International Law

State Responsibility
- Obligation of a State as an international person
- Obligations due under international law
- State responsibility is a legal responsibility as a State cannot abolish or create
international law in the same way as municipal law
- PCIJ, in Chorzow Case, said: “it is a principle of International Law and even a general
conception of law, that any breach of an engagement involves an obligation to make
reparation
- International Law Commission on State Responsibility: “There is an internationally
wrongful act of State when:
 Conduct consisting of an action or omission is attributable to the State under
International Law, and
 That conduct constitutes a breach of an international obligation of the State”
- Article 19 of a draft prepared by this Commission:
 A breach of an international obligation is an internationally wrongful act
 Breach is recognized as a crime by that community as a whole
 International crime may result from:
 Breach of an obligation such as that prohibiting aggression
 Breach of an obligation safeguarding the right of determination of
peoples, such as that prohibiting the establishment or maintenance by
force of colonial domination
 Breach of an international obligation such as those prohibiting slavery,
apartheid and genocide
 Breach of an obligation safeguarding the preservation of human
environment, such as those prohibiting massive pollution of the
atmosphere or of the seas
 Any internationally wrongful act not mentioned in the draft as a crime
constitutes an international delict

Original and Vicarious Responsibility

- The duty of a State concerned to punish the guilty or accused and compel him to pay
compensation
- Oppenheim: “Original responsibility is borne by a State for its own - that is for its
Government’s actions and such actions of the lower agents or private individuals as are
performed at the Government’s command or with its authorization”

Muhammad Minhaj Mahdi

International Law

- Because law of nations is primarily a law between States only, it makes every State in a
sense responsible for certain internationally injurious acts committed by its officials,
subjects, and such aliens as are temporarily residents of its territory

State Responsibility in Different Fields

1. International Delinquency
- Any injury to another State committed by the Head or Government of a State in
violation of an international legal duty
- Ranges from ordinary breaches of treaty obligations to violations of international law
amounting to a criminal act
- Includes unjustified intervention, an act of violating a treaty, or any act that violates the
person or the property of one of its citizens abroad
- Delinquency is breach of an international obligation independent of any contractual
obligation and its remedy is pecuniary compensation
- Crimes are violations of customary or treaty rules of international law and their remedy
is punishment or reparation
- The Nuremberg Trial, 1947: “Crimes against International Law are committed by men,
not by abstract entities and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can
the provisions of international law be enforced.”
- Imputability: attribution of delinquency to a State that has conducted it is called
Imputability
- It is sometimes said that a State is not responsible to another State for unlawful acts
committed by its agents unless such acts are committed willfully and maliciously or with
culpable negligence
- The fact that an ultra vires act of an official is accompanied by malice on his part without
regard to whether or not the law permits the act, does not affect the responsibility of
his State

2. State Responsibility for Injury to Aliens

- Aliens living in a State should also be conferred upon the same rights which are given to
the citizens
- State responsibilities towards aliens may be of following types:
 State responsibility for acts of individuals
 State responsibility for acts of mob-violence: State responsible for mob-violence
only when it has not made due diligence to prevent it
 State responsibility for acts of insurgents: it is a responsibility of the States to try
to prevent the violent acts of the revolutionaries

Muhammad Minhaj Mahdi

International Law

- Garcia Amador, rapporteur for the International Law Commission on State

Responsibility writes: “The State is responsible for injuries caused to an alien in
consequence of riots or civil strife or other internal disturbances if the constituted
authority was manifestly negligent in taking measures which, in such circumstances, are
normally taken to prevent or punish the acts in question.”
- Granting of amnesty to the rebels constitutes a failure of duty and an acceptance of
responsibility for their acts on the basis of a form of estoppel

Reparations for Injuries suffered in the Services of the UN

The ICJ has decided that UN is an international person and under international law it has rights
and duties, and that it can claim damages and compensation for the injuries or loss suffered by
the persons working under its service or auspices

Calvo Doctrine

It states that during civil war, the State is not responsible for the losses suffered by the alien
persons because if this responsibility is accepted then big nations will get an excuse to
intervene in the independence of weaker States.

Muhammad Minhaj Mahdi