LAWPUBL 410 : Special Topic: International Law
Law
2023 Semester One (1233) (15 POINTS)
Course Overview
Understanding international law is increasingly foundational to a legal education in today’s world of increasing interactions and interdependence between states, and between the peoples and individuals of different states. This on-campus course will equip you with a solid grounding in basic rules and skills of public international law. You will become familiar with the sources of international law, states as international legal persons, the law of state responsibility, and the work of international courts and tribunals. We will move on to consider collective security and the law on the use of force, and selected further specialised topics.
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 2: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 3: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 4: | Communication and Engagement |
| Capability 5: | Independence and Integrity |
| Capability 6: | Social and Environmental Responsibilities |
Learning Outcomes
- Develop and demonstrate a foundational working knowledge of public international law (Capability 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3)
- Understand, explain and address simple problems in public international law (Capability 1.3, 2.1, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 4.1)
- Critically evaluate how international law identifies and responds to the need for populations to live together in an interdependent world (Capability 1.1, 2.2, 6.2 and 6.3)
- Develop further further the skills and capabilities associated with legal studies (Capability 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2 and 6.1)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 33% | Individual Coursework |
| Assignments | 33% | Individual Coursework |
| Final Exam | 34% | Individual Examination |
| 3 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
| Assignments | ||||||||||
| Assignments | ||||||||||
| Final Exam | ||||||||||
Workload Expectations
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience
This is an on-campus course.
Key points to be aware of in deciding to take this course are as follows:
1) The course is comprised of seminars (13) and workshops (11) scheduled for Wednesdays 12-2 and Fridays 12-1 in LibB10. You will need to be available to attend the seminars and workshops in person. Attendance records may be kept.
2) You need to attend the classes in order to be able to do the assignments. The assignments include reflections on your individual learning in the classroom in the seminars and workshops. Assuming you attend all classes as you go along there is inbuilt flexibility in the choice of assignments that should help enable you work around any temporary illness.
3) The seminars and workshops are discussion-based; free and frank participation from everyone in the room is encouraged and untested views may be put forward and the seminars and workshops will not be recorded.
4) You will need to be consistently well-prepared for the seminars and workshops based on advance written questions provided by the lecturer. This includes being prepared for the seminars in the first week. Please ensure the correct email address is loaded for your enrolment in the course so that you will receive announcements via Canvas guiding your preparation for in-class discussion before the start of semester and during the running of the course.
5) In order to be well-prepared for class you will need access to the textbook “International Law” by Gleider Hernandez (2nd ed) (OUP 2022). The textbook is for sale on campus with a discount at UBIQ or you could use the 1st Ed if necessary. The university is unable to provide digital copies (we are advised this is due to publisher policies on textbook purchasing) but you can purchase your own online. The Davis Law Library will also have a copy on two hour loan on desk and purchase of additional hard copies if possible was requested at the end of 2022.
The seminars will cover the basic course content. For the seminars, you’ll be asked to study a chapter every week from the textbook which will be discussed in class based on the advance written questions provided by the lecturer.
The workshops will provide opportunities to apply your learning from the seminars and develop new insights into the subject-matter based on a package of items provided each week via your Talis reading list on the Canvas homepage. Workshop topics are expected to include, for example:
- Counter insurgencies in the jungle & foreign intervention: can both treaty law and customary international law apply at the same time?
- Climate change in the Pacific: what will be the effect of rising sea levels on statehood, sovereignty and sovereign rights
- NZ and Australia took France to the International Court of Justice to stop nuclear testing the Pacific: why did the Court decline to rule?
- The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022: establishing State responsibility and the legal consequences
- The war in Syria has killed an estimated 306,000 persons: when may States forcefully intervene in such situations?
Learning Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
A number of learned societies maintain websites that you may find it stimulating to visit to read about topics issues, including:
ANZSIL, the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law
http://www.anzsil.org.au/
EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law
https://ejiltalk.org/
ASIL, the American Society of International Law
http://www.asil.org/UN Audiovisual Library of International Law
http://www.un.org/law/avl/
There are other useful resources recommended in these subject guides on the library website:
International law subject guide
https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/guides/law/international-law
International legal journals subject guide
https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/guides/law/international-legal-journals
Environmental law subject guide > Journals
https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/guides/law/environmental#=4
Oxford Public International Law (which includes access to Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law)
https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/databases/record/?record=OxfPubintLaw
Cambridge Books
https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/databases/record/?record=CanBooOnl
Elgar Online
https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/databases/record/?record=ElgarOnline
The Max Planck Encyclopaedias of International Law
https://opil-ouplaw-com.ezproxy.auckland.ac.nz/home/MPIL
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.
Class Representatives
Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course director, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a Student Academic and Support Adviser as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.