The taught modules offered on the LLM programme vary from year to year. Please check the full list of taught modules list for details of modules running in specific academic years. We make every effort to ensure that every module will be offered, but modules are subject to change and cancellation. You are therefore advised to check this site regularly for further updates throughout the year preceding entry to the LLM programme.
WAR LAW (LAWSG056)
Credit value: 30 credits (12 ECTS) |
Module Convenor:
Dr Kimberley Trapp |
| Intercollegiate teaching: No |
| Teaching Method: 20 x two-hour seminars |
| Who may enrol: LLM students |
| Prerequisites: None |
Barred module combinations:
This module cannot be taken with its components:
War Law I: Recourse to Force in International Law - LAWSG056A
War Law II: International Law of Armed Conflict - LAWSG056B |
| Core module for specialism: International Law |
| Assessment |
| Practice Assessment: Students may write up tutorial questions and submit them for feedback as a form of formative assessment / exam practice. |
| Assessment method for LLM students: 3,000 word coursework essay (50%) and 2-hour unseen written examination (50%) |
| Assessment method for SIL students: N/A |
| Module Overview |
Module summary
The title for this module is a misnomer. There is no such thing as ‘war law’.
The module surveys rather the multi-faceted regulation of the use of force in international law. It is structured in two parts, the first of which deals with recourse to force in international law, or the jus ad bellum. This part covers the regulation of recourse to force in the United Nations Charter. We will discuss self-defence, enforcement measures taken by the UN, unilateral recourses to force and their legality, as well as (humanitarian) intervention and peacekeeping.
The second part of the module deals with the law that is applicable during armed conflict, or the jus in bello (sometimes also called ‘International Humanitarian Law’). Apart from basic concepts, such as international/non-international armed conflict, combatants/civilians, military objectives, belligerent occupation and the like, we will also discuss the use of weaponry, as well as the interaction of the law of armed conflict with other areas of international law.
|
Module syllabus
(1) Introduction
PART I – The jus ad bellum
(2) From ‘Just War’ to the UN Charter Prohibition of the Use of Force (and back?)
(3) Use of Force in Self-Defence I: The Armed Attack
(4) Use of Force in Self-Defence II: Timing of Defensive Action & the ‘War on Terror’
(5) Collective Action against Threats to the Peace I: Non-forcible Measures
(6) Collective Action against Threats to the Peace II: Enforcement Action
(7) Humanitarian Intervention (and R2P)
(8) Peacekeeping Operations
(9) State (and individual?) responsibility for violations of the jus ad bellum
(10) Revision
PART II – The jus in bello
(11) Introduction to the Law of Armed Conflict: General Concepts and History
(12) Classification of Armed Conflicts and Commencement/Termination of Hostilities
(13) Combatants and PoWs
(14) Military Objectives and the Principle of Distinction
(15) Civilians and the Principle of Proportionality
(16) Weaponry
(17) Belligerent Occupation
(18) State and Individual Responsibility and Enforcement
(19) International and Non-International Armed Conflicts
(20) Revision
|
Recommended materials
Because this module has two distinct parts, there are recommended materials for each part. The first textbook on the list for each part is preferred, but students remain free to choose.
PART I – The jus ad bellum
• Christine D Gray, International Law and the Use of Force (3d ed Oxford UP 2008)
• Yoram Dinstein, War, Aggression and Self-Defence (4th ed Cambridge UP 2005)
• Thomas M Franck, Recourse to Force in International Law (Cambridge UP 2002)
PART II – The jus in bello
• Robert Kolb and Richard Hyde, An Introduction to the International Law of Armed Conflicts (Oxford Hart 2008)
• Dieter Fleck (ed), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (2d ed Oxford UP 2008)
• Leslie C Green, The Contemporary Law of Armed Conflict (3d ed Manchester UP 2008)
• Yoram Dinstein, The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict (2d ed Cambridge UP 2010)
Students should also have to hand the UN Charter, and the useful collections of materials in Malcolm D Evans (ed) Blackstone’s International Law Documents (9th ed Oxford UP 2009) and, if they wish, Adam Roberts and Robert Guelff (eds) Documents on the Laws of War (3d ed Oxford UP 2000)
|
Preliminary reading
Students who have not taken any general module in Public International Law before are strongly advised to read a general textbook in advance of commencing the course. A concise and elegant textbook is Vaughan Lowe, International Law (Oxford UP 2007).
Other students who wish to read in advance can also consult Lowe, above, Chapters 3 and 8, and are also advised to peruse some of the recommended materials and read the introductory chapters. A perusal of the Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, issued by the UK Ministry of Defence and published by Oxford UP (2004) is also highly interesting and will give students a flavour of the practice of the law of armed conflict.
|
| Other information: N/A |
| Prizes for this module: There are currently no prizes available for this module. |
