TY - JOUR

T1 - Encoding the law of State responsibility with courage and resolve

T2 - James Crawford and the 2001 Articles on State Responsibility

AU - Paddeu, Federica I.

AU - Tams, Christian J.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author.

PY - 2022/6/1

Y1 - 2022/6/1

N2 - The breadth of James Crawford’s work as an academic and practitioner of international law is astonishing: from boundary delimitation to foundational sources questions to the complexities of annulment in investment arbitration, little seemed beyond his grasp or interest. From the 1990s onwards, State responsibility became a focus of his work, guiding the International Law Commission (ILC) through a swift second reading of the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (Articles). The eventual text, adopted in 2001 and annexed to United Nations General Assembly resolution 56/83, while reflecting a collective ILC effort, bears his imprint. This contribution takes three observations by Crawford as prompts for a discussion of both his role in their crafting and of the Articles’ place in contemporary international law. First, the Articles have ‘encoded the way we think about [State] responsibility’. Second, this encoding exercise marked ‘a step in the direction of profitable generalization’. Finally, the fact that this exercise resulted in a formally non-binding text has permitted ‘the Articles as part of the fabric of general international law to be consolidated and refined’ in the day-to-day interpretation and application of international law. The article concludes with brief remarks on their future status.

AB - The breadth of James Crawford’s work as an academic and practitioner of international law is astonishing: from boundary delimitation to foundational sources questions to the complexities of annulment in investment arbitration, little seemed beyond his grasp or interest. From the 1990s onwards, State responsibility became a focus of his work, guiding the International Law Commission (ILC) through a swift second reading of the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (Articles). The eventual text, adopted in 2001 and annexed to United Nations General Assembly resolution 56/83, while reflecting a collective ILC effort, bears his imprint. This contribution takes three observations by Crawford as prompts for a discussion of both his role in their crafting and of the Articles’ place in contemporary international law. First, the Articles have ‘encoded the way we think about [State] responsibility’. Second, this encoding exercise marked ‘a step in the direction of profitable generalization’. Finally, the fact that this exercise resulted in a formally non-binding text has permitted ‘the Articles as part of the fabric of general international law to be consolidated and refined’ in the day-to-day interpretation and application of international law. The article concludes with brief remarks on their future status.

KW - Articles on State Responsibility

KW - International Law Commission

KW - internationally wrongful act

KW - James Crawford

KW - State responsibility

KW - Law

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134038958&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/1b78960c-ab81-3d70-b633-20831473b9b3/

U2 - 10.4337/cilj.2022.01.01

DO - 10.4337/cilj.2022.01.01

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85134038958

VL - 11

SP - 6

EP - 23

JO - Cambridge International Law Journal

JF - Cambridge International Law Journal

SN - 2398-9173

IS - 1

ER -