UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS

SCHOOL OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

CEBU CITY
PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW POINTERS IN
-LAW OF TREATIES
-LAW OF THE SEA
-STATE RESPONSIBILITY
-PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES BETWEEN STATES
-JUS AD BELLUM
-JUS IN BELLO
A. Law of Treaties
-Must a treaty be in a certain form to be binding?
-Distinguish between apparent from implied authority to represent a state
-How will a state express its consent to be bound by a treaty?
-When will a treaty enter into force?
-What is pacta sunt servanda?
-What happens when a treaty conflicts with a peremptory norm?
-Obligations of a contracting state before treaty enters into force
-May a state invoke its domestic law to justify non-compliance of a treaty provision?
-Distinguish Art. 27 from Art. 46 of the 1969 VCLT
-What is the effect of reservation to parties to a treaty who accept/reject the
reservation?
-Is a secret treaty valid?
-When is breach of a treaty material?
-What kind of treaty provisions may not be suspended or terminated on ground of
material breach?
-When is error not a ground to terminate/suspend a treaty?
-In Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project Case:
-Did Slovakia commit material breach? Why or why not? Did the breach entitle
Hungary to any relief? Why or why not?
-Was Hungary allowed to invoke rebus sic stantibus? Why or why not?
-Was Slovakias invocation of lawful countermeasure upheld by the ICJ? Why
or why not?
-What was the Courts discussion about impossibility of performance and
doctrine of necessity?
-Discuss the following principles in treaty interpretation: Textualism, Teleological
Interpretation, Principle of Effectiveness and Systemic Integration
-When may the travaux preparatoires and contemporaneous acts of state parties
relevant in treaty interpretation?
-May a treaty without exit provision be denounced or terminated?
-What is the sommation-notification requirement in termination of treaties?

B. Law of the Sea

-What is the extent of authority, if any, of the coastal state over the:
-internal waters
-archipelagic waters
-territorial sea
-contiguous zone
-exclusive economic zone
-continental shelf; extended continental shelf
-high seas
-The area?
-What is the rule as regards off-shore installations, artificial islands, roadsteads,
low-tide elevations and rocks?
-What is the right of innocent passage?
-May a coastal state exercise criminal jurisdiction over acts committed onboard
(1) merchant vessels and (2) warships in (a) internal waters and (b) territorial
waters?
-Distinguish the coastal states privilege/jurisdiction over the EEZ and over the
Continental Shelf
-What are the so-called Freedoms on the High Seas
-What law governs ships in the high seas?
-Which state has jurisdiction over collision cases in the high seas? Does UNCLOS III
follow the Lotus Case?
-What is piracy?
-What is hot pursuit?
-What regime applies to The Area?
C. Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Act
-What is an internationally wrongful act?
-When is an act attributable to the state?
-Give one example of the following methods of attribution as provided for in the Draft
ARSIWA:
1. By State Organs and Quasi-State Organs (Parastatal entities):
a. Act of any State organ or official without regard to nature of
function; (Art. 4) [State Organ]
b. Act of a person or entity empowered to exercise governmental
authority (Art. 5), placed at the disposal of a State by another state
(Art. 6), even if such act is in excess of authority or contravenes
Instructions; (Art. 7) [Quasi-state Organ]
2. By Non-State Organs (Private Persons or Group of Persons):
a. Act done pursuant to instruction of, or under the direction or control
of, the State; (Art. 8) [What is the threshold of direction or control?]
b. Act done in the exercise of governmental authority in default of
official authorities; (Art. 9)

c. Conduct of rebel movement which becomes the new Government of

a State; (Art. 10)
3. By Any Other Person/Entity: Conduct is acknowledged and adopted by the
State, either expressly or by conduct, as its own. (Art. 11)
-What is the scope of responsibility of states?
-When is countermeasure lawful?
D. Peaceful Settlement of Disputes Between States
-Jurisdiction of ICJ in contentious cases
-Advisory Jurisdiction of ICJ
-Who has standing before the ICJ?
E. Jus Ad Bellum
-prohibition against the use of force; Art. 2(4) of UN Charter; scope of use of force
-nature of the right of self-defense; Art. 51 of UN Charter; meaning of armed attack
-armed attack by non-state actor
-Caroline Test; Webster Formula
-collective self-defense; UN Security Council Resolution 678; collective security;
implied authorization
-R2P; unilateral intervention
-right to self-determination, secession, Remedial Right Only Theory (vs. Ascriptivist,
Plebiscitary, Territorial Theories)
-proportionality
-Nicaragua Case; Accumulation Theory
F. Jus in Bello
-international armed conflict vs. non-international armed conflict
-what are wars of national liberation?
-superior responsibility vs. command responsibility
-crime against humanity
-extermination vs. murder vs. genocide
-war crime
-principle of complementarity
-captured combatants; POWs
-international humanitarian law vs. international human rights law
-military necessity; proportionality; principle of distinction
oOo