COMMON SYLLABUS AND CLASS RULES

Special Topics in International Law

Ateneo de Manila University

Academic Year 2018-2019
Second Semester
Divinagracia, Enojo, Gulapa, Linsangan, and Yap

1. Assignment. Assignment for each meeting will be confirmed during the immediately
preceding meeting. If the class is unable to finish the assignment at the relevant meeting,
discussion of the previous assignment will be continued before discussion of the next
assignment.

2. No Laptops and Devices/Internet. Except during the colloquia or round-table

discussions, students shall not be allowed to use their laptop and similar devices or access
the internet in class. Any student violating this rule will merit a 60 for the relevant
meeting, even if not called for recitation.

3. Questions during Class Time. Students are encouraged to ask questions anytime. If the
question is, in the opinion of the professor, manifestly intended to disrupt the discussion
or avoid the conduct of recitation, the question will be disregarded.

4. Absences. Please observe the current school policies on absences. The professors will
not call anyone who is absent.

5. Pass when Called. This will merit a 70.

6. Coaching. This will merit a 60.

7. Eating in Class. Other than water or coffee and a light sandwich or crackers, no food
will be allowed in class.

8. Grading. Grades comprise:

a. Recitation* : 20%
b. Midterms : 20%
c. Moot Court : 20%
d. Papers** : 40%

* The recitation grade includes participation at the colloquia and round-table discussions.
During the colloquia and round-table discussions, the professor shall choose some students to
discuss their reaction paper and exchange ideas with the guest speaker.

** Students will write 2 reaction papers on any 2 topics among the 4 topics (maximum of 3
pages; no footnotes; single space; short bond; Times New Roman 12). We suggest that students

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limit their comments/reaction to 2 or 3 points so that they will have room to expound each point
extensively. The first paragraph should be a summary of the portions of the work or discussions
you wish to comment on and react to. After the summary, the students should frame the
discussion such that the professors will understand, at the outset, the content of the reaction.

Reaction points may take the form of:

a. testing the premises and assumptions of the author/speaker;

b. disagreement with or objection to the arguments of the author/speaker;
c. elucidation of missed opportunities (such as what the author could/should have used as
basis or reason to support her arguments); and/or
d. suggestion to extend the findings/conclusion to another area of application.

Please email a Word version of your reaction paper on the deadline set out below to
mlenojo@alumni.ateneo.edu. Filename format should be: Surname_SessionNumber.docx or
doc. Example of filename format: Rizal_SixthSession.docx or Rizal_SixthSession.doc.

First Session: Overview

Course Requirements
Syllabus

Second Session: Review of Public International Law (Introduction, Sources, Relations of

International Law and National Law)

Readings
BROWNLIE'S PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW BY JAMES
CRAWFORD, PART I, CHAPTERS 1-3 (8TH ED. 2012)

Third Session: Review of Public International Law (Statehood, Recognition, Territory)

Readings
BROWNLIE'S PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW BY JAMES
CRAWFORD, PART VII, CHAPTERS 5-6, 8-9 (8TH ED. 2012)

Fourth Session: Review of Public International Law (Sovereignty and Equality of States,
Jurisdictional Competence)

Readings
BROWNLIE'S PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW BY JAMES
CRAWFORD, PART VII, CHAPTERS 20-21 (8TH ED. 2012)

Fifth Session: Review of Public International Law (State Responsibility)

Readings
BROWNLIE'S PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW BY JAMES
CRAWFORD, PART VII, CHAPTERS 25-26 (8TH ED. 2012)

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Sixth Session: International Human Rights Law and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction over
Human Rights Violations by Juridical Persons

Readings:
UN OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER COMMENTARY ON THE UN
GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS (2011)
(http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusines
sHR_EN.pdf)
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch, 133 S. Ct. 1659, 185 L. Ed. 2d 671, 81 U.S.L.W.
4241 (2013) [2013 BL 103044]
(https://harvardhumanrights.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/kiobeldecision.pd
f)
Zachary Clopton, Kiobel and the Law of Nations
(https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-
core/content/view/FC1889E9A1A6B5B95FF268CED2DAA716/S2398772
300009600a.pdf/kiobel_and_the_law_of_nations.pdf)

First Reaction Paper due one week after the Sixth Session (11:59 pm)

Seventh Session: Departmental Colloquium on International Human Rights Law and

Jurisdiction over Human Rights Violations by Juridical Persons

Resource Person: TBA

Reactors: TBA

MIDTERMS (WRITTEN; KILLER OBJECTIVE EXAM)

Eighth Session: International Environmental Law and the Conservation of Marine

Resources

Readings:
Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan; New Zealand int.) (2014 ICJ
226) (https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/148/148-20140331-JUD-
01-00-EN.pdf)
Liu, D., The Antarctic Whaling Case and the International Law on the
Regulation of Whaling, in INTERNATIONAL MARINE ECONOMY: LAW AND
POLICY 363-387 (2017).
Japan to Resume Commercial Whaling, Defying International Ban
(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/world/asia/japan-whaling-
withdrawal.html)

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Second Reaction Paper due one week after the Eighth Session (11:59 pm)

Ninth Session: Departmental Colloquium on International Environmental Law and the

Conservation of Marine Resources

Resource Person: TBA

Reactors: TBA

Tenth Session: The Law of Treaties and Withdrawal

Readings: TBA

Third Reaction Paper due one week after the Tenth Session (11:59 pm)

Eleventh Session: Departmental Colloquium on The Law of Treaties and Withdrawal

Resource Person: TBA

Reactors: TBA

Twelfth Session: Universal Jurisdiction and Anti-Money Laundering

Readings: TBA

Fourth Reaction Paper due one week after the Twelfth Session (11:59 pm)

Thirteenth Session: Departmental Colloquium on Universal Jurisdiction and Anti-Money

Laundering

Resource Person: TBA

Reactors: TBA

Fourteenth Session: Preparation for Moot Court

FINALS (MOOT COURT COMPETITION)