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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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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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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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Ľudmila Elbert - Ľubica Gregová Širicová (eds.)

In addition to acquiring theoretical knowledge, it is necessary to study and analyze the decisions of international judicial and arbitration bodies in order to fully understand the subject of the Public International Law or disciplines closely related to it.

Since the Slovak literature in the field of Public International Law does not contain any electronic textbook of selected decisions of international judicial and arbitration bodies, the authors of the submitted publication aim to eliminate this gap by elaborating the “Public International Law Casebook”, which will primarily be intended for undergraduate students of the law faculties in the Slovak republic and the Czech republic.

The proposed publication seeks to make the study of international law more attractive through a publication that will make students familiar with the decisions translated into the Slovak language in a popular electronic form.

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Lucia Bakošová - Ľudmila Elbert - Ľubica Gregová Širicová 

Disasters, whether natural or industrial, have a serious impact on the functioning of society and are a negative phenomenon which, with the increasing impact of climate change, is increasingly affecting the sustainable development and prosperity of States. Their increasing regularity and intensity affect the current evolution not only of social life, but also of legal debates on the necessity of responding to international and national disaster response, eliminating their negative consequences and protecting affected persons. No State is immune to the occurrence of disasters, and this also applies to the Slovak Republic, which is mostly affected by sudden natural disasters, namely floods, landslides, droughts, fires, windstorms and snow calamities.

The subject of this publication is the proposal of the methodological guidelines regulating the activities of NGOs in case of disaster, as well as cooperation with the state affected by the disaster, and the glossary of legal terms which need to be clear and unified in case of disaster. Slovak and English version of the proposal is basic precondition of its usability not only for the state organs of the Slovak republic and Slovak NGOs, but also for foreign NGOs.The Proposal of the methodological guidelines is the result of the research project VVGS-PCOV 2018-459: Návrh metodického postupu mimovládnych organizácií v prípade katastrofy v podmienkach Slovenskej republiky (The Proposal of the methodological guidelines for the non-governmental organisations in case of disaster in conditions of the Slovak republic).

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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 et al.

The aim of the current monograph is to provide comprehensive view of the status of regional judicial organs in current conditions of regionalism. Based on selected issues examined in individual chapters research team presents the comprehensive study focused on clarification of the status and significance of regional judicial organs in terms of new regionalism.

Research of the role of regional courts in the system of peaceful settlement of disputes demonstrates the significant role of the regional courts within the promotion of the rule of law, regional integration and also significant role of regional courts to ensure legal certainty within the system of compliance with decisions of regional courts. The result of examination of possibilities of individuals to access to regional judicial organs is comparative evaluation of regional possibilities of individual to defend his/her rights within regional courts of various regions. Particular part of this area is the right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial as basic rights within the proceedings of regional judicial organs. Within the examination of preliminary rulings of international regional courts of different regions the role of regional judicial organs in the process of effective implementation of the principle of the rule of law was the subject of examination.

For the proper functioning of the regional judicial organs as well as independence of judges and legal certainty in International law, the ethical rules of international judicial organs and tribunals, which are the subject of the last chapter, are significant.

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