Rosalyn Higgins, Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use It
| Published date | 01 September 1995 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1995.tb02051.x |
| Author | David Turns |
| Date | 01 September 1995 |
REVIEWS
Rosalyn Higgins,
Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use
It,
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994, xxviii
+
274 pp, hb
E25.00.
This book is, in effect, a revised text of the series of lectures delivered by
Professor Higgins on the Hague Academy General Course in International Law in
1991. The aim of the General Course is for the Lecturer to offer ‘a personal
statement’ or a series of reflections on personal views of international law, rather
than a definitive treatise to end all treatises on the entire corpus of the law of
nations. As Professor Higgins makes clear in her Preface, her aim is to present
personal views on some of the problems that have manifested themselves in how
international law actually operates, rather than
to
discuss at length broad theories
and principles of international law. It follows that she concentrates on the actual
practice of states and their interpretation of the law rather than on the law itself.
Although the author states that she is not following ‘the traditional chapter
headings of the textbooks,’ this reviewer
-
as a former student and teacher of
Professor Higgins’ own Public International Law course at the London School of
Economics and Political Science
-
found a marked similarity in terms of layout
and format between this book and the author’s lectures on her undergraduate
course.
So
the book does in fact cover all the substantive areas of Public
International Law, but offers a personal perspective rather than an objective
textbook approach.
A gentle word of warning is perhaps in order at this stage: this book is
emphatically not for newcomers to international law or those who do not specialise
in it, and is not a basic reference work or general guide to the subject. It
presupposes a certain amount of prior knowledge of the principles
of
international
law on the part of the reader, and then builds on that basic stock by selecting
specific problems (generally
of
current topical importance) and examining them in
detail in terms of how they relate to the basic principles of the law of nations. As
such, it is one of the most valuable and intelligent international law texts of recent
years and cannot be welcomed too strongly.
While each chapter of the book deals with a particular substantive area of
international law, Professor Higgins’ approach is to avoid general surveys of the
theories and principles which govern each area and instead to extract specific
problems
-
derived from the actual practice of states
-
and examine them in
detail (thus explaining the work’s title). Viewed as a whole, the author traces a
clear and logical sequence of topics which forms a coherent overall picture of the
corpus of Public International Law. There are fifteen chapters in the book, each
one corresponding to one of Professor Higgins’ lectures on the General Course.
Broadly speaking, the book falls into two sections: in chapters one to nine, most of
the traditional, individual substantive areas of international law are discussed and
problems relating to those specific topics examined. In chapters ten to fifteen,
however, the focus changes to the function of law in international relations as a
means for the containment and settlement of disputes, thereby broadening the
scope of the analysis to deal with the use of the United Nations, the International
Court of Justice and national courts in maintaining the international order.
108
Cowley Road, Oxford OX4
1JF
and 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142,
USA.
@
The Modem
Law
Review Limited
1995
(MLR 585, September). Published by
Blackwell
Publishers,
767
To continue reading
Request your trial