The book describes the peculiar way in which international law, encouraged by the Constitution, has been received into the law of the United States. Classical topics, considered from an American standpoint, follow: the character of states and governments, treaties, the jurisdiction of states, international organizations, the immunity of states, acts of state, comity, and so on. Attention is then paid to more modern subjects, including human rights, foreign exchange, and international commercial arbitration, the last a matter of practical importance that inhabits a borderland between public and private international law. The work introduces lawyers to the elements of public international law as declared chiefly by American federal appeals courts. Emphasis is given throughout to judicial decisions that can be called in aid by advocates. The hope is that lawyers working in American courts, at sea with questions of public international law, will find this handbook a safe port of entry.
Joseph D. Becker was founding Partner of Becker, Glynn, Melamed & Muffly LLP in New York. He is former Adjunct Professor of International Commercial Law at New York University Law School, 1977-1992. Mr. Becker is a member of the American Law Institute and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (Chairman, Committee on Foreign and Comparative Law, 1982-1985).
“...It will be an educational tool for the bar, and for the bench as well, not to speak of the law student. It is a sharp tool, because Joseph D. Becker has written a lucid book that economically addresses large as well as lesser questions. Some of those questions are complex, but Mr. Becker has the talent of the experienced practitioner of making the complex clear. In so doing, he makes a substantial contribution to the elucidation of the place of international law in the life of the United States.”
- Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, Former President International Court of Justice, The Hague
