This chapter first sets out seven cases that illustrate some of the legal problems arising from international banking. Many of these cases are not new, nor are most confined to banking. The chapter outlines of how these problems have been handled followed by an examination of the broader principles underlying the resolution of the harder cases. Comity, balancing, cooperation, and harmonization are considered. Jurisdictional clashes over banking matters continue to occur. Some are resolvable in accordance with established legal doctrine, some in accordance with bilateral and multilateral agreements between states. There remains a question mark over how much is achievable in reducing the conflict by pursuing notions of jurisdiction, comity, and the balancing of interests. Rather, shared concerns on substantive issues, such as money laundering and terrorist financing, are more likely to lead to deference by, and cooperation between, jurisdictions.
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Ross Cranston, Emilios Avgouleas, Kristin van Zweiten, Theodor van Sante, and Christoper Hare
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International environmental law is an area of international law where states have decided to cooperate with each other in order to fulfil certain goals of common interest and, for the most part, its rules and principles belong in the category of the international law of cooperation. This chapter discusses the most important parts of international environmental law and its main legal sources. It presents the fundamental principles of international environmental law, including those that seek to prevent damage to the environment and those that seek to ensure a balanced approach to environmental protection. It provides an overview of the most important parts of the substantial regulation in international environmental law, including the legal regime for the protection of the atmosphere, the conservation of nature and the regulation of hazardous substances. It also discusses features related to implementation and enforcement that are particular to international environmental law.
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International environmental law is an area of international law where states have decided to cooperate with each other in order to fulfil certain goals of common interest and, for the most part, its rules and principles belong in the category of the international law of cooperation. This chapter discusses the most important parts of international environmental law and its main legal sources. It presents the fundamental principles of international environmental law, including those that seek to prevent damage to the environment and those that seek to ensure a balanced approach to environmental protection. It provides an overview of the most important parts of the substantial regulation in international environmental law, including the legal regime for the protection of the atmosphere, the conservation of nature and the regulation of hazardous substances. It also discusses features related to implementation and enforcement that are particular to international environmental law.
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This chapter looks at international organizations, their differences to States, and their position within the international legal order. Today, international organizations exist in virtually all fields of transnational and global collective concern. In the broadest sense, they facilitate international cooperation in all areas from the harmonization of tariffs to the management of delicate ecosystems, and range in their scope from small bilateral commissions regulating transboundary resources to regional security and economic organizations, all the way to the universalist aspirations of the UN. The chapter then considers the question of establishing the legal personality of international organizations under international law, which must be distinguished from the question of whether an international organization may also hold legal personality under the domestic law of a State.
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This chapter looks at international organizations, their differences to States, and their position within the international legal order. Today, international organizations exist in virtually all fields of transnational and global collective concern. In the broadest sense, they facilitate international cooperation in all areas from the harmonization of tariffs to the management of delicate ecosystems, and range in their scope from small bilateral commissions regulating transboundary resources to regional security and economic organizations, all the way to the universalist aspirations of the UN. The chapter then considers the question of establishing the legal personality of international organizations under international law, which must be distinguished from the question of whether an international organization may also hold legal personality under the domestic law of a State.
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Paola Gaeta, Jorge E. Viñuales, and Salvatore Zappalà
This chapter focuses on international environmental law. First, it covers certain old precedents and then examines the emergence and consolidation of environmental principles between 1972 and 2020, with particular attention to the emergence of customary international law norms (prevention, co-operation, environmental impact assessment) in this area. Secondly, it surveys the substance of international environmental law, focusing on climate change as a prominent illustration of law-making in this field, and examining compliance procedures, as developed since the end of the 1980s. Thirdly, it discusses the operation of State responsibility and civil liability mechanisms for environmental harm.
