Public Law Studies Quarterly

Revocation, Suspension and Termination of ‎Unilateral Acts of States in International Law

Document Type : Article

Authors

Ahmad Reza Towhidi 1
Reihaneh Zandi 2

1 Associate Prof, International Law, Faculty of law, Qom University, Qom, Iran‎

2 PhD student in International Law, International Law, Faculty of Law, Qom University, Qom, Iran‎

https://doi.org/10.22059/jplsq.2022.339259.3036
Abstract
While the legal validity of unilateral acts of states has been subject to various challenges, in the actual practice of states such acts have long existed as regards their daily ordinary relations, so much so that the development of customary international relations regarding them can be examined. Unilateral acts matter both as a common way by which states operate in international relations, and as a recognized source of law in scholarship and jurisprudence. This paper, in a descriptive-analytical way and using library resources, examines the situations in which the practice of the state leads to the termination or revocation of unilateral act. Thus, the question is under what preconditions are states able to end or withdraw their unilateral action? Based on the comparison between the legal effects of unilateral acts with those of treaty obligations, it could be argued that the right to revoke such acts may be subject to the consent of beneficiary third parties. Nonetheless, the International Law Commission’s approach of merely imitating the rules of treaty law on this subject seems problematic.

Keywords

unilateral acts
‎withdrawal
suspension
‎state
International Law ‎Commission. ‎
Subjects

  1.  English

    1. A) Books
    2. Eckart, C. (2012). Promises of States under International Law. Portland, Hart.
    3. Kassoti, E. (2016). The Juridical Nature of Unilateral Acts of States in International Law, Queen Mary Studies in International Law. London, Queen Mary Studies in International Law, Vol. 20.
    4. Osieke, E. (2017). The Legal Validity of Ultra Vires Decisions of International Organizations. London, Ramses A. Wessel& Steven Blockmans.

     

    1. B) Articles
    2. Bradley, Curtis A; Goldsmith, Jack L. (2018). Presidential Control over International Law. 131 Harvard Law Review, 131(5), 1207–1220.
    3. Bradley, C. A., Helfer, L. R. (2017). Treaty Exit in the United States: Insights from the United Kingdom or South Africa?. 111 American Journal of International Law, Unbound, 111, 428-433.
    4. Fabricius, P. (2017). South Africa Confirms Withdrawal from the ICC. Daily Maverick (2021), at: www. dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-12-07-south-africa-confirms-withdrawal-from-icc/#.WjgzvcbMyu4.
    5. Fiedler (1984). Unilateral acts in international law. Bernhardt Encyclopedia in Public International Law, 7, 511-528.
    6. Finnish (2018). Unilateral act as a source of particular international law. Spanish Yearbook of International Law, 22, 229- 262.
    7. Garner, J. W(1933). The International Binding Force of Unilateral Oral Declarations. American Journal of International Law, 27(3), 495-496.
    8. Goodman, C. (2006). Acta Sunt Servanda? A Regime for Regulating the Unilateral Acts of States at International Law", 25 Australian Year Book of International Law, 43-73.
    9. Kolasa, J. (2018). Unilateral Acts of State in the Process of Forming Customary International Law. Wroclaw Review of Law; Administration & Economics, 8(2), 59- 71.
    10. Rogowski, J. C (2019). Unilateral Action, Public Opinion, and Presidential Responsiveness. Harvard University, Department of Government, 35, 1-50.
    11. Saganek, P. (2015). Unilateral Acts of States. Leiden&Boston, Brill Nijhoff.
    12. Scheinin, M., & Vermeulen, M. (2020). Unilateral Exceptions to International Law: Systematic legal Analysis and Critique of Doctrines that seek to Deny or Reduce the Applicability of Human Rights Norms in the Fight against Terrorism. European Commission of Human Rights, pp. 20-56.
    13. UNESCWA. (2020). unilateral act (2021), at: https://archive.unescwa.org.
    14. Woolaver, H. (2019). From Joining to Leaving: Domestic Law’s Role in the International Legal Validity of Treaty Withdrawal. The European Journal of International Law, 30(1), 73- 104.

     

    1. C) Cases
    2. ICJ, Arbitral Award Made by the King of Spain on 23 December 1906(Honduras v. Nicaragua), Judgment of 18 November 1960, pp. 11-13.
    3. ICJ, Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo(Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Rwanda), Jurisdiction of the Court and Admissibility of the Application, 3 February 2006.
    4. ICJ, Case Conserning the Continental Shelf(Tunisia/ Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Judgment of 24 February 1982.
    5. ICJ, Continental Shelf(Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Malta), Judgment of 3 June 1985.
    6. ICJ, Frontier Dispute(Burkina Faso/Niger), Judgment of 16 April 2013.
    7. ICJ, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua(Nicaragua v. United States of America), Judgment of 26 November 1984.
    8. ICJ, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua(Nicaragua v. United States of America), Judgment of 26 November 1984.
    9. ICJ, North Sea Continental Shelf (Federal Republic of Germany/Netherlands), Judgment of 20 February 1969.
    10. ICJ, North Sea Continental Shelf(Federal Republic of Germany/Netherlands), Judgment of 20 February 1969.
    11. ICJ, Nuclear Tests Case,(Australia v. France), I.C.J, p. 253, Judgment of 20 December1974.
    12. Permanet Court of International Justise (P.C.I.J), Eastern Greenland Case, (Denmark v. Norway), General List No.43, Judgment No. 20, 5 September 1933.

