International Law And Morality Essay Research Paper

International Law And Morality Essay, Research Paper

How Many times as a citizen of this great nation does one hear, I wish America would take care of its problems at home and not everybody else s problems. This attitude leads to ideas such as, International law and morality has nothing to do with me and my family. However, it is said no man is an island, and no country is an island to be left alone. Therefore, as the world becomes a smaller place, the importance of international law, and morality must increase.

In order to understand the importance of international law, one must understand what is international law. International law is, The body of legal rules that apply between sovereign states and other entities having international personality (Britannica). International law has come about because nations feel the need to live together peacefully. However, it has its roots in each country s self-interest, and there is no international law enforcing body. Each state has to adhere to the laws through cooperation. Also, some states have put international law into their jurisdictions.

International law has come about by three processes, international customary law, treaties, and general principles of law. Customary law is sovereignty, recognition, consent, good faith, freedom of the sea, international responsibility, and self-defense among the states. Treaties help to form international law. Treaties are legally binding and may declare, change, or develop existing international law. There are some very important international rules controlled by treaties. Some of these important aspects of treaties are: diplomatic law, immunity, protection of nationals abroad, freedom of commerce, and succession to international rights and obligations. Also, large international organizations help form international law. Organizations such as United Nations play an important role in the development international law. They modify by consent rules of international law (Britannica). However, It has been said by some that international law is not really law. A positive theorist named Austin said that international law does not have proper sanctions and enforcement mechanisms to be law, but this can be dismissed when international law is compared to primitive law. They both have societal organization behind the law, authority to apply sanctions lack of central government, lack of legislature, and the lack of courts with compulsory jurisdiction. Therefore, international law has similarities to primitive law and can be considered a type of legal system (Amerasingh 81-82).

Another aspect of international law is the history of how it has evolved to where it is today. International law is a product of a threefold process initiated in the western world. It was started when the medieval world started to move to a medieval society. Their idea of international law was simple that in the absents of a truce war was the international relations; rulers could treat foreigners how they pleased, and the high seas were no-mans-land where anything could be done. Treaty law was a big feature in medieval international relations. However, the observance of these treaties was in self interest. Grotius wrote, De Jure Belli ac Pacis, which appealed to contemporaries and later generations. In this book, he stressed the self-defeating character of war. He also stressed the importance of sovereignty for each nation, and he blended natural law and Roman law in a way that left important matters in the hands of the states. It is said Grotius is the father of international law because he formed some important ideas in an important time in history (Britannica).

International law has affected many things in our global society. One thing that international law influences are foreign policy. However, foreign policy can affect international law, but what is important is how international law can affect domestic foreign policy. Contemporary international law is peaceful existence between states and the free development of people. The effectiveness of international law on foreign policy in states depends on who is at war and peace in the system. Therefore, the more peaceful states seem to be in more agreement with international law than power seeking states. For example, the realist approach to international law is to seek power in foreign policy and disregard international law and morality. However, war is something that most counties wish to avoid, and most countries must observe international law in order to maintain peace. Therefore, It must be a guiding principle in diplomacy and foreign policy (Tunkin 279-92).

How does international law effect the United states, and how is the U.S. Viewed in the international system. During this past summer the U.S. passed legislation to lift sanctions hampering exports of medicine and farm products to India and Pakistan. That way American farmers could sell their products to Pakistan. American farmers had an abundance of crops and were receiving lower prices for them, so the government lifted the sanctions to help the farmers out in a time of need. America had put sanctions on Pakistan and India for testing weapons in 1994 (Pomper 2). This shows how international law effects us here at home (United States)especially if you are a farmer. Also, according to international law nations can put a person on trial for crimes against humanity. This law says to pe