A PRESENTATION

BY

SHABANA KAUSAR JATOI

According to Bentham’s classic definition, International law is a
collection of rules governing relations between states. In its
broadest sense, international law provides normative guidelines
as well as methods, mechanisms, and a common conceptual
language to international actors—i.e., primarily sovereign states
but also increasingly international organizations and some
individuals. The range of subjects and actors directly concerned
with international law has widened considerably, moving beyond
the classical questions of war, peace, and diplomacy to include
human rights, economic and trade issues, space law, and
international organizations. It is important that these International
laws that have been composed and agreed upon are properly
followed.
International Law itself is divided into Conflict of Laws (or Private International
Law) and Public International Law.

Private International Law Public International Law

It deals with cases, It covers relations between
within those legal states in all their myriad
systems, particular foreign forms, from war to satellites
elements in which and regulates the operations
questions obtrude, raising of the many International
as law orthe
application of foreign Institutions.
the role of foreign courts. It may be Universal or
to general.
For e.g. If two Englishmen
make a contract in France to For e.g. The practice
sell goods situated in Paris, diplomatic
an English Court would apply to its ofgreatest
French Law as regards the developed asylum
extent in Latin that
America.
validity of that Contract. has
  SOURCES:-

1. Conventions,
2. Customary international
law,
3. General principles of law,
4. Judicial decisions and
Scholarly opinions.
 SUBJECTS:-

A subject of the law is an entity capable of possessing

international rights and duties and having the capacity to maintain
its rights by bringing international claims. The subjects of Public
International Law are as follows:
1. Established Legal Persons
 States
 Political entities legally proximate to States
 Condominium
 Internationalized Territories
 UN administration of territories immediately prior to
independence
 International Organizations
 Agencies of States
 Continue……………
1. Special Types of Personality
 Non-self-governing peoples
 National Liberation Movements
 States in statu nascendi
 Legal Constructions
 Belligerent and Insurgent communities
 Entities sui generis
 Individuals

3. Controversial Candidature
 SCOPE:-

 Public International Law is an enormously diverse discipline.

 In its strictest, and now arguably out dated sense, it could be said to be
concerned with legally binding rules and principles regulating the
relationships between sovereign States.
 Areas ordinarily dealt with within the scope of Public International Law
include for example :
• the law of treaties
• issues relating to territory
• statehood and State responsibility
• international dispute settlement and
• international use of force.
 However, this fascinating area of law does also include rules regarding
when a State’s court can claim jurisdiction including
• prescriptive jurisdiction
• adjudicative jurisdiction and
• enforcement jurisdiction
  JURISDICTION:-

 Domestic Jurisdiction
 Legislative, Executive or Judicial Jurisdiction
 Civil Jurisdiction
 Criminal Jurisdiction:
 The territorial principle
 The nationality principle
 The passive personality principle
 The protective principle
 The universality principle
 Jurisdictional immunity
  CURRENT TRENDS :-

 International Law has been transformed from a European-based

system enabling sovereign states to interact in a relatively
limited number of areas to a truly international order with
profound and increasingly co-operative requirements.
 Globalization has ensured that the doctrine of the sovereignty
of states has in practice been modified, as the proliferation of
regional and global international organizations demonstrates.
 Furthermore, the growth of large trading blocks has underscored
both regional and international interdependence, though it also
has stimulated and institutionalized rivalries between different
blocks.
 In an increasing number of cases, certain sovereign powers of
states have been delegated to international institutions.
 STATE PRACTICES :-

 Pakistan
 The United States of America
 The United Kingdom
 European Union
 SOURCES:-

1. Major Treaties
2. Important International Bodies
3. By Subject
 Business
 Commercial Arbitration
 Families
 Property
  SUBJECTS:-
 The two major systems of law, the common law and the civil
law, differ from each other as to the subject-matter of
private international law.

 Civil Law Countries: Few countries for example Germany
restrict the scope of private international law to problems
of conflict of laws, and matters relating to status of
foreigners fall under separate branch called the law of

foreigners while few others like Soviet Union include within
its ambit the rules of choice of law along with all the
connecting factors such as nationality and domicile, the
place where the contract was entered into or is to be
performed.
 Common Law Countries: The countries of the common law
system include the rules of jurisdiction as well as
rules of choice of law within the scope of private
international law. Example – Pakistan.
 SCOPE :-

The scope of private international Law includes the

following three branches :

 Jurisdiction - Whether the forum court has the

power to resolve the dispute at hand.
 Choice of Law – The law which is being applied to
resolve the dispute.
 Foreign judgements – The ability to recognize
and enforce a judgement from an external
forum within the jurisdiction of the adjudicating
forum.
 JURISDICTION :-

 The first question in an international case potentially

involving conflict-of-laws problems is which court has
jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter.
 Although the plaintiff decides where to sue, the courts
in that location may not have jurisdiction, or they may
have jurisdiction but be unwilling to exercise it, for
reasons of forum non conveniens (Latin: “inconvenient
forum”), as may happen in some common-law
countries.
 CURRENT TRENDS :-

 New approaches to choice of law, starting with the

governmental-interest analysis developed by the
American legal scholar Brainerd Currie, began to
emerge in the 1950s.
 Currie’s approach sought to determine whether a
“true” or “false” conflict exists between the law of the
forum state and that of the other involved state.
 Another approach, known as the better-law approach,
attempts to determine which of two potentially
applicable laws is better as a solution to the problem at
hand.
  STATE PRACTICES :-

 Applications in Pakistan
 Applications in the
United States
 Applications in EU
member countries
 Applications in other
countries
 Other considerations
 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW :-
Law students can contribute towards redefining the core values and principles that
shape international law into a coherent and effective system for the promotion of
stability, peace and security, and justice in an era of globalization and
interdependence.

PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW :-

Law students can not only analyze Private International Law but also look at the
concepts, institutions and substantive rules that are common to the discipline globally
or at least regionally.