Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Table of treaties
- Table of MOUs
- Table of cases
- Glossary of legal terms
- List of abbreviations
- 1 International law
- 2 States and recognition
- 3 Territory
- 4 Jurisdiction
- 5 The law of treaties
- 6 Diplomatic privileges and immunities
- 7 State immunity
- 8 Nationality, aliens and refugees
- 9 International organisations
- 10 The United Nations, including the use of force
- 11 Human rights
- 12 The law of armed conflict (international humanitarian law)
- 13 International criminal law
- 14 Terrorism
- 15 The law of the sea
- 16 International environmental law
- 17 International civil aviation
- 18 Special regimes
- 19 International economic law
- 20 Succession of states
- 21 State responsibility
- 22 Settlement of disputes
- 23 The European Union
- Index
21 - State responsibility
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Table of treaties
- Table of MOUs
- Table of cases
- Glossary of legal terms
- List of abbreviations
- 1 International law
- 2 States and recognition
- 3 Territory
- 4 Jurisdiction
- 5 The law of treaties
- 6 Diplomatic privileges and immunities
- 7 State immunity
- 8 Nationality, aliens and refugees
- 9 International organisations
- 10 The United Nations, including the use of force
- 11 Human rights
- 12 The law of armed conflict (international humanitarian law)
- 13 International criminal law
- 14 Terrorism
- 15 The law of the sea
- 16 International environmental law
- 17 International civil aviation
- 18 Special regimes
- 19 International economic law
- 20 Succession of states
- 21 State responsibility
- 22 Settlement of disputes
- 23 The European Union
- Index
Summary
It is one thing to define a rule and the content of the obligation it imposes, and another to determine whether that obligation has been violated and what should be the consequences.
Crawford, The International Law Commission's Articles on State Responsibility, Cambridge, 2002
Gray, Judicial Remedies in International Law, Oxford, 1987
Higgins, Problems and Process, Oxford, 1994, pp. 146–68
Oppenheim. Oppenheim's International Law, 9th edn, London, 1992, pp. 499–511 and 528–54
Shaw, International Law, 5th edn, Cambridge, 2003, pp. 694–721
A state is responsible in international law for conduct in breach of its international obligations. Although the International Law Commission (ILC) began studying the subject in 1956, it was not until 2001 that it produced its final draft Articles (‘the Articles’) on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. The UN General Assembly circulated them in 2001. In A/RES/59/35 (2004), the General Assembly commended the draft Articles without prejudice to the question of any further action on them (such as adopting the Articles as a treaty), invited Members to comment on future action, and decided to consider the matter again in 2007.
The law of state responsibility is customary international law. Unlike state immunity, which has been developed largely by domestic legislation and domestic courts, state responsibility is pre-eminently an area of international law developed by state practice and international judgments, of which numerous examples are referred to in the ILC's Commentary on the Articles.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Handbook of International Law , pp. 407 - 429Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005