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Paola Gaeta, Jorge E. Viñuales, and Salvatore Zappalà
This chapter discusses the role of the United Nations (UN), covering the grand design of the post-Second World War period, the ideals of the primacy of international law, the goals and structure of the new organization, the principal achievements and failures, and the current role of the UN, particularly in light of the adoption in 2015 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—a new Agenda in which all UN goals tend to come together. The chapter describes the functions and roles of the principal organs of the UN and the interplay between them. It argues that since the UN came into existence it has often failed in three areas: maintenance of peace and security, disarmament, and bridging the gap between industrialized and developing countries. On the other hand, progress was made in the area of self-determination of peoples and in promoting human rights, while in the area of economic co-operation, despite some progress, much more remains to be done. However, for all its deficiencies and in spite of the lack of vision of some of its Secretaries-General, the primary failings of the UN must be traced back to the States behind it, chiefly the Great Powers.
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L. Bently, B. Sherman, D. Gangjee, and P. Johnson
This chapter introduces the reader to patents, how they work, and the laws governing them. It begins with a history of the patent system in the UK up to 1977. This is followed by a discussion of various justifications that have been proposed in support of the patent system, such as the natural rights of inventors to their work and the public benefits that flow from the grant of patent monopolies. It also considers the current regulatory regime governing the creation and use of patents in the UK and Europe, with particular reference to the European Patent Convention and the Patents Act 1977. Finally, the chapter discusses the impact of the European Commission on patent law and some of the international treaties that have influenced British patent law, including the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The chapter also speculates on the impact of Brexit on UK patent law.
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Meghna Abraham
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the difficulties that states face when responding to public health emergencies. This chapter explores obligations under human rights law and health law treaties to prepare and prevent pandemics and the reasons that states have failed to meet these obligations. Next, it considers the challenges of responding to a pandemic and the difficulties of striking an appropriate balance between protection of life and health and enjoyment of other rights. Finally, the scope of the obligation to provide international assistance in the form of vaccines and other medical resources is discussed.
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Paola Gaeta, Jorge E. Viñuales, and Salvatore Zappalà
This chapter discusses the fundamental principles governing international relations. The principles represent the fundamental set of standards on which States are united and which allow a degree of relatively smooth international dealings. They make up the apex of the whole body of international legislation. They constitute overriding legal standards that may be regarded as the constitutional principles of the international community. These principles are: the sovereign equality of States; the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs; the prohibition of the threat or use of force; peaceful settlement of international disputes; the duty to co-operate; the principle of good faith; self-determination of peoples; respect for human rights; and the prevention of significant environmental harm. The discussions then turn to the distinguishing traits of the fundamental principles and the close link between the principles and the need for their co-ordination.
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This chapter explores the international dimension of competition law from two perspectives. It begins by describing the growth of international institutions involved in the development of competition law and policy, with particular reference to the International Competition Network (the ‘ICN’), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (the ‘OECD’) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (‘UNCTAD’). It then looks at a more technical issue, which is the extent to which a sovereign state (or the European Union) can apply its competition law extraterritorially to conduct beyond its borders that has a harmful effect within it: this will briefly be considered from a theoretical perspective, after which the positions in the US, EU and UK will be examined in turn. The chapter concludes by briefly examining the extent to which a state may wish to block the application of a foreign competition law to its businesses.
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This chapter examines EU merger control. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 provides an overview of EU merger control. Section 3 discusses the jurisdictional rules which determine whether a particular merger should be investigated by the European Commission in Brussels or by the national competition authorities (‘the NCAs’) of the Member States. Section 4 deals with the procedural considerations such as the mandatory pre-notification to the Commission of mergers that have a Union dimension and the timetable within which the Commission must operate. Section 5 discusses the substantive analysis of mergers under the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR), and section 6 explains the procedure whereby the Commission may authorise a merger on the basis of commitments, often referred to as remedies, offered by the parties to address its competition concerns. The subsequent sections describe the Commission’s powers of investigation and enforcement, judicial review of Commission decisions by the EU Courts and cooperation between the Commission and other competition authorities, both within and outside the EU. The chapter concludes with an examination of how the EUMR merger control provisions work in practice.
