European Law & International Law (e-books)

E-publication
Laura Gazdagová-Bartolomej Mižák-Vladyslava Kryvoshei
Technological development is increasingly reshaping the environment in which international law operates. Rapid digitalization, global interconnectedness, and the emergence of new technologies raise questions that traditional legal norms are not always prepared to address. New forms of cross-border interactions, security challenges, and ethical dilemmas influence the functioning of states, international organizations, and other actors. Against this backdrop, discussions are evolving on how international law can maintain its relevance in an era of rapid innovation and how it may adapt to a dynamic technological landscape.
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Kristián Csach - Ľubica Širicová

Private international law has undergone dramatic changes in recent periods. The fully operational process of communitarization of this legal field has not yet – and perhaps could not have been – effectively reflected by domestic legislators. Under the current legal status, it is not uncommon for legal issues to intertwine regulations of community origin and domestic legislation (embodied primarily by Act No. 97/1963 Coll. on Private International Law and Procedure).

Questions about the obsolescence of some provisions of this, until recently, universal codified regulation of private international law arise mainly (but not exclusively) from the conflict rules contained in the so-called "Rome I" Regulation on the law applicable to contractual obligations, the "Rome II" Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations, and most recently in Council Regulation (EC) No. 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition, and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations.

Respecting the principle of the primacy of generally binding acts of the Community over domestic law, the correct application of normative texts cannot be achieved without the ability to quickly navigate through the norms and subsequently compare them.

Students and anyone else are therefore confronted with a multitude of legal regulations of substantial scope and detailed regulation. Currently, apart from systematically arranged references on the websites of the Ministry of Justice, we do not find a comprehensive material that would offer an overview of legal regulations in the field of private international law and procedure.

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Ľudmila Pošiváková - Adam Giertl

The presented selection of public international law documents aims to map international law from both historical and sectoral perspectives. The reader will find several historical documents in this collection, but the focus is primarily on currently valid legal sources.

The selection is guided by the publication Public International Law – General and Special Part by Prof. Ján Klučko, which is reflected in the division into general and special parts. The general part addresses the historical development of international law but primarily focuses on the protection of individuals and responsibility relationships in international law. The special part then examines the international regulation of various institutions of international law.

We acknowledge that this selection offers room for expansion, but we believe it meets basic requirements and fills a certain gap in the study of international law.

We trust that this collection of public international law materials will be beneficial for students, and not only for them, in the study of public international law and will contribute to raising awareness in this field.

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Ľudmila Pošiváková -  Zuzana Antošová - Milan Kočan (eds.)

Proceedings from the Student Debate held on April 24, 2013, at the Faculty of Law of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice.

In the current period, the rule of law is widely debated both at the academic and political levels. This debate is not only related to the effort to establish the Rule of Law in states that have transitioned from socialist to democratic systems but also in states experiencing various unrests, whether political or religious.

However, it is not just a debate about certain characteristics of the Rule of Law that are missing in domestic law or at the level of international law, but also a debate about the very definition and meaning of the Rule of Law. The rule of law can be likened to an ideal that almost every state strives to achieve. Even in the case of the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic, the framers decided to include among the introductory provisions, which should form the core of the constitution, that the Slovak Republic is a state governed by the rule of law.

However, to achieve the ideal of the rule of law, it is necessary not only to declare it but also to adopt measures essential for an independent judiciary, democracy, the effective enforcement of human rights, the separation of powers, and many other elements that characterize a state governed by the rule of law.

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Adam Giertl - Ľubica Gregová Širicová (eds.)

Proceedings from the 5th Student Symposium held on April 21-22, 2013

The French delegate to the Commission on Human Rights, while discussing the inclusion of the term "media" in the article on freedom of expression in the draft of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, wisely urged other members of the commission to be forward-looking regarding the information media of the future.

The discussion took place in 1950, when delegates could not yet foresee the impact of the internet on social relations. Given that it is now clear that information technologies significantly influence law, including international law, the organizers of the student symposium decided to dedicate its sixth edition to the theme "Information Society and International Law."

Students of the Faculty of Law, after registering for the symposium, first focused on preparing their contributions, with each participant having access to a consultant if needed. This year, the list of consultants, in addition to members of the Institute of European Law and the Department of International Law, was expanded to include an expert in intellectual property law, Mgr. Martin Husovec, a graduate of our Faculty of Law and currently an IMPRS-CI doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law. We also take this opportunity to thank him for dedicating his time to the students and providing them with valuable advice in preparing their contributions. After the preparatory phase, the symposium itself took place, with the aim of presenting the prepared contributions and discussing them.

The presented contributions reflected a wide range of intersections between international law and the information society.

