National University of Life and Environmental Sciences
of Ukraine in Kyiv
International law
International law consists
of rules and principles which govern the relations and dealings of nations with
each other [1.page 8]. Every day of our lives we are restrained and guided
by law. It protects us while it restricts us. Sometimes it punishes us. It
determines the registration of our births and the distribution of our
possessions at death. It tells us how fast we can drive and how long we must attend
school. Through zoning laws it restricts the type of home we build. Through
gambling and drinking laws it regulates the life we lead [3.page
356].
It is not possible to have a
society without laws, as there would be anarchy in society then. Governments
make laws and enforce them against all citizens within their power. They have
two motives in making and enforcing laws. One is social control; the other is
the implementation of justice. To establish social control governments use
public law and civil law. Public law ensures the authority of the government
itself and civil law provides framework for interaction among people [4. page
13].
The scope of the law
necessarily makes it complex, and complexity has created the need for
specialists, namely lawyers. This puts the practice of law well beyond the
reach of the layman. For legal assistance in specific instances, the services
of a competent professional usually are advisable [3.page 356].
New laws appear all the time
as our life is changing very fast. But no country has been successful in
producing laws, which are entirely satisfactory. Ordinary people start thinking
about law only when everyday informal ways of settling disputes break down.
When we buy a train ticket, a lawyer may tell us it represents a contract with
legal obligations, but to most of us it is just a ticket that gets us on the
train. If our neighbor plays loud music late at night, we will probably try to
discuss the matter with him rather than consulting the police, lawyers or
courts. Only when we are injured in a train accident or when a neighbor refuses
to behave reasonably, we start thinking about the legal implications of our
everyday activities. Even so, some transactions in modern society are so
complex that few of us would risk making them without seeking legal advice. We
use it when we buy or sell a house, set up a business, or decide whom to give
our property to when we die. On the whole, it seems that people all over the
world are becoming more and more accustomed to using legal means to regulate
their relations with each other [4. page 13].
Law may be used in many
senses: we may speak of the laws of physics, math, etc. When we speak of the
law of a state, we use the term ‘law’ in a special sense, and in that sense law
may be defined as a rule of human conduct, imposed upon and enforced among the
members of a given group of society.
Conflicts and problems are
inevitable: in families, schools, offices, factories and neighborhoods, they
are natural outcome of group living. I want to do one thing, you want to do
another and we can’t do both. Law is a mechanism for resolving and preventing
conflicts. The law uses the rules to resolve and prevent the argument, instead
of force for solving the problem. The rules are used to ensure that members of
the community can live and work together in an orderly and peaceful manner [2.
page 10].
As countries cooperate more and more and have
an increasing number of common global problems to solve, there are attempts to
internationalize legal standards, so that the same legal principles could be
applied to all countries and people. When law helps people to reach just
agreements, it is regarded as a good thing. However, when it involves time and
money and shows people’s inability to cooperate informally, law seems to be an
evil — but a necessary one that everyone should have a basic knowledge of [4.
page 14].
Every country has its own system
of law as each country has developed differently.
International law, which is
in most other countries referred to as public international law, concerns
itself only with questions of rights between several nations or nations and the
citizens or subjects of other nations. In contrast, private international law
deals with controversies between private persons, natural or juridical, arising
out of situations having significant relationship to more than one nation. In
recent years the line between public and private international law has become
increasingly uncertain. Issues of private international law may also implicate
issues of public international law, and many matters of private international
law have substantial significance for the international community of nations.
International law includes the basic, classic concepts of law in national legal
systems - status, property, obligation, and tort (or delict). It also includes substantive law, procedure, process and
remedies.
International law is rooted
in acceptance by the nation states which constitute the system. Customary law
and conventional law are primary sources of international law. Customary
international law results when states follow certain practices generally and
consistently out of a sense of legal obligation. Recently the customary law was
codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
Conventional international
law derives from international agreements and may take any form that the
contracting parties agree upon. Agreements may be made in respect to any matter
except to the extent that the agreement conflicts with the rules of
international law incorporating basic standards of international conduct or the
obligations of a member state under the Charter of the United Nations.
International agreements
create law for the parties of the agreement. They may also lead to the creation
of customary international law when they are intended for adherence generally
and are in fact widely accepted. Customary law and law made by international
agreement have equal authority as international law. Parties may assign higher
priority to one of the sources by agreement. However, some rules of
international law are recognized by international community as peremptory,
permitting no derogation. Such rules can be changed or modified only by a
subsequent peremptory norm of international law.
General principles common to
systems of national law is a secondary source of international law. There are
situations where neither conventional nor customary international law can be
applicable. In this case a general principle may be invoked as a rule of
international law because it is a general principle common to the major legal
systems of the world and not inappropriate for international claims [1. page 9].
International law imposes
upon the nations certain duties with respect to individuals. It is a violation
of international law to treat an alien in a manner which does not satisfy the
international standard of justice. However in the absence of a specific
agreement an individual cannot bring the complaint. Only the state of which he
is a national can complain of such a violation before an international
tribunal. The state of nationality usually is not obligated to exercise this
right and can decide whether to enforce it [1. page 15].
International organizations
play increasingly important role in the relationships between nations. An
international organization is one that is created by international agreement or
which has membership consisting primary of nations.
The United Nations, the most
influential among international organizations, was created on June 26, 1945.
The declared purposes of the United Nations are to maintain peace and security,
to develop friendly relations among nations, to achieve international
cooperation in solving international problems, and to be a center for
harmonizing the actions of the nations and attaining their common ends. The
Charter of the United Nations has been adhered to by virtually all states. Even
the few remaining non-member states have acquiesced in the principles it
established. The International Court of Justice is established by the UN Charter
as its principal judicial organ.
The necessity for
international law arose in the context of increased international
communication, trade, and conflict [1. page 16].
According to the President
of the International Court of Justice, Rosalyn Higgins, international law is a
normative system "harnessed to the achievement of common values – values
that speak to us all, whether we are rich or poor, black or white, of any
religion or none, or come from countries that are industrialized or developing [1.
Page 17].
Bibliographic description:
1.
Гундарєва
В.О., Курнилович М.О. PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH. INTERNATIONAL LAW. Київ, 2009.
2.
Дубовик
О.М., Чернел І.М. Навчальний посібник «English For Lawyers» для студентів, які
навчаються за напрямом підготовки
«Правознавство». К: Видавничо-поліграфічний дім «Формат», 2014.
3.
Зеликман А.Я. Английский для юристов:
учебник – Издание 11-е н/Д: Феникс, 2006.
4. Ступникова,
Л. В. Английский язык для юристов (learning legal english) : учебник и
практикум для СПО / Л. В. Ступникова. — М. : Издательство Юрайт, 2016.