Iraq's invasion of Kuwait: some legal issues

Abstract

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the international response which it has provoked have raised questions about some of the most fundamental tenets of international law. Since 1945 two principles have been particularly important features of the international legal order. The first is that states are required, by Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, to 'refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state'. As a corollary of this principle it is now generally accepted that a state cannot acquire legal title to territory by the illegal use of force. The second principle is that no state is empowered to act as the world's policeman. While Article 51 of the Charter expressly recognises that states enjoy a right of individual and collective self-defence, the function of policing the international community was entrusted to the Security Council. Both principles have frequently come under considerable strain and have seemed at times to be honoured more in the