Includes:

Public International Law

Private International Law
Supranational Law
▪ Body of laws governing relationships between states of nations.
▪ Rules, laws and legal principles that govern the rights and
duties of nation states in relation to each other.
▪ Derived from customs, legislation and treaties.
▪ These treaties may be known in the forms of:

▪ Conventions, agreements, charters, framework conventions or outline

conventions.
▪ Examples: Tax treaties, trade agreements, visa programs, military
charters.
▪ Conventions: Written agreement between states or nations governed by international
laws, e.g. The Bern Convention- with respect to copyrights.
▪ Agreements: Written agreement between states or nations governed by international
laws. e.g. Bonn Agreement- mutual cooperation for oil spills in in the North Sea

▪ Charters: International agreement granting certain rights to an international body by

the signatory nations of such agreement (United Nations Charter, NATO charter) Many
times a charter states the purpose.
▪ Framework Conventions: International agreement that provides standards and
guidelines for signatory nations to implement on a national level (UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change).
▪ Outline Conventions: The same as framework conventions (more or less) but used in EU
context.
▪ The procedure by which a state or nation, upon receipt of a
formal request by another state or nation, turns over to that
second jurisdiction and individual charged with or convicted of
a crime in that jurisdictions.
▪ Example: A man commits murder in Canada. He flees (escapes) to
France. Canada formally requests France to ‘turn over’ this man so he
can face trial in Canada.
▪ Depends on existing treaties between nations.
▪ Existing issues between countries with capital punishment.
▪ International law that has not been made manifest or ratified,
but is based primarily on natural law and is recognized by the
International Court of Justice and the member nations of the UN.
▪ Slavery, torture, wars of aggression, genocide, crimes against
humanity.
▪ Manifest: To be made clear or evident as in written record.
▪ Ratify: To confirm by expressing consent, approval or formal
sanction. (vote).
▪ International institutions established by governments as opposed to organizations
established privately and acting internationally i.e. non-governmental
organizations (UNICEF) is private but acts internationally.
▪ Members are States or nations.
▪ Best example is the United Nations, World Health Organization, International
Monetary Fund.
▪ Create norms and laws that have been established through international
agreements.
▪ Norms: Commonly accepted standard of behavior or manner of doing things.
▪ Body of law dealing with disputes between private persons
living in different jurisdictions and governing such things as
applicable law, jurisdictions and enforcement of judgements.
▪ Can also refer to conflicts between states in a federal system
(USA).
▪ Refers to the body of rights and duties of private individuals and
business entities of different sovereign states.
▪ Deals with two main factors:
▪ 1. The jurisdiction in which a case may be heard.
▪ 2. Which laws from which jurisdiction(s) apply.

▪ Private individuals or businesses- not bodies.

▪ The law of supranational organizations.
▪ International law dealing with the constraint on the rights of states or
nations in relation to each other.
▪ Regional agreements where the laws of a nation state are not
applicable if in conflict with a supranational legal framework.
▪ Only example of this is the European Union.
▪ Sovereign nations have united their authority through a system of
courts and political institutions.
▪ Legal Framework: Broad system of rules on which to make decisions.