as the influence of culture in shaping the norms on war, the institutions that develop those norms and work for their universal acceptance, the networks of humanitarian actors in this area and the legal procedures in which the law of war and its various institutions are embedded. The book demonstrates that even wars are, in various ways, conducted in the "shadow of the law".

TOME 344 (2010)

ISBN 978-90-04-18512-8

M. E. VILLIGER: The 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties - 40 Years after.
The 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, regulating treaties between States, lies at the heart of international law. This course analyses how the Convention has been applied by States and tribunals in the past 40 years. Particular issues which are examined concern reservations to treaties, interpretation, jus cogens, breach of treaty, the procedural rules under the Convention - and of course the Convention's relationship to customary international law.

J. E. ALVAREZ: The Public International Law Regime Governing International Investment.
This monograph considers the ramifications of the legal regime that governs transborder capital flows. This regime consists principally of a network of some 3,000 investment treaties, as well as a growing body of arbitral decisions. Professor Alvarez contends that the contemporary international investment regime should no longer be described as a species of territorial "empire" imposed by rich capital exporters on capital importers. He examines the evolution of investment treaties and investor-State jurisprudence constante and identifies the connections between these and general trends within public international law, including the increased resort to treaties ("treatification"), growing risks to the law's consistency ("fragmentation"), and the proliferation of forms of international adjudication ("judicialization"). Professor Alvarez also considers whether the regime's efforts to "balance" the needs of non-State investors and sovereigns ought to be characterized as "global administrative law", as a form of "constitutionalization", or as an increasingly human-rights-centred enterprise.

TOME 347 (2010)

ISBN 978-90-04-18516-6

J. SALMON : Quelle place pour l'Etat dans le droit international d'aujourd'hui ?
Depuis quelques années une partie de la doctrine se plaît à annoncer la fin de l'Etat souverain, dont le rôle devrait être repris par des organisations internationales, l'Organisation des Nations Unies, un super-Etat fédéral ou la société civile. Il est vrai que la souveraineté de l'Etat est amenuisée tant par les forces régionales internes que par les organisations internationales et le régime d'économie libérale qui domine la mondialisation. Néanmoins l'Etat reste

L. BOISSON DE CHAZOURNES : Les relations entre organisations régionales et organisations universelles.
Les relations entre organisations régionales et organisations universelles sont multiples et présentent des contours variés. Placées tout d'abord dans leur contexte historique, elles sont ensuite appréhendées au travers d'une typologie fonctionnelle, qui souligne la nature et le contenu de ces relations ainsi que les conséquences juridiques qui en découlent. Les domaines du commerce international, du maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales et celui des liens entre droits de l'homme et mesures de sécurité collective montrent que les relations entre organisations régionales et organisations universelles sont complexes et oscillent entre concurrence, complémentarité, coopération et autonomie.

The Collected Courses are available in:
Bound edition
All the volumes of the Collected Courses that have been published since 1923 are available, and each volume since the very first is regularly reprinted in its original form. They can be ordered at Brill publishers.
Electronic version
All books that have been published to date have been put on-line and can be consulted by subscription.
Pocketbooks
Since 2008, certain courses have been published in pocketbook format.