Fabrizio Marrella, Ca' Foscari

Objectives of the course
The course examines the fundamentals of international law, including the nature and structure of the international legal system, how rules are formed and enforced, the subjects of international law, and the status of international law in Europe. Rules of international law that are studied include state jurisdiction, state responsibility, protection of individuals and groups, the law of treaties, international organizations and dispute settlement. The course will give special consideration to International Economic Law issues and will focus on the understanding of doctrines and institutions using historical, political and jurisprudential perspectives.

Evaluation
The assessment of the course will be based on one 10 pages paper to be produced before the end of the course and a final written examination. Each of the two elements (coursework and exam) will count as 50% of the final mark.
The paper shall be focused on a particular issue of international law. It shall be related to coursework and approved in writing in advance by the instructor. It shall be presented orally in front of the class on a date to be scheduled by the instructor and in any case before the final days. Each oral presentation shall not last more than 15 minutes.

Reading materials
a) Required readings
A. CASSESE, International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003.

b) Further readings (non compulsory)
I. BROWNLIE, Principles of public international law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, 6th ed.)
J. JACKSON, The world trading system, latest ed., MIT Press, Cambridge Mass.- London.
D.J. HARRIS, Cases and materials in international law, 2003, Sweet & Maxwell, London.

Documents
BROWNLIE, Basic Documents in International Law (5th ed, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2002)
M.D. EVANS, Blackstone's international law documents (1999, 5th ed.).

Websites
www.asil.org/resource/Home.htm
www.un.org/law United Nations
www.icj-cij.org International Court of Justice judgments and updates
http://curia.eu.int/index.htm European Court of Justice
www.echr.coe.int European Court of Human Rights
www.ejil.org European Journal of International Law

Syllabus
Part I – Origins and foundations of the international community

Week one: Origins and foundations of the international community (See A. Cassese, International law, cit.)
I. Introduction
II: History of International Law

Week two: Personality and Recognition
III. States as the “primary” subjects of the Law
IV. Other international legal subjects

Part II – Creation and enforcement of international legal rules

Week three: International Law-making (part A)
V. Customary Law
VI. Treaty Law (I)

Week four: International Law-making (part B)
VII. Treaty law (II)
VIII. Other sources of International Law

Week five: Implementation of international rules within legal systems and State responsibility
IX. Relationships between international law and national law. The case of the European Union
X. State responsibility

Week six :Peaceful settlement of disputes and enforcement of the Law
XI. Mechanisms for prevention of disputes
XII. Promoting compliance with international rules

Part III – Contemporary issues in international law

Week seven: The role of the United Nations
XIII. The origin of the UN and their legal nature
XIV. The current role of the UN

Week eight: Collective security and the prohibition of force
XV. Peacekeeping operations
XVI. War and international law

Week nine: The protection of individuals and groups: classical international law and new human rights issues
XVII. Injury to the persons and property of aliens on State territory
XVIII. The protection of individuals and groups: human rights and self-determination

Week ten: The protection of the environment
XIX. The regulation of the protection of environment
XX. Liberalization of trade and the protection of environment

Week eleven: The World Trade Organization
XXI. Institutional structure of WTO
XXII. WTO Law: a self contained system?

Week twelve: Other International Organizations and Tribunals
XXIII. International Organizations
XXIV. The Judicial Settlement of International Disputes (from international to transnational law)

Biography
Certificate in WTO Law (The Hague Academy Centre for Studies and Research in International Law and International Relations), Diploma (The Hague Academy of International Law), Dottore di ricerca in Diritto civle (Bologna), Docteur an Droit (Paris I, Panthéon Sorbonne). Research Professor of International Law in the Department of Law of Ca’ Foscari, where he teaches International Law and Admiralty Law. Also instructor of International Arbitration Law and International Business Transactions in the Vanderbilt Law School and Widener University programs in Venice. Taught International Trade Law at the Institute of Advanced Studies on Americas (Institut des Amériques) in the University of Paris III-La Sorbonne Nouvelle. Published extensively in Italian, English, French and Spanish. Taught in the VIU Undergraduate Program in Fall 2002. Publications in English include: Choice of Law in third millennium arbitrations, “Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law”, special symposium issue, Fall 2003; International business law and international commercial arbitration : the Italian approach, in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Law Journal, Lloyd’s of London Press, London, n.1, 1997 and The Unidroit Principles for International Commercial Contracts in ICC Arbitration, « The ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin », ICC Publ., v.10, n.2, Paris-New York 1999, and in ICC Publ., v.11, n.2, Paris-New York, 2002.