Understanding the Persistent Objector Rule

UCL Laws / International Law Association (British Branch) Lecture

Speaker:

Professor James A Green (University of Reading)

Chair:

Dr Dane Azaria (UCL Laws)

About the lecture:

The persistent objector rule is a ubiquitous feature of modern international law literature, and all international lawyers are likely to be very familiar with the basic idea at the heart of it. The rule is said to offer states an ‘escape hatch’ from the otherwise universal binding force of customary international law, in that it provides that if a state persistently objects to a newly emerging norm of customary international law during the formation of that norm, then the objecting state is exempt from the norm once it crystallises. The rule is often seen as playing an important conceptual role in preserving the voluntarist claim that any norm of international law can only bind a state that has consented to be bound by it. At the same time, for all its ubiquity in scholarship, there remains relatively little understanding of exactly how the persistent objector rule works, and questions exist about the extent to which it is used. There is, indeed, a significant minority critique of the rule that disputes whether it exists in law at all, and, if it does, whether it has any meaningful value.

This presentation will argue that the persistent objector rule is used and, thus, exists. It will then give an overview of how the rule works, exploring the criteria for its operation. Finally, the value or desirability of the rule will be considered.

About the Speaker:

James A. Green is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Reading, where he has been a member of staff since 2006. James is the winner of the European Society of International Law Book Prize 2017 for The Persistent Objector Rule and International Law (OUP) and the American Society of International Law’s Francis Lieber Prize 2010 for The International Court of Justice and Self-Defence in International Law (Hart). His primary research interests include the use of force (jus ad bellum) and the nature of customary international law. He has published widely in leading international law journals around the world, as well as editing various book collections and contributing to others. James is co-rapporteur of the International Law Association’s Use of Force Committee, and co-editor-in-chief of the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law(Routledge). He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford (2017-18) and the University of Michigan (2005).

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