Semester	Spring Semester, 2025
Department	Sophomore Class of BA in Global Governance Junior Class of BA in Global Governance Senior Class of BA in Global Governance
Course Name	Public International Law
Instructor	KEVIN CHIA-KANG CHANG
Credit	3.0
Course Type	Selectively
Prerequisite

Course Objective

Course Description

Course Schedule

Week	Topic	Content and Reading Assignment	Teaching Activities and Homework
1	Welcome to Public International Law	Introduction to subject, assessment The nature and significance of IL	Online Class
2	National holiday (no class)
3	The international legal order: Theory and politics	Theories of IL, how IL is shaped by politics, critical perspectives	Online Class
4	Principles of PIL: Key principles, sources, relationship with domestic laws	Sources of IL, interaction between IL and domestic laws	Online Class
5	Principles of PIL: Statehood, subjects & legal personality	Subjects of IL, legal personality, sovereignty, criteria for statehood	Online Class
6	International organisations	Importance of IOs in making of IL; International Court of Justice	Online Class
7	National holiday (no class)
8	The UN Charter Dispute settlement	Key provisions of the UN Charter Peaceful settlement of disputes	In-person Class
9	The use of force	Use of force under the UN Charter and custom	In-person Class
10	International human rights law	Core human rights treaties and content	In-person Class
11	International humanitarian law International criminal law	The Geneva Conventions International core crimes	In-person Class
12	Refugee law Law of the Sea	The Refugee Convention Sea boundaries, air space	In-person Class
13	International environmental law Diplomatic law	Environmental treaties Diplomatic inviolability, immunities	Online Class
14	Student presentations	PIL casework learning	Online Class
15	National holiday (no class)
16	State responsibility Exam revision	Consequences for breaches of international law	In-person Class
17	Final examination		In-person Exam
18

Teaching Methods

Teaching Assistant

TBA

Requirement/Grading

Class participation: 10%

Reflection notes: 10%

Group presentation on a topic: 20%

Final exam 60%

Textbook & Reference

A full reading list will be available in February 2025. The course will use a combination of textbooks and journal articles. The main reference textbooks are listed below. Excerpts from these texts will be provided on Moodle, thus it is not necessary for students to purchase these books.

Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law

James Crawford

9th Ed 2012, Oxford University Press

International Law

Antonio Cassese

Oxford University Press, 2nd ed. 2005

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Law and International Relations: The State of the Art

Jeffrey L. Dunoff & Mark A. Pollack (eds)

2013 Cambridge University Press

Urls about Course

Charter of the United Nations: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text International Court of Justice: https://www.icj-cij.org/home

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