Internation Law

• International Conventions
• General principles of law recognized by civilized nations
• National and international court decisions
• Writing of legal authorities
• Treaties

• Mechanism for settling disputes
• Protecting state from each other
• Protects the S.Q.
• Legitimizes the use the force by a government to maintain order

• No world legislature that can make binding rules
• No authoritative judicial body
• No executive body to enforce rules
• No systematic method of amending and revoking treaties
• Tool of the powerful to oppress the weak
• State sovereignty limits international law

• Sovereign equality
• Diplomatic immunity
• Neutrality
• Crimes against humanity
• Diplomatic recognition
•    - de jure
•    - de facto

• No single value system is dominant throughout the world therefore no ethical or moral precept would be shared across different cultures.
• There are no absolute objective standards by which to judge.
• The just-war tradition begins with a strong presumption against the use of force.
• It establishes the conditions when this presumption may be overridden for the sake of preserving the kind of peace which protects human dignity and human rights.In a disordered world, where peaceful resolution of conflicts sometimes fails, the just-war tradition provides an important moral framework for restraining and regulating the limited use of force by governments.

• The rules of war are philosophically based on morals and ethics
• Just ad Bellum
• Jus in Bello

A just war was only fought in self-defense to punish the damages caused by blatant act of armed aggression

• The justice of war
• To be deemed just, a war can only be waged for a “just cause”
• Marxists – a war undertaken to redress the unjust economic order is just.
• Leninists – a war undertaken for the causes of communist revolution is just
• Religion - (Christian and Muslim) thinkers, a war undertaken to convert unbelievers or exterminate infidels is just

• Justice in War
• Wars would, by their nature, tend to become absolute in the sense, that the use of force would be unlimited and the only objective is military victory
• Is there justice in war?

• Last resort
• Morally defensible cause
• Declaration by legitimate authority
• Not waged for revenge
• Negotiations to end the war are ongoing
• Civilians not attacked
• Goal is to re-establish peace and justice