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International Law I
International Law I
2017 December-January
Guidelines
o The binding character of unilateral declarations is based on good faith
o States
o Made by representatives of States in international relations
By virtue of their functions:
Heads of State
Heads of Government
Ministers for foreign affairs
o The form of unilateral acts
May be formulated orally or in writing
o Adressees (címzett)
One State
Several States
International community as a whole
o Unilateral acts and third States/entities
A State can only impose obligations on other States to which it has
addressed a unilateral declaration if the other States unequivocally
accept these obligations
o Capable of creating legal effect
Clear and specific terms
Restrictive interpretation
o Invalidity of a unilateral act which is contrary to ius cogens
o Cannot be revoked (visszavon) arbitrarily (önkényesen, tetszőlegesen)
X. Judicial decisions and the teachings of publicists – Subsidiary (másodlagos,
kisegítő) means
Stare decisis: The policy of courts to abide by (megmarad) or adhere to principles established
by decisions in earlier cases.
accretion=növekedés
prescription=előírás
Dichotomy (a partition of a whole in two parts)
o Principle of universal succession
It favours the interests of third States in the upholding of treaty
relations
o Tabula rasa approach
A rather strict understanding of sovereignty
Rules relating to the succession of States
o Territorial integrity
Respect for territorial boundaries
Boundary regimes
Other territorial regimes
o State succession in respect of human rights treaties
o Political treaties
multilateral=többoldalú; liability=felelősség
TERRITORIAL REGIMES
o Exploitation of natural resources: Russia claims underwater features is
extention of its territory, Convention says countries can claim rights up to 370
km from edge of its continental shelf, Russian claim disputed by other
countries
o Navigation (e.g. Northwest passage)
o Climate change: reduction of sea ice
Declaration of Rovaniemi (1991)
Ottawa Declaration (1996) Arctic Council:
Arctic States
Organizations representing Arctic indigenous peoples
o Military significance
Antarctica
o Territorial claims: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway,
UK
other countries participating as members of the Antarctic Treaty have a
territorial interest, but the provisions (rendelkezés) of the treaty do not
allow them to make their claims while it is in force: Brazil, Peru,
Russia, South Africa, United States
o Legal arguments:
Occupation
Contiguity (szomszédosság)
Sector principle
Continuity
Discovery and exploration
Historic rights
The second freedom allows technical stops without the embarking (beszállás) or
disembarking of passengers or cargo. It is the right to stop in one country solely for
refueling or other maintenance on the way to another country. Because of longer range
of modern airliners, second freedom rights are comparatively rarely exercised by
passenger carriers today, but they are widely used by air cargo carriers, and are more or
less universal between countries.
The fifth freedom allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries
as a part of services connecting the airline's own country. It is the right to carry
passengers from one's own country to a second country, and from that country to a third
country (and so on).
Multilateral treaties
o The Outer space treaty 1967
on principles governing activities of states in the exploration and use of
outer space including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies
o The Rescue Agreement 1968
on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of
Objects Launched into outer space
o The liability convention 1972
convention on liability for damage caused by objects launched into outer
space
o Registration Convention 1975
on registration of objects launched into outer space
o The Moon treaty 1979
Agreement governing the Activities of States on the Moon and other
Celestial Bodies
o Limited test ban traty (LTBT 1963)
The treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in outer
space and under water
auspices=pártfogás
Definition: Waters on the landward side of the baseline of the territorial sea part of the
internal waters of the State
Spatial limits
o So-called straight archipelagic baselines’, joining the outermost points of the
archipelago (Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Bahamas, the Philippines)
o Two objective, numerical criteria
The water to land ratio inside such baselines is between 1 to 1 and 9 to 1
The length of such baselines may not exceed 100 nautical miles
o Archipelagic baselines: must not depart ‘to any appreciable extent from the
general configuration of the archipelago’
Legal regime: archipelagic waters
o The area enclosed by the archipelagic baselines does not become internal waters,
but instead becomes archipelagic waters that are subject to a special regime
o Contains elements of several other regimes (territorial sea, EEZ, continental
shelf)
o Right of passage for foreign ships but confined to a special sea lanes system
Territorial sea
o Spatial limits/Breadth (szélesség)
Every state has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up
to a limit not exceeding twelve nautical miles
