The International Law Commission's Articles on State Responsibility: Introduction, Text and Commentaries

by James Crawford

• ISBN13: 9780521813532
• ISBN10: 0521813530
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-18
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In 2001 the International Law Commission completed its work on State responsibility, begun 40 years previously. The Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts marks a major step in the codification and progressive development of international law, comparable in significance to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The Articles cover such topics as attributing conduct to the State; defining when there has been a breach of international law and the excuses or justifications for breaches; reparation for injustices, the invocation of responsibility, especially standing of States in the public interest, and the rules relating to countermeasures. The Articles develop basic concepts of international law, in particular peremptory norms and obligations to the international community as a whole. They signal definitively how international law has moved away from a purely bilateral conception of responsibility to accommodate categories of general public interest (human rights, the environment etc.).

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Note on sources and style	xi
List of abbreviations	xiii
Table of cases	xv
Introduction	1	(60)
James Crawford
Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts
Text of Articles Adopted by the Commission	61	(13)
Commentaries	74	(3)
PART ONE THE INTERNATIONALLY WRONGFUL ACT OF A STATE
General Principles	77	(14)
Responsibility of a state for its internationally wrongful acts	77	(4)
Elements of an internationally wrongful act of a State	81	(5)
Characterization of an act of a State as internationally wrongful	86	(5)
Attribution of Conduct to a State	91	(33)
Conduct of organs of a State	94	(6)
Conduct of persons or entities exercising elements of governmental authority	100	(3)
Conduct of organ placed at the disposal of a State by another State	103	(3)
Excess of authority or contravention of instructions	106	(4)
Conduct directed or controlled by a State	110	(4)
Conduct carried out in the absence or default of the official authorities	114	(2)
Conduct of an insurrectional or other movement	116	(5)
Conduct acknowledged and adopted by a State as its own	121	(3)
Breach of an International obligation	124	(21)
Existence of a breach of an international obligation	125	(6)
International obligation in force for a State	131	(4)
Extension in time of the breach of an international obligation	135	(6)
Breach consisting of a composite act	141	(4)
Responsibility of a State in Connection with the Act of Another State	145	(15)
Aid or assistance in the commission of an internationally wrongful act	148	(4)
Direction and control exercised over the commission of an internationally wrongful act	152	(4)
Coercion of another State	156	(3)
Effect of this Chapter	159	(1)
Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness	160	(31)
Consent	163	(3)
Self-defence	166	(2)
Countermeasures in respect of an internationally wrongful act	168	(2)
Force majeure	170	(4)
Distress	174	(4)
Necessity	178	(9)
Compliance with peremptory norms	187	(2)
Consequences of invoking a circumstance precluding wrongfulness	189	(2)
PART TWO CONTENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF A STATE
General Principles	191	(20)
legal consequences of an internationally wrongful act	192	(2)
Continued duty of performance	194	(2)
Cessation and non-repetition	196	(5)
Reparation	201	(6)
Irrelevance of internal law	207	(2)
Scope of international obligations set out in this Part	209	(2)
Reparation for Injury	211	(31)
Forms of reparation	211	(2)
Restitution	213	(5)
Compensation	218	(13)
Satisfaction	231	(4)
Interest	235	(5)
Contribution to the injury	240	(2)
Serious Breaches of Obligations Under Peremptory Norms of General International Law	242	(12)
Application of this Chapter	245	(4)
Particular consequences of a serious breach of an obligation under this Chapter	249	(5)
PART THREE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF A STATE
Invocation of the Responsibility of a State	254	(27)
Invocation of responsibility by an injured State	255	(6)
Notice of claim by an injured State	261	(3)
Admissibility of claims	264	(2)
Loss of the right to invoke responsibility	266	(4)
Plurality of injured States	270	(2)
Plurality of responsible States	272	(4)
Invocation of responsibility by a State other than an injured State	276	(5)
Countermeasures	281	(34)
Object and limits of countermeasures	284	(4)
Obligations not affected by countermeasures	288	(6)
Proportionality	294	(3)
Conditions relating to resort to countermeasures	297	(4)
Termination of countermeasures	301	(1)
Measures taken by States other than an injured State	302	(4)
PART FOUR GENERAL PROVISIONS
Lex specialis	306	(3)
Questions of State responsibility not regulated by these articles	309	(1)
Responsibility of an international organization	310	(2)
Individual responsibility	312	(2)
Charter of the United Nations	314	(1)
APPENDIX 1 DRAFTING HISTORY	315	(33)
A Evolution of Articles on State Responsibility (1971-2001)	315	(24)
B Articles Proposed but not Adopted	339	(8)
C Reports of Special Rapporteurs on State Responsibility	347	(1)
APPENDIX 2 DRAFT ARTICLES ON STATE RESPONSIBILITY PROVISIONALLY ADOPTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION ON FIRST READING (1996)	348	(18)
APPENDIX 3 TABLE OF EQUIVALENT ARTICLES	366	(2)
Select bibliography	368	(13)
Index	381