     

    1. D) Documents and Reports
    2. Cedeño, Víctor Rodríguez, Eighth report on unilateral acts of States, Special Rapporteur, DOCUMENT A/CN.4/557,[26 May 2005].
    3. Cedeño, Victor Rodríguez, Fifth report on unilateral acts of states, Special Rapporteur, DOCUMENT A/CN.4/525 and.1 and 2, 17 April and 10 May 2002.
    4. Cedeño, Víctor Rodríguez, Ninth report on unilateral acts of States, A/CN.4/569 and Add.1, 6 April 2006.
    5. Cedeño, Víctor Rodríguez, Second report on unilateral acts of States, Special Rapporteur,[14 April and 10 May 1999], Document A/CN.4/500 and Add.1.
    6. Cedeño, Víctor Rodríguez, Seventh report on unilateral acts of States, Special Rapporteur, Document A/CN.4/542, 22 April 2004.
    7. Congress of the United States, Constitution of the United States of America—1787, Centennial Edition, Congressional Research Service, Available Online at: https://uscode.house.gov.
    8. Congress of the United States, Trade Act 1974 and Amendments thereto, 5 June 2000, Available Online in: https://www.wto.org.
    9. ILC, Commentary of the Commission to Art. 50 of "Draft Articles on the Law of Treaties", I.L.C. Yearbook, 1966.
    10. ILC, Guiding Principles applicable to unilateral declarations of Statescapable of creating legal obligations, with commentaries thereto, Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 2006, Vol. II, Part 2, pp. 1-14.
    11. The Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and Lord President of the Council(the eara of home), the Suez canal, HL Deb 14 May 1957 Vol. 203 cc633-42.
    12. United Nations, Secretary-General's Bulletin, ST/SGB/1999/13, 6 August 1999, "Observance by United Nations forces of international humanitarian law", 31-12-1999 Article, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 836.

     

    1. E) Thesis
    2. Tropper, J (2019). "Unilateral promises in general international law and investment law", Research Proposal Doctoral Thesis, Universität Wien, 2019, pp. 1-24.

     

    References In Persian:

    1. A) Books
    2. Crawford, J. (2015). Law of international responsibility. translated by: Alireza Ebrahim-Gol, Tehran: Ghalam Sangalaj (In Persian).
    3. Educational Department of Law and Political Science (2015). Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Tehran: Department of Law and Political Sciences, Vol.5 (In Persian).
    4. Jafari Langroudi, M. J. (2015). Legal Terminology. Tehran: Ganj Danesh (In Persian).
    5. Zaranshan, Shahram(2014). Formation and identification of customary international law, Tehran: Ganj Danesh (In Persian).
    6. Ziai Bigdali, M. R. (2012). Law of International Treaties. Tehran: Ganj Danesh (In Persian).

     

    1. B) Articles
    2. Bagherzadeh, R. (2021). Analysis of the performance of United states about the opinions of International Court of Justice. Public Law Studies quarterly, 4, 1509-1534 (In Persian).
    3. Haddadi, M., Karimi, S. (2016). Unilateral acts of states as a source of international obligations in international law. Legal Research Quarterly, 81, 213-289 (In Persian).
    4. Karimi, S (2021b). The Legitimacy of Voluntary Termination of Unilateral Actions by Governments in International Law. Scientific Quarterly Journal of Public Law Research, 72, 125-95 (In Persian).
    5. Karimi, S. (2021a). States' commitment to unilateral acts in the conceptual structure of international law. Iranian Journal of International Politics, 1, 297-321 (In Persian).
    6. Shaygan, F., & Abdulahi Roud Moajni, M. (2021). The function of mandatory rules in the field of unilateral acts of states. Public Law Studies Quarterly, 2, 695-714 (In Persian).

     

    1. C) thesis
    2. Hashemi, H. (2002). The laws governing the unilateral acts of states as a source of international law. Master's thesis in international law, University of Tehran, Faculty of Law (In Persian).
    3. Miri Lavasani, S. (2006). Unilateral binding acts of states in international law. master's thesis in international law, Tehran University, Qom Higher Education Complex (In Persian).
    4. Miri, H. (1995). The effect of unilateral acts of states on the sources of international law. master's thesis of international law, Shahid Beheshti University, Faculty of Law (In Persian).
Public Law Studies Quarterly
Volume 53, Issue 2
Summer 2023
Spring 2023
Pages 1025-1050

  • Receive Date 22 February 2022
  • Revise Date 30 April 2022
  • Accept Date 17 September 2022

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