Overview

What is International Law? How is International Law incorporated into Australian Law ? Types of International Law. Where does International Law come from? International Laws vs Foreign Laws.

What is International Law

International law is the system of rules, principles and practices that governs relationships between nations and also between nations and other international bodies, such as the United Nations. In many ways, it facilitates the functioning of the international community. The rules of international law cover most inter-state activities, including the rules of international communications, carriage of goods and trade between nations. International law also deals with spaces not owned by individual nations. These include the seas and oceans, airspace, outer space and Antarctica.

When a country signs an international treaty, it is under an obligation to ensure its national law conforms with the terms of the treaty and so it can impact directly on citizens of the signatory country.

How is International Law incorporated into Australian Law ?

Australia signs a treaty

The treaty is ratified by the Commonwealth Executive (via the power given to the Federal Government in the Constitution)

Provisions are drafted into existing national law or a new bill is drafted

Amended Legislation is sent to the House of Representative for the first reading

Types of International Law

Private International Law : which law will apply when there are disputes across national boundaries. It determines which nations law will apply (referred to as choice of law) and which courts will have jurisdiction to determine the matter.

Activity
Read the article entitled The Global Custody Battle. Once you have read the article, answer the questions in your notebook. Your answers will then be discussed as a class.

Activity
Compare the information you have gained regarding The Global Custody Battle. with the recent case involving four Sunshine Coast Sisters, their Australian mother and their Italian father. Using the below document, review the similarities and differences between the two cases.

Also think about what you think the High Court should take into consideration when making a decision in this case?

Where does International Law come from?

Lawyers and Judges turn to Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice to find the legal sources of international law. These are the sources used by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and by other courts when determining international law issues.

http://www.icj-cij.org/documents/index.php?p1=4&p2=2&p3=0

International Conventions
International Customary Law General Principles of civilised Nations Judicial Decisions

Treaties Can be bi-lateral or multi-lateral

International customary law is the rules that evolved from the customs of national states. reasonably consistent over many years, applied uniformly and the nations of the world must accept that it is binding on them.

These general principles have not been passed by governments but are seen as the basic concepts, processes and procedures that are possessed by fair functioning legal systems.

International Laws distinguished from Foreign Laws

If an Australian is charged with an offence in an overseas country, international law is irrelevant it does not apply. International law does not have a role when Australian citizens break the law of another nation, even if that same act would not be an offence, or as serious an offence, in Australia.

Extension Activity
Review the below International Hague Convention and answer the questions Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.text& cid=24
1. 2. 3. 4.

How many countries have signed the Convention? Has Australia signed and ratified the Convention? Have some countries entered reservations? If so, give three examples of reservations. Has Australia entered a reservation?