European University Institute Library

Ethics and authority in international law, Alfred P. Rubin

eng

index present

non fiction

Ethics and authority in international law

electronic resource

dictionaries

726825583

Alfred P. Rubin

Cambridge studies in international and comparative law, 5Cambridge Social Sciences eBooks

The specialized vocabularies of lawyers, ethicists, and political scientists obscure the roots of many real disagreements. In this book, the distinguished American international lawyer Alfred Rubin provides a penetrating account of where these roots lie, and argues powerfully that disagreements which have existed for 3,000 years are unlikely to be resolved soon. Attempts to make 'war crimes' or 'terrorism' criminal under international law seem doomed to fail for the same reasons that attempts failed in the early nineteenth century to make piracy, war crimes, and the international traffic in slaves criminal under the law of nations. And for the same reasons, Professor Rubin argues, it is unlikely that an international criminal court can be instituted today to enforce ethicists' versions of 'international law'.--, Provided by publisher

1. Introduction. Crime and punishment: jurisdiction to prescribe, to adjudicate and to enforce. Words and reality. "Naturalism" and "positivism" "Reality" and the evolution of theory. Adjudication and legislation. Sources and language. The slippery slope -- 2. The international legal order. The naturalist model. The positivist practice -- 3. Theory and practice come together. The United States of America. The impact of reality on theory -- 4. Putting it together. The rise of positivism and the naturalist reaction. The "evolving" world order and "interdependence" "Monism" versus "dualism" again. Overview for the twenty-first century -- 5. Implications for today. "Solutions" in a positivist legal order. Summary and conclusions

Ethics & Authority in International Law