Every lawyer knows that law and its language are malleable tools that can serve different functions. Over the past year, one of these has gained increasing significance: law’s capacity to act as a medium of communication. At a time where other channels are gradually collapsing, with hostility and silence replacing dialogue and debate, law offers … Read more
Revisiting the distinction between jus ad bellum and jus in bello The fundamental distinction between jus ad bellum and jus in bello – described as “perhaps the most important principle of IHL” – is a vital bulwark against attempts to override International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by appealing to jus ad bellum considerations. It is at … Read more
Crises are a good test case, not only to check the practical performance of the law, but also to gain conceptual clarity about the possibilities of (certain areas of) the law. This post compares a German regulatory approach to private law with the US Law and Political Economy (LPE) movement. At first glance, the LPE … Read more
Illegal Occupation, Serious Breaches of Fundamental Norms of International Law and the Collapse of the Jus ad Bellum/Jus in Bello distinction It is no understatement to say that the 19 July 2024 ICJ Advisory Opinion concerning the Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem … Read more
At the Law and Political Economy (LPE) Conference in Berlin in June 2024 (see Herzog), Stefan Grundmann, the chair of our panel “Polycrises and a substantive approach to private law in Germany”, introduced my contribution by stating: “– and, of course: climate change!”. Why was he right in terming climate change a central issue for LPE … Read more
