Course Details
Course Description and Learning Outcomes
Welcome to "International Law II". The purpose of this course is to build on the basics of public international law by focusing on specialized areas and matters in international law as well as analysing relevant cases in international law. The expected learning outcomes of the course are as follows:
Course Requirements
Students will be assigned readings on a weekly basis and are expected to come to class prepared and actively participate to the discussions. The up-to-date reading list can be found in the syllabus. Please make sure that you check the list of readings each week to see if there are any updates.
Students are expected to attend the classes regularly and be in class on time. Late-coming students will have to wait for the break to take their place in the classroom. Attendance will be taken in each hour, and 70% attendance throughout the semester is obligatory to not to fail the course with F1.
There will be regular quizzes to ensure that students revise the topics weekly. These quizzes can be in the form of priorly announced quizzes and/or pop-quizzes. Please follow the course syllabus for the date and time of the scheduled quizzes. The final grade will be based on the following tasks:
Class Hours
We will meet on Tuesday at 09:00 in classroom A3. Please be on time. Those who are late will have to wait for the break to enter the classroom.
Video Lectures
Video lectures will be made available when necessary. You shall come to the lectures and do your reading assignments regulary.
Syllabus
Please study the course syllabus carefully and make sure to check out the details of the forthcoming week for updates (if available).
HADI Platform
Please remember to follow the announcements via the HADI platform. Interactive exercises may also be given upon prior notice.
This week, we will make a brief introduction to the course and go over the course description, requirements and the syllabus to understand what this course entails of and what I am expecting from my students within the confines of this course.
Reading assignments:
This week we will talk about the basics of International Criminal Law and also learn about the International Criminal Court.
Reading assignments:
(1) Ilias Bantekas and Susan Nash. "Chapter 1 - Theory of International Criminal Law", in International Criminal Law, (2nd ed.). London: Cavendish Publishing, pp. 1-16 (link).
(2) Ilias Bantekas and Susan Nash. "Chapter 14 - The Permanent International Criminal Court", in International Criminal Law, (2nd ed.). London: Cavendish Publishing, pp. 375-95 (link).
This week, we will dwell into the law of treaties to understand basic rules, principles and functioning mechanisms of treaties under international law.
Reading assignments:
(1) Rebecca M.M. Wallace. “The Law of Treaties” in International Law, (7th ed.), pp. 267-292 (link).
(2) 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (full text).
This week, we will continue to talk about the law of treaties.
Reading assignments:
(1) Rebecca M.M. Wallace. “The Law of Treaties” in International Law, (7th ed.), pp. 267-292 (link).
(2) 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (full text).
This week, we will start discussing what state responsibility entails of.
Reading assignments:
(1) Jan Klabbers. "7 The Law of Responsibility" (P1, P2, P3).
(2) 2001 Draft articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, with commentaries (see pp. 64-86 for further information on responsibility of a state in connection with the act of another state, and circumstances precluding wrongfulness) (full text).
This week, we will continue to talk about state responsibility, and as a sample case we will discuss the Mavi Marmara Incident.
Reading assignments:
(1) Jan Klabbers. "7 The Law of Responsibility" (P1, P2, P3).
(2) 2001 Draft articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, with commentaries (see pp. 64-86 for further information on responsibility of a state in connection with the act of another state, and circumstances precluding wrongfulness) (full text).
(3) Independent research on the Mavi Marmara case.
The date and time of the midterm exam will be announced later.
Reminders:
. Please follow the announcements regarding the date, time and place of the midterm exam.
. Please be reminded that a make-up exam will not be given unless you have a legally acceptable proof of your excuse.
Due to the official holiday, we will not have a class this week. Please take this as a chance to prepare for the midterm exam.
This week, we will explore the relationship between domestic legal systems and the international legal system.
Reading assignment:
(1) Jan Klabbers. "16. Domestic Courts and their relationship with international law" in International Law (P1; P2; P3).
There will be no lecture due to the national holiday.
This week, we will study the use of force and the limitations imposed under international law as well as the exceptions to the prohibition of the threat and use of force.
Reading assignments:
(1) Jan Klabbers. "Use of Force" (link).
(2) UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) on Definition of Aggression, 14 December 1974 (full texts: printable version; original document).
(3 Sample Case) Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Case Judgment Summaries 1984/5, 1986/2 (link).
This week, we will discuss collective protection of human rights and concepts such as humanitarian intervention and the Responsibility to Protect.
Reading assignments:
(1) Pınar Gözen Ercan. (2020) "Chapter 4. Collective Protection of Human Rights and World Politics" in Human Rights, Harun Tepe and Duru Şahyar Akdemir (eds.). Eskişehir: Anadolu University Publications (link).
(2) UN General Assembly (2005) The Responsibility to Protect, World Summit Outcome Document, Paragraphs 138-139.
This week, we will study the law of the sea and learn about fundamental sea areas and how they are regulated.
Reading assignments:
(1) Anthony Aust. "The Law of the Sea" in Handbook of International Law. (2nd ed.). Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2010, pp. 298-326 (link).
(2 - Suggested Reading) Aegean Sea Continental Shelf (Greece v. Turkey), Summary of the Judgment of 19 December 1978 (link).
In this final week of the semester, we will have an overview of what we have discussed throughout the semester, and discuss the relationship between international law and politics and how they impact each other.
Reading assignments:
(1) Rebecca M.M. Wallace. “Conclusion” in International Law, (7th ed.), pp. 363-368 (link).
The date, time, place and details of the final exam will be announced when available.
Important Notice:
. Date, time and place of the final exam will be announced when the information becomes available
. The final exam will comprise of all the topics we have covered throughout the semester.
You may access the video lectures from here.
The list below provides you with the main sources for this course as well as additional resources that you may consult to deepen your knowledge.
Textbooks
. Malcolm D. Evans (ed.), International Law, (4th ed.). Lavis: Oxford University Press.
. Martin Dixon. (2013) Textbook on International Law (7th ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
. Jan Klabbers. (2013) International Law. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.
. Anthony Aust. (2010) Handbook of International Law. (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
. Rebecca M.M. Wallace, and Olga Martin-Ortega. (2013) International Law. (7th ed.). London: Sweet & Maxwell.
. Antonio Cassese. (2005) International Law. (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
. Malcolm N. Shaw. (2004) International Law. (5th ed.). Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Web Sources
. Selected International Law Terms (link)
. International Court of Justice (ICJ)
. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)
. European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
. International Criminal Court (ICC)