Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
Encyclopedia
The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL) is an online encyclopedia dealing with international law
. It is published under the auspices of Professor Rüdiger Wolfrum
, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
. The initiative to compile the MPEPIL began in 2004 and the online version launched in September 2008. It represents a new edition of the Encyclopedia of Public International Law published between 1991 and 2001 by Rudolf Bernhardt. In February 2012, a print edition will be published.
perspective and this will be achieved with the assistance of academics
and practitioners from various legal backgrounds and perspectives. The intention is that MPEPIL will be a work that reflects international law from a global perspective while taking into account regional views.
Given that the information contained in many of the articles may become outdated, authors are asked to update their articles once a year in the first three years after electronic publication of the entire MPEPIL.
s, judge
s and legal practitioners, who are involved international law, but also up-and-coming academics and research
ers. The latter have been included in order to promote the progressive character of the MPEPIL.
, Edith Brown Weiss, Jean-Pierre Cot
, Yoram Dinstein
, Thomas Franck
, Jochen Abr. Frowein, Meinhard Hilf, Rahmatullah Khan, Martti Koskenniemi
, Thomas Läufer, Thomas A. Mensah, Hanspeter Neuhold, Francisco Orrego Vicuña, W. Michael Reisman, Bruno Simma
, Daniel Thürer
, Christian Tomuschat
, Tullio Treves, Rüdiger Wolfrum
, and Michael Wood
.
(OUP) started the online publication in September 2008 with more than 450 articles. Regular updates will steadily expand the MPEPIL until all of its content can be accessed online. As of August 2011, the total number of articles stood at 1,389. In 2012, a print edition will be published
. This system links together OUP online materials that mention or discuss each other, and provides the user with further information on all references which are available online.
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
. It is published under the auspices of Professor Rüdiger Wolfrum
Rüdiger Wolfrum
Rüdiger Wolfrum is professor of international law at the University of Heidelberg School of Law and Director of the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law...
, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes publicly funded by the federal and the 16 state governments of Germany....
. The initiative to compile the MPEPIL began in 2004 and the online version launched in September 2008. It represents a new edition of the Encyclopedia of Public International Law published between 1991 and 2001 by Rudolf Bernhardt. In February 2012, a print edition will be published.
Description
Upon its completion, MPEPIL will be an updated, comprehensive work covering the essential topics in international law. The new work is not just a revision of Rudolf Bernhardt’s encyclopedia. Instead, new authors completely rewrite nearly all entries. MPEPIL includes numerous new topics in order to capture the latest developments in international law. To do justice to the changing nature of the law, an increased emphasis will be placed on the relevance of each keyword for contemporary international law. Particular attention will be paid to the contextualization of each topic within international law as well as the presentation of current trends while maintaining a focus on the mainstream/majority view. The goal is to avoid a purely EurocentricEurocentrism
Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture...
perspective and this will be achieved with the assistance of academics
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
and practitioners from various legal backgrounds and perspectives. The intention is that MPEPIL will be a work that reflects international law from a global perspective while taking into account regional views.
Contents
MPEPIL currently contains 1,248 articles. A total of 1,700 articles are planned for the site, with four content updates per year. Upon completion, the MPEPIL will cover the following over-arching subject areas and article types:- Air lawAviation lawAviation law is the branch of law that concerns flight, air travel, and associated legal and business concerns. Some of its area of concern overlaps that of admiralty law and in many cases, aviation law is considered a matter of international law due to the nature of air travel. However, the...
and law of outer spaceSpace lawSpace law is an area of the law that encompasses national and international law governing activities in outer space. International lawyers have been unable to agree on a uniform definition of the term "outer space," although most lawyers agree that outer space generally begins at the lowest... - DiplomacyDiplomacyDiplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
and consular relations - Foreign relationsForeign relationsForeign relations refers to the ongoing management of relationships between a public policy administrative organisation of a state and other entities external to its authority or influence...
