Reasons to Comply

Philippe Sands

• The Limits of International Law by Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner
  Oxford, 262 pp, £17.99, February 2005, ISBN 0 19 516839 9
• War Law: International Law and Armed Conflict by Michael Byers
  Atlantic, 214 pp, £16.99, April 2005, ISBN 1 84354 338 9

Not since World War Two has the nature and adequacy of international law provoked such a debate, both in Britain and abroad. A great number of international agreements have been adopted over the past sixty years, establishing minimum standards of behaviour with which states and other international actors must undertake to comply. They affect people in every country, and cover just about every subject: trade, investment, air transport, oceans, boundaries, environment, human rights, armed conflict. The great majority of these rules are not controversial; they work efficiently, and they are complied with. They establish the minimum standards necessary for co-operation in an increasingly interdependent world. The emergence of this great body of rules reflects a silent global revolution. But most people are unaware of the rules, of how they are made, and of quite how many of them there are, and this raises serious concerns about the accountability and legitimacy of international law-making. In Britain, almost all treaties are rubber-stamped by the executive and are not debated or even properly noted by Parliament, unless they address an issue of EU law. In the United States, there is an appropriately lively and informed debate about international law-making, democracy and constitutionalism. Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner, the authors of The Limits of International Law, have contributed significantly to that debate and have played an important role in focusing attention on issues of legitimate concern. A similar debate is needed in Britain, as an increasing number of national laws are adopted off the back of international norms which have often been negotiated by the executive in circumstances in which the legislature plays no role.