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Adam Giertl (ed.)

Proceedings of Scientific Works

International law does not represent a monolithic entity of uniform legal norms. It is a legal system that is fundamentally created by the consensus of states. It reflects the collective will of multiple entities regarding what should be binding and enforceable as law among them.

From this understanding arises the fact that the needs for legal regulation will differ in various parts of the world. The consequence of this situation is the formation of regional groupings where, to some extent, specific legal rules apply. As Professor Klučka points out in his study published in this proceedings, regionalization can occur both on a contractual basis and on an institutional basis. Regionalism in law thus raises many interesting questions that legal science addresses.

This proceedings of scientific papers also aims to contribute to the knowledge in this field.

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Ján Klučka a kol.

The presented monograph, “Regionalism and Its Contribution to General International Law,” was prepared at the Institute of European Law and the Department of International Law of the Faculty of Law at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice as part of a project of the same name (APVV-0823-11) carried out in the years 2011–2015, and represents one of its final publication outputs.

The main reason for choosing this topic was the effort to evaluate regionalism in its various forms in relation to international law, and, conversely, to assess the place, significance, and role of international law in the creation and functioning of different forms of regional groupings. In fact, although regionalism is receiving increasing attention in doctrine, a more comprehensive assessment of its impact on international law and vice versa has so far been lacking.

This monograph attempts to partially fill this gap. Against the background of a brief historical development of regionalism, as well as its substantive and terminological components, the monograph examines in greater detail the individual types of regionalism—such as old and new regionalism, as well as contractual and institutional regionalism—their specific features, and their contribution to general international law.

Attention is also devoted to a specific phenomenon of contemporary regionalism, namely the influence of the European Union on its stabilization and development, both through practical measures and through a set of measures regulated by international treaties.

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Ján Klučka - Ľudmila Elbert

The present monograph "Regionalism and its Contribution to General International Law" was written at the Institute of European Law and Department of International Law, Faculty of Law, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, as a part of the project (APVV-O823-11) carried out in 2011-2015, representing one of its final publication utputs. 

The main reason for choosing the topic was to evaluate regionalism in its various relationships and forms with respect to international law, and also to evaluate the place,importance and duties of international law in respect to the establishment and functioning of various forms of regionalgroups.

It is a fact that even though a lot of attention has been paid to regionalism, a more complex evaluation of the impact it has had on international law, and vice versa, is still lacking. The efforts of the present monograph are to partially eliminate this gap.

After giving a brief insight into how regionalism has developed, its content and terminology, the monograph studies in more details individual types of regionalism in the form of old and new regionalism, as well as treaty and institutional regionalism; its specifications and contributions to the international law.

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Adam Giertl - Ľudmila Elbert

Collection of Papers from the 8th Student Symposium held on April 20–21, 2015 in Danišovce

The capture of the historic Syrian city of Palmyra by fighters of the radical Islamic State caused shock among the global public. The main reason is the barbarism with which this organization proceeds, not only in relation to the treasures of the world’s cultural heritage. The situation in the Middle East, where cultural treasures of inestimable value are under direct threat, demonstrates how fragile the world’s cultural heritage is. The reaction of the international public and world leaders shows how sensitively the destruction of cultural heritage is perceived.

The quoted statement chosen by the editors relates to the threat posed by the Islamic State—however, the spirit of this statement can be applied to any cultural wealth that forms part of the world’s cultural heritage. The destruction or damage of these values primarily represents a loss for humanity as such. Each destroyed artifact of world cultural heritage signifies the disappearance of a unique legacy left by previous generations for the future. At the same time, cultural heritage must be understood as a broad spectrum of assets—both tangible and intangible. Their legal protection was the topic of this year’s symposium. As with any social interest, the protection of cultural heritage can be ensured through various mechanisms and under different forms of social organization.

These diverse approaches are unified by law as a normative system. The question for the 8th year of the symposium on international law was what role international law plays in the protection of cultural heritage. In the context of the European region, the role of the European Union as a regional organization was examined.

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Ľudmila Elbert

The presented scientific monograph addresses the issue of the Rule of Law and its place, roles, and particularities at the level of international law. The Rule of Law is understood as a value that should govern communities, both domestic and international. It is thus compared to Kelsen’s basic norm, which should stand at the top of the legal order as the norm justifying the validity and existence of the norms of the legal order, both domestic and international.

Although the Rule of Law is studied at the international law level, it cannot be considered without understanding the Rule of Law in domestic law. Just as its development differs depending on whether it evolved within Anglo-American or continental law, its application and development also differ between domestic law and international law.

These differences are mainly caused by the roles and objectives that international Rule of Law is meant to secure, as well as by the distinct characteristics of domestic and international law.

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