- History of international law
- Human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
- ImmunitiesImmunity from prosecution (international law)Immunity from prosecution is a doctrine of international law that allows an accused to avoid prosecution for criminal offences. Immunities are of two types. The first is functional immunity, or immunity ratione materiae. This is an immunity granted to people who perform certain functions of...
- IndividualIndividualAn individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. Being self expressive...
s and non-state actorNon-state actorNon-state actors are categorized as entities participating or acting in the sphere of international relations; organisations with sufficient power to influence and cause change in politics which are...
s - International co-operationInternational relationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
- International courts and tribunalsInternational courtInternational courts are formed by treaties between nations, or under the authority of an international organization such as the United Nations — this includes ad hoc tribunals and permanent institutions, but excludes any courts arising purely under national authority.Early examples of...
- International criminal lawInternational criminal lawInternational criminal law is a body of international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. Principally, it deals with genocide, war crimes, crimes against...
- International economic law and relations
- International environmental law
- International humanitarian lawInternational humanitarian lawInternational humanitarian law , often referred to as the laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus that comprises "the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law." It...
- International organizations: general aspectsInternational organizationAn intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization composed primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organizations...
- International procedural lawProcedural lawProcedural law or adjective law comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil lawsuit, criminal or administrative proceedings. The rules are designed to ensure a fair and consistent application of due process or fundamental justice to all cases that come before...
- International responsibilityState responsibilityThe laws of state responsibility are the principles governing when and how a state is held responsible for a breach of an international obligation. Rather than set forth any particular obligations, the rules of state responsibility determine, in general, when an obligation has been breached and the...
- Law of the seaLaw of the seaLaw of the sea may refer to:* United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea* Admiralty law* The Custom of the Sea...
- Law of treaties
- Overview articles
- Procedural law in international organizations
- Regional organizations, institutions and developmentsRegional organizationRegional Organisations are in a sense, international organizations , as they incorporate international membership and encompass geopolitical entities that operationally transcend a single nation state...
- Relationship between international and domestic lawMonism and dualism in international lawThe terms monism and dualism are used to describe two different theories of the relationship between international law and national law.- Monism :Monists assume that the internal and international legal systems form a unity. Both national legal rules and international rules that a state has...
- Settlement of disputesDispute resolutionDispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between parties.-Methods:Methods of dispute resolution include:* lawsuits * arbitration* collaborative law* mediation* conciliation* many types of negotiation* facilitation...
- SourcesSources of international lawSources of international law are the materials and processes out of which the rules and principles regulating the international community are developed. They have been influenced by a range of political and legal theories...
, foundations and principles of international law - Specific armed conflictsWarWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
- Specific cases and decisions
- Specific geographic issues
- Specific treaties and instrumentsTreatyA treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
- StatehoodSovereign stateA sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
, jurisdiction of statesJurisdictionJurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
, organs of states - Subjects of international law
- Territory
- Theories of international law
- Universal international organizations and institutionsInternational organizationAn intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization composed primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organizations...
- Use of forceUse of forceThe term use of force describes a right of an individual or authority to settle conflicts or prevent certain actions by applying measures to either: a) dissuade another party from a particular course of action, or b) physically intervene to stop them...
, warWarWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, peacePeacePeace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
and neutralityNeutrality (international relations)A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
.
Given that the information contained in many of the articles may become outdated, authors are asked to update their articles once a year in the first three years after electronic publication of the entire MPEPIL.
Contributors
Over 800 authors from around the globe (74 countries) have agreed to submit articles to the MPEPIL. Among them are not only distinguished professorProfessor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
s, judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s and legal practitioners, who are involved international law, but also up-and-coming academics and research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
ers. The latter have been included in order to promote the progressive character of the MPEPIL.
