Classes meet in Room 201 of the Parker Building on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 15:15 to 17:45pm during the months of March and April.
Office: Parker Building, Rooms 334 A & B
Phone: 262-8210
Office Hours: M, W, F 11 to 12
and by appointment
e-mail address: levitts@polaris.ncs.nova.edu
The first five weeks of this course are devoted to examining the fundamentals of international law including sources of international law, the relationship between municipal law and international law, and jurisdiction. In the final component of the course, students are asked to apply these principles and critically analyze the judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
1. Students will be able to define what is meant by the terms "public international law" and "private international law."
2. Students will be able to identify those situations when treaty rules apply in international disputes and when customary rules will govern.
3. They should be able to demonstrate an ability to identify in which cases an American court/ a British court/ a German court/ will apply international legal rules and when an American court/ a British court/ a German court will be bound to apply its own municipal law.
4. They will be able to explain the mechanisms employed by the
United Nations to "solve" or deal with international disputes and
their significance including:
They will be able to explain how United Nations resolutions
impact upon the body of "international legal rules" (treaty and
custom).
5. When confronted with a case or fact pattern students will be
able to identify the basis upon which the court is taking
(or would take) jurisdiction be that subjective territorial,
objective territorial, nationality, passive nationality,
protective, or universal.
6. They will be able to identify those situations when military
force might be justified in international affairs and when
sanctions should be applied. They will be able to enunciate the
concept of self-defense as it is understood by the international
community today.
7. Students will be able to articulate the main arguments
postulated by the defendants before the International Military
Tribunal at Nuremberg, in particular the act of state doctrine,
as well as the tu quoque and the respondit superior defenses.
8. They should be able to name and distinguish the indicia of the
four heads of charges used in the proceedings before the
International Military Tribunal.
9. By the end of the course students should be able to identify
international law issues when presented in fact patterns.
10. Students will be able to access and use in written
assignments information from the international law home page.
There will be available prior to the first week of classes a
photocopy booklet which must be purchased from the Liberal Arts
Department. The cost of the booklet is $25.00. Students are
advised to purchase a two inch wide (or wider), three ring
binder, in order to keep all these materials together in an
organized fashion.
1. Final Examination (40 %): There will be one final
examination, given on the last day of classes, which will count
for forty per cent of the final course grade. (Other arrangements
may be made by the instructor. This might include part of the
examination being written at home)
2. Essays (60%) : There will be six short written papers
assigned. Each written paper will be worth ten per cent of the
final grade in this course. The instructor may, in his complete,
absolute, and totally unfettered discretion, decide that one or
two written papers shall be completed in class as short
examinations.)
Writing Across the Curriculum Policy
In all Farquhar Center courses written assignments entailing no
less than eight written pages must account for at least thirty-
five percent of the final grade. Written assignments include
self-evaluations, short written assignments, and essay questions
on the final examination.
In this course, one hundred percent of the grade comes from written
assignments.
Policies Concerning The Short Papers
Each short essay paper is to be from two to three pages in length
typed and double-spaced. The cover page should include your name,
the title of your paper, the course name and the date. The pages
comprising the body of the essay should not contain any
identifying markings.
The essay paper should contain footnotes where appropriate and a
bibliography.
Students will be expected to have e-mail accounts, and regularly
read their e-mail. "Regularly" means at least twice a week, the
evening before the next class.
Students with Netscape 2.0 or 3.0 may access the index for
Levitt's International and Comparative Law Homepage
There are links on this page for:
The direct address for the International Law homepage
Students with LYNX may also access this information!!
COMPUTER LINKS: FOR YOUR EXPLORATION!
The International Law Sites Homepage has a number of divisions.
One finds first a series of six links which connect the student
with Treaty Law servers. Some of the Treaty Law servers have
literally hundreds of treaties available for the student to look
at, should s/he be interested.
Second, the student will find links which connect him/her with
treaty servers- which are arranged topically. So for instance,
if the student wishes to explore treaties on Trade, s/he would
choose the link: Trade and Commercial Relations.
There is a lot of information available concerning the workings
of the United Nations. Students can find information about:
Last but not least, there is information available about:
Students who are interested in recent developments concerning
international criminal tribunals which deal with events in the
former Yugoslavia and Rwanda may look at the link:
The International Criminal Tribunals (Rwanda and Yugoslavia) Home
A. SIMPLIFIED OVERVIEW OF DAYS OF CLASS AND TOPICS
Session 1: March 9 1999
Session 2: March 11
Sessions 3&4: March 16 and 18
Sessions 5 &6: March 23 and 25
Sessions 7& 8 :March 30 and April 1
Sessions 9 and 10 April 6 and 8
Sessions 11 & 12: April 13 and 15
Sessions 13&14 : April 20 and 22
Session 15: April 27
b. Resolutions of the General Assembly
V. REQUIRED TEXTS
VI. CLASS POLICIES
COMPUTER RESOURCES AND POLICIES
a. American law
b. Comparative Law
c. International Law and
d. Pre-law Information
e. Western Civilization
VII. READING SCHEDULE & TOPIC OUTLINE:
Return to the International Law Main
Page
Comments to:
Stephen Ross Levitt
Updated: February 1999
Copyright Stephen Ross Levitt and Liberal Arts Department