Courses

    This course deals with the nature, sources and operation of international law, with some of the major modern challenges to the international legal system, and with the international community’s ongoing responses to those challenges. It includes an introductory survey of a wide range of topics such as the law governing treaties and other international agreements; the recognition of states and governments; litigation in the International Court of Justice and other methods of resolving international disputes; the United Nations and other international and regional entities; human rights; the role of international law in the U.S. legal system and the allocation of foreign affairs powers between the President, the Congress, and the Judiciary; and jurisdiction, foreign sovereign immunity and the act of state doctrine. The course also includes a more detailed examination of a few of the most pressing illustrations of the operation – or failure to operate – of the international legal system, such as the law of the sea and the use of military force. As a first-year elective, this course is intended to offer a contrast or a complement to the bulk of the first year curriculum, by exposing students to non-U.S. legal systems, to dispute resolution mechanisms other than the federal courts, and to alternative legal institutions, procedures, and rules.