KSLU Solved Question Papers
Public International Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 7
2022 Apr Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 7 Public International Law 2022 Apr Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2022 Apr examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2022 Apr examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2022 Apr examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note/problems is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Trace the origin and development of International Law.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: a definition (old and modern); the stages of development: the ancient world (Egypt and the Hittites, India, Greece, Rome), the birth of the modern system (Grotius 1625, Westphalia 1648), 1648 to 1914 (Vienna 1815, the first international unions, the Hague Conferences), the League of Nations (Covenant, PCIJ, ILO, Kellogg-Briand), the United Nations (1945), and after 1945 (codification, new subjects, human rights, decolonisation); cases marking the shift (Lotus, Reparation, Barcelona Traction); India's role.
Definition
The older definition, Oppenheim's, spoke only of States. It called international law the body of customary and treaty rules binding on civilised States in their dealings with one another.
The modern definition is wider. International law is the body of rules that governs relations between States. It also governs their relations with other subjects, such as international organisations and, in some respects, individuals. The change in the definition is itself the story of the subject's development.
Stage 1: The ancient world
Rules between communities are as old as communities. A treaty between Egypt and the Hittites, about 1259 BC, dealt with peace, the return of fugitives and mutual defence.
Ancient India had detailed rules on envoys, treaties and the conduct of war, found in the Arthashastra and the Dharmashastras. Envoys were inviolable, and unfair methods of war were condemned.
Greece had rules on heralds, truces and the burial of the dead between its city-States. Rome developed the jus gentium, the part of Roman law applied to foreigners, and the jus fetiale on declaring war and making treaties.
These were not international law in the modern sense, because there was no system of equal sovereign States. But they show that rules arise wherever separate communities deal with each other.
Stage 2: The birth of the modern system
In the Middle Ages, the Pope and the Emperor claimed authority over all Christian rulers, so there was no system of equal States. Writers such as Vitoria, Suarez and Gentili began to apply law to relations between rulers in the sixteenth century.
Hugo Grotius published De Jure Belli ac Pacis in 1625 and is called the father of international law. He rested the law between nations on natural reason and on the agreement of nations.
The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 ended the Thirty Years War. It accepted that each ruler was supreme in his own territory and that States were legally equal. This is the start of the modern system of sovereign States.
Stage 3: From Westphalia to 1914
The law grew mostly through the practice of European States:
- The Congress of Vienna (1815) fixed the ranks of diplomats and the freedom of navigation on international rivers.
- The first international unions appeared: the International Telegraph Union (1865) and the Universal Postal Union (1874).
- The Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 codified the laws of war and set up the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
In this period international law was mainly European. It was also used to justify colonial rule over the rest of the world.
Stage 4: The League of Nations
The First World War led to the League of Nations (1919), created by the Covenant in the Treaty of Versailles. It set up the Permanent Court of International Justice (1922) and the International Labour Organisation (1919). The Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 renounced war as an instrument of national policy.
The Permanent Court's decisions show the law of this time. In S.S. Lotus (France v. Turkey), PCIJ Series A, No. 10 (1927), it said the basis of international law is the free will of independent States. That is the classical, State-centred view.
The League failed. The United States never joined, decisions needed unanimity, and it could not stop the aggressions of the 1930s.
Stage 5: The United Nations
The UN Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 and came into force on 24 October 1945. It made three great changes. Article 2(4) prohibits the threat or use of force. Chapter VII gives the Security Council binding power to act. And the Charter promotes self-determination and human rights.
Stage 6: Development after 1945
- Codification. The International Law Commission was set up in 1947. It prepared the great texts on diplomatic relations (1961), the law of treaties (1969) and State responsibility (2001). UNCLOS followed in 1982.
- New subjects. The International Court gave its advisory opinion in Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations in 1949. It held that the UN has international personality. Individuals gained rights under human rights treaties and duties under international criminal law.
- Community interests. In Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited (Belgium v. Spain), ICJ Reports 1970, p. 3, the Court recognised obligations owed "towards the international community as a whole", obligations erga omnes. The law was no longer only bilateral.
- Decolonisation. UN membership more than trebled, and the new States of Asia and Africa took part in making the law.
- New fields. Environment, trade (the WTO, 1995), outer space, health and international criminal justice (the Rome Statute, in force 2002).
India's contribution
India signed the Charter in 1945 as an original member. Article 51 of the Constitution directs the State to foster respect for international law. India has shaped the law of the sea and decolonisation, and has argued cases before the International Court.
Conclusion. International law began in ancient rules between communities. It took modern form with Grotius and the Peace of Westphalia, and grew through European practice, the League and the United Nations. Its development runs from a law of sovereign will, as in Lotus, to a law of an international community, as in Reparation and Barcelona Traction. Today it governs States, organisations and individuals across almost every field of life.
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