This textbook provides an overview of the general functioning of international law. This textbook provides an overview of the general functioning of international law, rather than presenting an extensive overview of the immense developments of international law in the last few decades. These developments cover a wide range of topics, including the regulation of the subjects, sources, state responsibility, the means of dispute settlement, and the increasingly problematic relation to domestic jurisdictions. In addition, substantive international law has expanded into numerous branches, such as the law of the sea, environmental law, jurisdictional immunities, human rights law, investment and trade law, and international criminal law. Due to its concise nature, this book will be an incentive to students at first degree level to study the subject, while complementing the possible use of a syllabus in the public international law course. The basic character of the narrative is also meant to help attorneys understand how intertwined international law and domestic rules are, which they interpret and apply on a daily basis. And this may result in the use of many more arguments in their pleadings before a national court. Preface to the second edition XIII Preface to the first edition XV List of abbreviations XVII Chapter; What is international law 1. Who needs a basic knowledge of international law and why; 2. Regulating the relations between states and constraining their external sovereignty…; 3. …And internal sovereignty; 4. Why do states undertake international obligations?; 4.1. The example of the Rio Grande Agreement; 5. Why do states comply with and breach international law?; 6. Can we speak of a Constitution of the international society of states? A brief history; 7. Differences and similarities between international law and domestic jurisdictions; 7.1. Predictability; 8. Concluding remarks; Further reading; Chapter; Who makes international law and its recipients 1. The subjects and actors of international law. Introductory remarks; 2. States and statehood; 3. Intergovernmental organisations; 4. Non-state entities; Further reading; Chapter; Making and changing international rules 1. Sources of law and sources of international law; 2. Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice; 3. International agreements. Introductory qualifications; 4. International custom; 5. General principles of law; 6. Relationship between the sources of international law; 7. So-called ‘soft-law instruments’; Further reading; Chapter; International law and domestic jurisdictions 1. Background; 2. The monism v dualism controversy and balancing; 3. Municipal law in international law and before international courts and tribunals; 4. International law in municipal law and before domestic courts and tribunals; 5. The doctrine of incorporation of customs and transformation of treaties in common law jurisdictions; 6. The ‘receipt’ of international law in civil law jurisdictions; 7. The crux of the matter: conflict and precedence; 8. Jurisprudential nationalism; Further reading; Chapter; Breaching international law and its consequences 1. Introduction; 2. International wrongs and state responsibility; 3. State liability and civil liability; Further reading; Chapter; The international means of dispute settlement 1. Introduction; 2. The existence of a legal dispute; 3. Diplomatic means of dispute settlement; 4. Adjudicative means; 5. Institutional means for the settlement of disputes over collective interests and emerging cases of resort to adjudication; Further reading; Chapter; Select areas of substantive international law 1. Introduction; 2. International economic law; 3. The law of the sea; 4. International human rights law; 5. International environmental law; 6. International criminal law and justice; 7. The law of jurisdictional immunities; 8. International law on migration; Further reading; Conclusions: Multilateralism v Unilateralism