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you are here: > Self > 22. LEX
| 22.11 | International law |
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| International law or “public international law” concerns primarily the relationships between sovereign nations. Of all the categories of law, it is the most recent and also the category that has had some of the greatest legal impact in the past fifty years. |
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| 22.11.1 | The United Nations Charters, Treaties and Laws |
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| The United Nations, founded under the UN Charter of 1948 is one of the most significant international laws. Other international bodies also formed under treaty such as the International Labour Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, or the International Monetary Fund continue to play a growing important part in the day to day affairs of nations and their citizens. |
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| Unions and memberships |
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| The second major area of internation law development is the growth of regional unions of member states such as the European Union. The European Union has now assumed a number of powers and authorities by treaty which previously were reserved only for sovereign states. |
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| Increasingly, Europeans are being governed not from their national leadership but by laws and regulations created by the One Europe administration of the EU. |
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| Free Trade Agreements |
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| A further area of international law development is the rise of free trade agreements whereby nations agree to lower barriers and increase cooperation between one another, effectively opening up markets and at the same time making each others companies and sometimes citizens liable to the laws of a foreign nation. |
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| For example, one of the mandatory elements of any Free Trade Agreement with the United States is the right of the United States through its own courts to pursue issues of copyright and patent infringement. While superficially such an element seem fair and reasonable, it gives and has given American companies a huge strategic advantage in industry, business, invention and royalties by effectively stifling local creativity and R&D for many nations under such FTA’s because of the aggressive legal protections afforded US companies over alleged copyright and patent breaches for ideas, brands and names that sometimes have absolutely nothing to do with another foreign nationals invention. |
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| 22.11.2 | The importance of international law |
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| International law is one of the most important areas of law for the world today and one of the principle areas of critical legal reform. |
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| We will discuss solutions and options in more detail in following pages. |
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