Chapter 10: State responsibility

A video tutorial from author Gleider Hernández introducing the topics in chapter 10 of International Law

View the transcript here.

Key points for reflection:

  • State responsibility rules govern the attribution of wrongful conduct (breaches) under international law
  • Question of imputability and accountability, though of course enforcement remains an issue
  • Classification and characterisation: attribution
    • General principle: the wrongful act of a State should entail its legal responsibility for its consequences
    • Acts of State organs and other actors under its effective control
    • Acts of non-State organs in certain circumstances
  • Breach of an international obligation of a State
    • Notions of fault, but not necessarily damage, for a breach to exist
    • Responsibility under national law
  • Circumstances precluding wrongfulness: necessity, self-defence, force majeure, distress, countermeasures
  • Remedies and reparation

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