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Public International Law (LAWS50041)
Graduate coursework level 5Points: 12.5Dual-Delivery (Parkville)
From 2023 most subjects will be taught on campus only with flexible options limited to a select number of postgraduate programs and individual subjects.
To learn more, visit COVID-19 course and subject delivery.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Overview
Availability(Quotas apply) | July - Dual-Delivery |
---|---|
Fees | Look up fees |
This subject is designed to examine the nature and structure of international legal argument in historical context and contemporary practice. Part 1 of the subject introduces students to foundational frameworks, concepts, and institutions of international law, and Part 2 considers how those frameworks, concepts, and institutions are drawn on in specific projects and regimes of international law. Throughout the subject, students will explore historical and current legal disputes involving pressing issues such as climate change, the lawfulness of resort to force, the promotion and protection of human rights, the legitimacy of investor-state dispute settlement, and the tension between national security and freedom of navigation in the law of the sea. The topics addressed in the course will include:
- The nature and sources of international law;
- The role and development of customary international law;
- The law of treaties;
- International dispute settlement through the International Court of Justice and investor-state arbitration;
- The subjects of international law;
- Jurisdiction and sovereign immunity;
- State responsibility;
- International law on the use of force;
- International human rights law;
- International environmental law and climate change;
- The law of the sea, and
- The future of international law.
The aim is to acquire an understanding of international law as an argumentative practice that takes place in a field structured by contests between states and other powerful actors, in which a great deal is at stake politically, economically, ideologically, and socially.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject, students should:
- have developed an advanced understanding of the development and structure of the international legal system and the historical and theoretical bases for public international law.
- have developed an advanced and integrated understanding of the building blocks of international legal argument.
- have the capacity to develop legal arguments in response to international disputes or complex international events, including territorial disputes, jurisdictional disputes, disputes over individual rights, disputes relating to the use of force by states and other international actors, and climate or global health emergencies.
- be able to reflect critically on the role of states, international organisations, and private actors in international law.
- be able to think creatively about the role of international lawyers as part of a broader diplomatic, political, and economic field.
Generic skills
On completion of the subject, students should have developed the following skills to draw on their developed understanding of Public International Law to:
- Interpret the historical context of the law in order to analyse complex contemporary politico-legal problems;
- Investigate and analyse diverse aspects of the international legal regime through the location and close reading of a range of relevant primary and secondary source materials;
- Develop well-reasoned and sophisticated international legal arguments; and
- Present these specialist arguments, analyses and principles in a written form that is appropriately investigated, structured, developed, supported and referenced.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
All of
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50023 | Legal Method and Reasoning | Summer Term (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50024 | Principles of Public Law | Semester 1 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50026 | Obligations | Semester 1 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
AND
One of
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50027 | Dispute Resolution | Not available in 2024 |
12.5 |
LAWS90140 | Disputes and Ethics | Semester 2 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS70173 | International Law |
March (Online)
July (On Campus - Parkville)
|
12.5 |
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Interim assessment - written assignment
| 2 Weeks after the end of teaching | 20% |
Supervised open-book examination
| 5 Weeks after the end of teaching | 80% |
Additional details
The due date of the above assessment(s) will be available to students via the Assessment Schedule on the LMS Community.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- July
Coordinator Anne Orford Mode of delivery Dual-Delivery (Parkville) Contact hours Total time commitment 144 hours Pre teaching start date 6 June 2022 Pre teaching requirements Please refer to the Reading Guide on the LMS subject page for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 4 July 2022 to 15 July 2022 Last self-enrol date 10 June 2022 Census date 8 July 2022 Last date to withdraw without fail 29 July 2022 Assessment period ends 19 August 2022
Additional delivery details
This subject has an enrolment quota of 60 students.
All timely JD elective enrolments are subject to a selection process, which the Academic Support Office will perform after the timely re-enrolment period ends. Late self-enrolment is on a first-in basis up to quota.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law School website for further information about the management of subject quotas.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
- Rothwell, Kaye, Akhtar-Khavari, Davis, and Saunders, International Law: Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives (3rd edition, 2019); and
- Specialist materials will be made available via the LMS.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Juris Doctor - Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 31 January 2024