Delimitation (elhatárolás): where the coasts of two States are opposite or
adjacent to each other, neither of the two States is entitled, failing
agreement between them to the contrary, to extend its territorial sea
bexong the median line every point of which is equidistant from the
nearest points on the baselines
By agreement: States are free in choosing wither the equidistance
principle or another method
In the case of unilateral delimitation by one coastal State (if
agreement cannot be reached), the ‘median line’ (coasts facing
each other) or ‘equidistant line’ (adjacent coastes)
o Legal regime
The coastal State exercises sovereignty extending to the air space over
the territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil. Complete legislative
and enforcement jurisdiction
Exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
Definition: A maritime zone beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea extending up to
200 nautical miles from the baseline of a costal State …
o … where the coastal State has sovereign rights over the living and non-living
resources of the superjacent waters and its seabed and subsoil (rights of an
essentially economic nature) whereas in that zone other States enjoy the
freedoms of navigation and overflight
o Neither territorial sea nor high seas but partakes of the characteristics of both
regimes
o The legal concept of the EEZ parallels that of the continental shelf in attributing
certain limited rights to coastal States beyond the reach of the territorial sea
Specific declaration
o The rights of the coastal State over the superjacent waters of its EEZ are not
inherent but will have to be declared
Outer limits
o Different concepts: Contiguity or distance?
Contiguity: geological criterion: natural prolongation of the coastal
State’s land territory to the outer end of the continental margin (based on
territorial sovereignty)
Distance: a concept to parallel that of the EEZ
o UNCLOS combines the two approaches
The idea of contiguity [‘the natural prolongation’], but alternatively,
UNCLOS attributes the submarine areas up to a distance of 200 nm to
the coastal State, where the outer edge of the continental margin does not
extend up to that distance
In practice: more than 30% of the total seabed areas of the world have
been attributed to coastal States, including considerable parts of the sea
floor situated beyond the continental margins
o Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
The delimitation (elhatárolás) regarding neighbouring and adjacent coasts
o by agreement
o if necessary using the dispute settlement procedures envisaged by UNCLOS
o the ICJ and arbitral tribunals (döntő bíróság) (decisions developing criteria and
rules)
sedentary = nem mozgó (korall)
High seas: Origins
Various ideas:
o The century-old controversy between the ideas of mare clausum (Selden) and
mare liberium (Grotius), as well as the clash between the interests of the States
reached its conclusion during the 18th century with the triumph of the Grotian
idea of the freedom of the seas beyond territorial waters
Absence of the territorial sovereignty on the high seas
Sources
o 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas
o Customary international law
Developments since 1958
o The spatial dimension of the high seas has shrunk (összezsugorodott) because
of the extension of State sovereignty
o Technological advances: new activities at sea distinct from navigation and
fishing
Definition:
o Deep seabed: the legal status of the deep seabed shifted from a res nullius to a
res cummunis concept
o The seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof beyond the limits of national
jurisdiction
o UNCLOS declares the area a common heritage of mankind
Main aspects
o exploration and exploitation of the deep seabed resources
the area is put under the supervision and control of the International
Seabed Authority, that acts on behalf of ‘mankind as a whole’ in which
all rights over the area are vested (felruház)
its resources constituting the common heritage of mankind
o demilitarization
various treaties forbid States place on the seabed or ocean floor or in the
subsoil thereof, beyond a 12-mile territorial sea, any nuclear weapons or
any other types of weapons of mass destruction
o underwater cultural heritage
2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural
Heritage
Geographical scope
o the outer limit of the continental shelf constitutes the decisive criterion with
regard to the extension of the area
Regime
o Common heritage of mankind
Primarily aims at achieving material equality between developed and
developing States
Res nullius communis usus, i.e. a space open to common utilization
which does not belong to any State or group of States in terms of
territorial sovereignty
o Meaning of the concept
The non-appropriation of the deep seabed beyond the areas of national
jurisdiction
The common management of the mineral resources of the deep seabed
A system of benefit sharing in respect of deep seabed mineral resources
to be established by the ISA
o All activities in the Area are controlled by and organized through the
International Seabed Authority
Transversal activities
Doubly landlocked States: Requiring the crossing of at least two national borders to reach a
coastline (Liechtenstein, Uzbekistan)
Settlement of disputes