Suchergebnisse

This book is the inaugural edition of the Nigerian Yearbook of International Law. The Yearbook is a necessary and timely publication that provides a forum for critical discourse on developments in international law, particularly where this has relevance for Nigeria, Africa and its people including those in the diaspora. The articles in this first volume explores topics under the following themes: International Law and Regional Systems, Contemporary Challenges/Emerging Issues, Criminal Law and Natural Resources/Environmental Law. There is also a section, which provides a comprehensive review of key decisions in African and International Courts/Tribunals. Contributors to this edition are international law jurists from across the world, including eminent judges of international tribunals, leading academics and an international diplomat.

The sales directive will lead to the most important law reform in German contract law since the entering into force of the German Civil Code in 1900. This is true, first, for sales law and the law of limitation. Here, the most important problems were due to the fact that defects in quality and defects in the right confered were treated differently, that there was a multitude of grossly diverging limitation periods (from six months to thirty years) and that phenomena like the delivery of slightly different goods (aliud) or of a slightly diverging quantity (minus) were again treated differently. With respect to these differentiations, the directive will lead to an important simplification of German sales law. One major topic not treated by the directive will change as well: So far, in most cases sellers (and only sellers) could not be sued for damages in case of pure negligence but only of fraud. This is anachronistic and will change. One striking feature of new German sales law is that it applies to all sales with only very few specific rules for consumer sales. This is however due to the fact that also the (consumer) sales directive and the Vienna Convention on international (commercial) sales are very similar in most points. Apart from sales law, it is still likely that the reform of German contract law will extend, second, to two more fields: The general law of breach of contract will probably be reformed, the preparatory work by the so-called Schuldrechtskommission extended over two decades. And probably the different acts on consumer law will be integrated into the Civil Code. This relates mainly to door step selling, distance selling, consumer credits and also unfair contract terms, although the latter are not a problem only of consumer contracts under German law. German academia was taken in surprise by the pace of reform both on Community level and by the German legislature. It started to collaborate in the legislative process only lately and large parts of it still rather see the disadvantages of new models than the chances of law reform. This casts some doubts over the parts of the reform which are not imposed by the directive.

This book considers the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' contribution to international refugee law since the establishment of UNHCR by the United Nations General Assembly in 1951. The book explores the historical and statutory foundations that create an indelible link between UNHCR and international refugee law. This book charts the significant evolution that has occurred in the organisation's role throughout the last sixty years, looking at both the formal means by which UNHCR's mandate may be modified, and the techniques UNHCR has used to facilitate the changes in its role, the.

From 1996 onwards the international legal community has been trying to establish a general anti-terrorism treaty. Despite several attempts to reach agreement on such a general treaty within the framework of an ad hoc commission of the General Assembly of the UN, this goal has never been fulfilled, due to a lack of consensus on the definition of the concept of terrorism. For the very same reason, the offence of terrorism has not been incorporated in the ICC Statute. This raises the question of the extent to which international criminal law is sufficiently equipped to combat international terrorism, particularly considering the effects of the September 11 attacks on national and international criminal law, as well as the fact that an International Extradition Convention with respect to International Terrorism is still lacking. The additional need for such a uniform treaty recently became apparent following the terrorist attacks in Bali and Mombasa (Kenya). At the same time, the EU, with the advent of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), is entering a new era with regard to combating terrorism. The purpose of this development is in principle to abolish the present extradition formalities and obstacles. However, the recent decision of 10 December 2002, issued by the Extradition Chamber of the District Court in Amsterdam, which rejected an extradition request concerning a person suspected of being a member of the Turkish PKK, an organization prohibited in Turkey, also emphasizes the importance of the 'Rule of Law' in the area of suppressing terrorism on both the global and European level.

It has not been established with sufficient clarity and certainty whether a state commits a breach of international law by breaking a contract made by it with an alien. The question needs an answer. It is not one of an entirely theoretical nature. On the answer to it will depend many important consequences. There are four of special significance. First, if the breach of contract is characterized as a breach of international law, the final arbiter of the question whether there had been a breach of contract and of the extent of that breach would be an international court whether as a court of last resort or otherwise. This is the natural consequence of the fact that it is the organs of enforcement of international society that have the power of finally determining questions relating to the breach of legal norms belonging to that society. Municipal courts would not have the final decision. Secondly, the norms applicable by an international court in making such a decision would be the norms of international law and not necessarily the rules of a municipal system of law. International rules should, of course, be applied in determining whether there has been a breach of international law. Thirdly, questions of evidence and procedure relating to the contract would be governed by international law.

The paper aims to lay out a framework for evaluating value shifts in the international legal order for the purposes of a forthcoming book. In view of current contestations it asks whether we are observing yet another period of norm change (Wandel) or even a more fundamental transformation of international law – a metamorphosis (Verwandlung). For this purpose it suggests to look into the mechanisms of how norms change from the perspective of legal and political science and also to approximate a reference point where change turns into metamorphosis. It submits that such a point may be reached where specific legally protected values are indeed changing (change of legal values) or where the very idea of protecting certain values through law is renounced (delegalizing of values). The paper discusses the benefits of such an interdisciplinary exchange and tries to identify differences and commonalities among both disciplinary perspectives.