International law can refer to three things: public international law, private international law or conflict of laws and the law of supranational organisations.
- Public international law concerns relationships between sovereign nations. The sources for public international law development are custom, practice and treaties between sovereign nations, such as the Geneva Conventions. Public international law can be formed by international organisations, such as the United Nations (which was established after the failure of the League of Nations to prevent the Second World War),[10] the International Labour Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, or the International Monetary Fund. Public international law has a special status as law because there is no international police force, and courts (e.g. the International Court of Justice as the primary UN judicial organ) lack the capacity to penalise disobedience. However, a few bodies, such as the WTO, have effective systems of binding arbitration and dispute resolution backed up by trade sanctions.
- Conflict of laws (or "private international law" in civil law countries) concerns which jurisdiction a legal dispute between private parties should be heard in and which jurisdiction's law should be applied. Today, businesses are increasingly capable of shifting capital and labour supply chains across borders, as well as trading with overseas businesses, making the question of which country has jurisdiction even more pressing. Increasing numbers of businesses opt for commercial arbitration under the New York Convention 1958.
European Union law is the first and, so far, only example of a
supranational legal framework. Given the trend of increasing global economic integration, many regional agreements—especially the
Union of South American Nations—are on track to follow the same model. In the EU, sovereign nations have gathered their authority in a system of courts and
political institutions. These institutions are allowed the ability to enforce legal norms both against or for member states and citizens in a manner which is not possible through public international law.
[14] As the
European Court of Justice said in the 1960s, European Union law constitutes "a new legal order of international law" for the mutual social and economic benefit of the member states.
Constitutional and administrative law
Constitutional and administrative law govern the affairs of the state.
Constitutional law concerns both the relationships between the executive, legislature and judiciary and the
human rights or
civil liberties of individuals against the state. Most jurisdictions, like the
United States and
France, have a single codified constitution, with a
Bill of Rights. A few, like the
United Kingdom, have no such document. A "constitution" is simply those laws which constitute the
body politic, from
statute,
case law and
convention. A case named
Entick v Carrington[16] illustrates a constitutional principle deriving from the common law. Mr Entick's house was searched and ransacked by Sheriff Carrington. When Mr Entick complained in court, Sheriff Carrington argued that a warrant from a Government minister, the
Earl of Halifax, was valid authority. However, there was no written statutory provision or court authority. The leading judge,
Lord Camden, stated that,
The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property. That right is preserved sacred and incommunicable in all instances, where it has not been taken away or abridged by some public law for the good of the whole ... If no excuse can be found or produced, the silence of the books is an authority against the defendant, and the plaintiff must have judgment.
The fundamental constitutional principle, inspired by
John Locke, holds that the individual can do anything but that which is forbidden by law, and the state may do nothing but that which is authorised by law.
Administrative law is the chief method for people to hold state bodies to account. People can apply for
judicial review of actions or decisions by local councils, public services or government ministries, to ensure that they comply with the law. The first specialist administrative court was the
Conseil d'État set up in 1799, as
Napoleon assumed power in France.
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