(a) Define International Law. Enumerate its weaknesses and give suggestions for improvement. (10 marks) (b) What is State…

(a) International law, in Oppenheim’s formulation, is the body of rules which states and other international persons regard as binding in their mutual relations; Brierly similarly describes it as the law of the society of states. Its source is primarily state practice and consent, not a central legislature. Its weaknesses are structural: there is no world government, no general police, and no compulsory enforcement; the ICJ has jurisdiction only with consent, and many states do not accept compulsory jurisdiction; treaty obligations depend on consent and can be avoided by reservations or non-ratification; power politics can override legal norms. Improvement requires strengthening the ICJ by wider acceptance of optional clause and better compliance with judgments, systematic codification through ILC, expanding international criminal law and accountability, and institutionalising dispute settlement in trade, environment and human rights. Further weaknesses are the veto in the Security Council, which paralyses collective enforcement (Article 27(3)); the weak follow-up of ICJ judgments, since enforcement under Article 94(2) itself depends on the Council; and the vagueness of customary law. Reform of the Security Council and better domestic implementation of treaties would also help. India's consistent support for multilateralism and for Security Council reform reflects this need.

(b) State recognition is the formal acknowledgment by an existing state that a new entity possesses statehood, usually assessed against the Montevideo Convention criteria: permanent population, defined territory, government, and capacity to enter relations. It is also distinct from UN admission. It may be declaratory, confirming existing statehood, or constitutive, creating legal effects. De jure recognition is full, conclusive and permanent; it confers complete legal standing, diplomatic relations, treaty capacity and immunity. De facto recognition is provisional, based on effective control and factual existence, and may be withdrawn if the entity fails to consolidate. It produces limited legal consequences, such as the validity of acts of the recognised government in municipal courts. The classic example is the United Kingdom's de facto recognition of the Soviet government in 1921, which was upgraded to de jure recognition in 1924. In Luther v. Sagor (1921), that de facto recognition was enough for English courts to give effect to Soviet decrees. De jure recognition is retroactive to the date the recognised authority came into existence. Premature recognition, given before effective control is established, is treated as intervention. The Tinoco Arbitration (1923) shows that the existence of a government is a question of fact, independent of recognition.

(c) Nationality is the legal bond between a person and a state, giving the person rights and duties and the state jurisdiction and protection. The Nottebohm case emphasised that nationality must be a genuine connection, not merely a formal certificate, for diplomatic protection to be effective. Its importance is central: it determines diplomatic protection, extradition, consular assistance, voting rights, eligibility for public office, and the treatment of persons in state succession and statelessness. Under Article 1 of the Hague Convention of 1930, each State determines its own nationals under its own law, and Article 15 of the UDHR recognises a right to a nationality. Modes of acquisition are birth, descent, registration (including by marriage), naturalisation, incorporation of territory (by cession, merger or succession) and reintegration. At birth, states apply jus sanguinis, descent, or jus soli, birth on territory; India follows a mixed system under the Citizenship Act, 1955. Citizenship is acquired by birth (Section 3), by descent (Section 4), by registration (Section 5), by naturalisation (Section 6) and by incorporation of territory (Section 7). Jus soli was restricted by the 1986 amendment, which required one parent to be an Indian citizen, and further by the 2003 amendment, which requires that the other parent not be an illegal migrant. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 added Section 6B, a special route to naturalisation for specified religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India before 31 December 2014. Naturalisation requires residence, good character and oath; marriage may confer nationality in some systems but not automatically in India, where a spouse may register after seven years' ordinary residence (Section 5(1)(c)); adoption and domicile are recognised in limited cases, while reintegration restores nationality lost by choice.

(d) Internal waters, or inland waters, are waters on the landward side of the baseline, including juridical or historic bays, ports, rivers and estuaries; a state’s sovereignty over them is complete, save that a right of innocent passage exists where straight baselines enclose as internal waters areas not previously considered as such (Article 8(2), UNCLOS). Territorial sea is the belt seaward of the baseline, up to twelve nautical miles, over which the coastal state has sovereignty but must allow innocent passage by foreign ships. The distinction is one of legal status: internal waters are treated as part of the national domain, while the territorial sea is a zone with qualified sovereignty. The breadth of the territorial sea evolved from the three-mile cannon-shot rule to the twelve-mile limit accepted in UNCLOS 1982. UNCLOS Article 3 fixes the breadth at a maximum of 12 nautical miles, measured from the normal (low-water) baseline (Article 5), or from straight baselines where the coast is deeply indented (Article 7; Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case (1951)). The coastal State's sovereignty extends to the airspace, seabed and subsoil (Article 2). Beyond it lie the contiguous zone (up to 24 nautical miles, Article 33) and the EEZ (up to 200 nautical miles). This compromise balanced coastal-state security, resource control and freedom of navigation. India adopted the 12-nm limit through the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976.

(e) ECOSOC, established under Articles 61–72 of the UN Charter, is the principal organ for coordinating the UN's economic and social work. It has 54 members elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms (Article 61, as amended; 54 members since 1973). It makes studies and recommendations on economic, social, cultural, educational and health matters and on human rights (Article 62), and it concludes relationship agreements with the specialised agencies (Article 63). It sets up functional commissions, such as the Commission on the Status of Women and the Statistical Commission (Article 68), and grants consultative status to NGOs (Article 71). Unlike the Security Council, whose Chapter VII decisions can be binding, ECOSOC recommends, studies and coordinates. Its importance lies in linking development, health, labour, statistics, population and environment through specialised agencies and programmes such as WHO, ILO, FAO, UNESCO and UNDP, with which it works through relationship agreements rather than direct control; the IMF and World Bank retain autonomous governance. It promotes higher living standards, full employment and social progress, and after the 2005 World Summit its reform agenda sought better coordination, less duplication and stronger follow-through. Its role in sustainable development is central: the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, created after Rio+20 by UNGA resolution 67/290 in 2013, operates under ECOSOC to monitor SDG progress. Thus ECOSOC is the UN forum for translating commitments into coordinated action.