Olivier Corten, The Law Against War

Abstract

Olivier Corten�s book, The Law Against War. is a translated and updated version of the initial French publication of 2008 (Le droit contre la guerre (Pedone)), which has been praised in the French speaking world for constituting a wide ranging study of the law on the use of force that fills a gap in the literature. Indeed, this extensive and in-depth analysis of the prohibition of the use of armed force and its exceptions in current public international law provides a welcome clarification of the status and the content of controversial legal concepts concerning the recourse to force, such as the doctrines of anticipatory and pre-emptive self-defence and the institution of the right of humanitarian intervention. Corten�s approach is a positivist legal one: he rigorously analyses state practice and case law since 1945 in order to determine the existence of customary rules relating to the use of force. The book is divided into eight chapters arranged into two parts. The first part delimits the principle of the prohibition of the use of force. In Chapter 1, Corten investigates the methodological issues the principle raises. He postulates the existence of an international law regime on the use of force and intends to identify customary norms in the attitudes of states relating to the use of force. In the next chapter, Corten defines the concepts of �force� and �threat of force� in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter. According to the author the notion of �force� covers only military force and does not concern simple police measures, the former being defined as coercive acts of a certain gravity by one state reflecting the intent to compel the will of another state. The definition of �threat of force� is particularly interesting since only a few other commentators have interpreted this notion in �