PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

• International law
International law is a set of rules and principles governing the relations and conduct of sovereign
states with each other, as well as with international organizations and individuals. Issues that fall
under international law include trade, human rights, diplomacy, environmental preservation, and
war crimes.
Public international law sets the rules for issues that concern all humankind: the environment, the
oceans, human rights, international business, etc. Various international bodies enforce these rules.
For example, the International Criminal Court investigates and hears cases of people accused of
war crimes or crimes against humanity.

• Division of International Law

Types of international law include humanitarian law, which seeks to limit the effects of armed
conflict; environmental law, which covers many aspects of environmental protection, including
climate change; trade law, which governs how states engage in commerce with one another; and
the law of war, which deals with when war is justified and how it may be conducted justly.

• Law of Peace
The law of peace regulates peaceful relations and includes such subject matters as international
treaty law, the law of diplomatic and consular relations, international organization law, the law of
state responsibility, the law of the sea, the environment and outer space, or international economic
law.

• Law of War
The law of war, that part of international law dealing with the inception, conduct, and termination
of warfare. It aims to limit the suffering caused to combatants and, more particularly, to those who
may be described as the victims of war—that is, noncombatant civilians and those no longer able
to take part in hostilities. Thus, the wounded, the sick, the shipwrecked, and prisoners of war also
require protection by law.

• Law of Neutrality
describes the formal position taken by a State which is not participating in an armed conflict or
which does not want to become involved. This status entails specific rights and duties. On the one
hand, the neutral State has the right to stand apart from and not be adversely affected by the
conflict. On the other hand, it has a duty of non-participation and impartiality.

• Difference between International Law and Municipal Law

Municipal law governs the domestic aspects of government and deals with issues between
individuals, and between individuals and the administrative apparatus, while international law
focuses primarily on the relations between states.
 • Doctrine of Incorporation
means that the rules of international law form part of the law of the land and no legislative action
is required to make them applicable to a country. The Philippines follows this doctrine because
Section 2. Article II of the Constitution states that the Philippines adopt the generally accepted
principles of international law as part of the law of the land.

• Doctrine of Transformation
is based upon the perception of two distinct systems of law operating separately, and maintains
that before any rule or principle of international law can have any effect within the domestic
jurisdiction, it must be expressly and specifically “transformed” into municipal law by the use of
the appropriate constitutional machinery. This doctrine grew from the procedure whereby
international agreements are rendered operative in municipal law by the evidence of ratification
by the sovereign and the idea has developed from this that any rule of international law must be
transformed, or specifically adopted, to be valid within the internal legal order.

• How to resolve conflicts between international law and municipal law?

• Difference between Treaty and Constitution

Treaties — international agreements entered into by the Philippines which require legislative
concurrence after executive ratification. This term may include compacts like conventions,
declarations, covenants, and acts.
Constitution — the rule book for a state. It sets out the fundamental principles by which the state
is governed. It describes the main institutions of the state and defines the relationship between
these institutions
The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines
Article II, Section 2: The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts
the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land, and adheres to
the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations.
Article VII, Section 21: No treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless
concurred in by at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.

• Basis of International Law

Sovereign Equality: All states are equal under international law regardless of factors like size,
power, or economic development. This principle is enshrined in the UN Charter.
Good Faith: States must engage in good faith in upholding their duties under international law and
fulfilling the purpose of treaties and other agreements.
Non-Intervention: states cannot interfere directly in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of
other states.
Prohibition of Force: states cannot use aggressive force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of other states.
Peaceful Settlement of Disputes: states should resolve disputes peacefully without threatening or
using force. Methods include negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and judicial
settlement.

• Naturalists
The theory of natural law believes that our civil laws should be based on morality, ethics, and what
is inherently correct.

• Positivists
Positivism says that authority is what makes the law the law.
A positivist approach would say that it is state consent that creates international law. Law does not
have to be consistent with morality or a higher state of reason.

• Eclectics
is the approach to legal theorizing where what seems best among the various competing theories
and their variants are selected to answer persistent and pressing problems in legal theory (in a
positive sense) discriminatingly but holistically in juxtaposition.

• Functions of International Law

First of all, international law has its main purpose and role to promote justice, prosperity, and peace
all around the world. It is the most powerful weapon to prevent armed conflicts between countries
and help them strengthen their mutual relations.

• Sources of International Law

statute identifies three sources of international law: treaties, customs, and general principles.
Treaties are known by a variety of terms—conventions, agreements, pacts, general acts, charters,
and covenants—all of which signify written instruments in which the participants (usually but not
always states) agree to be bound by the negotiated terms.
Customs are evidence of a general practice accepted as law,” as a second source of international
law. Custom, whose importance reflects the decentralized nature of the international system,
involves two fundamental elements: the actual practice of states and the acceptance by states of
that practice as law. The actual practice of states (termed the “material fact”) covers various
elements, including the duration, consistency, repetition, and generality of a particular kind of
behavior by states.
general principles. These principles essentially provide a mechanism to address international
issues not already subject either to treaty provisions or to binding customary rules. Such general
principles may arise either through municipal law or through international law, and many are in
fact procedural or evidential principles or those that deal with the machinery of the judicial process.