Public International laws: A general understanding

Public International laws

Public International laws center mainly on the avocation of human rights and protection of the environment. However, they will also include other topics as well. Public international law deals with the structure and conduct of sovereign state, intergovernmental organizations, and analogous entities. In relation to the increase of armed conflict, environmental deterioration, global trade, awareness of human rights violations, a boom in global communications, and fast and large growth in international transportation, public international law has escalated greatly in importance. Aside from its focus on human rights, public international law has been known to focus as well on issues with due process protections, asylum law, nationality and citizenship, and rights of the child. Although its concentration is set on the environment and human rights, it can include these other areas.

Public international law can be divided into two central branches: international agreements and conventions, and the law of nations. The term public international law, itself, was first conceived by Jeremy Bentham, a prominent English philosopher. The four main sources of public international law are: customs, international treaties, teachings, and general principles of law and judicial decisions. The groundwork and foundation for identifying states as principal actors in the international legal system has been instituted by public international law. The main people involved in an issue dealing with public international law would be the head of a nation or organization, the sovereign power. In some cases it would be the Prime Minister, or President of a given country. Later on, most cases involved the department in charge of representing that sovereign power such as the Foreign Ministry, or State Department (U.S.), etc… Even though these departments of government will be the main or lead role in establishing the international law, the leader of that nation may still be needed to approve and endorse such a law. When considering a universal scale, the two most important congregations for creating public international law are the United Nations and the still young but effective European Union. Some branches of international law that public international law deals with would be international trade law, diplomatic law, consular law, and international environmental law. Dilemmas that deal with public international law have an inclination to be more tough to foresee, and more illusive and complicated to decipher, than cases that deal with private international law.

Having taken a look at public international law, its meaning, its reach, and its effect, we can gain a general idea of how it works and its importance to international law. It is in essence a categorization for a group of international laws that fall under it, pertaining to the sovereign power or department creating them, and who they entail to. In conclusion, it is safe to understand that public international law is the law of a political system of nation-states that bestows laws upon national systems it touches, which are not adequately governed.