Advisory Board
An Advisory Board, consisting of renowned experts in various fields of international law, applies its expertise to ensure the quality and excellence of each article. They carefully read and evaluate each article, keeping in mind the high standard of the publication. The members of the Advisory Board include: Rudolf Bernhardt, Armin von BogdandyArmin von Bogdandy
Armin von Bogdandy is professor of public law and international law at the University of Heidelberg School of Law and Director of the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law...
, Edith Brown Weiss, Jean-Pierre Cot
Jean-Pierre Cot
Jean-Pierre Cot is a French Professor for International Law and judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.- Biography :He is the son of Pierre Cot, also politician and minister....
, Yoram Dinstein
Yoram Dinstein
Yoram Dinstein is an international law Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University and is a specialist on international law, and an authority on the laws of war.-Career:...
, Thomas Franck
Thomas Franck (lawyer)
Thomas Franck was a lawyer, law professor, and expert on international law. Franck was the Murry and Ida Becker Professor of Law at New York University and advised many nations on legal matters, even helping some to write their constitutions.-Early life:Franck was born on July 14, 1931 in...
, Jochen Abr. Frowein, Meinhard Hilf, Rahmatullah Khan, Martti Koskenniemi
Martti Koskenniemi
Martti Antero Koskenniemi is an international lawyer and a former Finnish diplomat. Currently he is professor of International Law in the University of Helsinki and Director of the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights. He is well known for his critical approach to...
, Thomas Läufer, Thomas A. Mensah, Hanspeter Neuhold, Francisco Orrego Vicuña, W. Michael Reisman, Bruno Simma
Bruno Simma
Bruno Simma , is a German jurist who has served as a judge on the International Court of Justice since 2003....
, Daniel Thürer
Daniel Thürer
Daniel Thürer is a Swiss jurist and professor emeritus of international, comparative constitutional and European law at the University of Zurich...
, Christian Tomuschat
Christian Tomuschat
Christian Tomuschat Christian Tomuschat Christian Tomuschat (born 23 July 1936, in Stettin (Szczecin) is a German jurist. He is emeritus professor of public international law and European law at the Humboldt University in Berlin and is a former member of the UN Human Rights Committee and the UN's...
, Tullio Treves, Rüdiger Wolfrum
Rüdiger Wolfrum
Rüdiger Wolfrum is professor of international law at the University of Heidelberg School of Law and Director of the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law...
, and Michael Wood
Michael Wood (lawyer)
Sir Michael Wood is a member of the International Law Commission. He was the principal Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 1999 and 2006. During 35 years as a lawyer in the FCO, he attended many international conferences, including the United Nations Conference on the Law...
.
Staff
At the Max Planck Institute, a number of persons are or have been involved in the MPEPIL project since its initiation. The staff includes: Managing Editors, responsible for preparatory work, oversight over the project as a whole and to that end, involvement at all stages of the editorial and publication process, all the while ensuring a high level of quality for each article. Internal legal advisors, who are Senior Research Fellows at the Max Planck Institute, assist with quality-assurance in their supervision of the over-arching themes as well as examination of articles. Editorial Staff consists of Support Staff, Editors, and Student Assistants. The Support Staff assist in the daily administration of the project. Editors review each article to ensure they are in keeping with the project’s style guidelines and make certain the validity and content of the authors’ statements.Availability
The MPEPIL is available in electronic form. Oxford University PressOxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
(OUP) started the online publication in September 2008 with more than 450 articles. Regular updates will steadily expand the MPEPIL until all of its content can be accessed online. As of August 2011, the total number of articles stood at 1,389. In 2012, a print edition will be published
Oxford Law Citator
The MPEPIL features the Oxford Law CitatorOxford Law Citator
The Oxford Law Citator, developed by Oxford University Press , is an example of an authority control system, used within legal research...
. This system links together OUP online materials that mention or discuss each other, and provides the user with further information on all references which are available online.
External links
- Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. The official website.
- Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Heidelberg, Germany.
- Oxford University Press.