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What Does 'Change' Mean? International Law vs. the International Legal System

What Does 'Change' Mean? International Law vs. the International Legal System I. Introduction It is always wise to give oneself time to stand back from events in order to pass judgement on their significance. The shockwaves from the appalling incidents in New York (& elsewhere) on the 11'" of September 2001 reached deeply into the universal human consciousness. When they, and the reverberations of the world events that came in their train, reached the shores of the lawyers' domain, there was an instant reaction too, something like a reflection back of the shock received. But the task of the lawyer is to make mature, considered judgements, not instantaneous ones. And, while the practice of international law very often demands immediate judgements as a guide to legitimate action, that does not stand in the way of reconsideration and reassessment, when circumstances allow, and significances become clearer. The theme for this Agora asks us to give our view on whether the nature of the international legal system is changing. By that it means of course changing under the cumulative impact of pressures, both recent and not so recent, pressures which have been brought about not just by blind events, but by shifts in the pattern of power in the world within which http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Austrian Review of International and European Law Online Brill

What Does 'Change' Mean? International Law vs. the International Legal System

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
eISSN
1573-6512
DOI
10.1163/157365103X00036
Publisher site
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Abstract

I. Introduction It is always wise to give oneself time to stand back from events in order to pass judgement on their significance. The shockwaves from the appalling incidents in New York (& elsewhere) on the 11'" of September 2001 reached deeply into the universal human consciousness. When they, and the reverberations of the world events that came in their train, reached the shores of the lawyers' domain, there was an instant reaction too, something like a reflection back of the shock received. But the task of the lawyer is to make mature, considered judgements, not instantaneous ones. And, while the practice of international law very often demands immediate judgements as a guide to legitimate action, that does not stand in the way of reconsideration and reassessment, when circumstances allow, and significances become clearer. The theme for this Agora asks us to give our view on whether the nature of the international legal system is changing. By that it means of course changing under the cumulative impact of pressures, both recent and not so recent, pressures which have been brought about not just by blind events, but by shifts in the pattern of power in the world within which

Journal

Austrian Review of International and European Law Online – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2005

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