Charter of the United Nations

Introduction

The orderliness of the geopolitical space is ensured by international law. International law acts as a set of legal principles and norms that govern relations between states, as well as other subjects of law. Moreover, all subjects are bearers of rights and obligations in the international legal format.
The study of the foundations of international law is one of the most trending and important topics at present.
International law, also called public international law or law of nations, the body of legal rules, norms, and standards that apply between sovereign states and other entities that are legally recognized as international actors.
The term was coined by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). According to Bentham’s classic definition, international law is a collection of rules governing relations between states.
In its broadest sense, international law provides normative guidelines as well as methods, mechanisms, and a common conceptual language to international actors — i.e., primarily sovereign states but also international organizations and some individuals.
The range of subjects and actors directly concerned with international law has widened considerably, moving beyond the classical questions of war, peace, and diplomacy and include human rights, economic and trade issues, space law, and international organizations.
In my view, although international law is a legal order and not an ethical one, it has been influenced significantly by ethical principles and concerns, particularly in the sphere of human rights.



2. Public International law: definition and history
2.1. International law: definition and characteristics

When we refer to public international law, it is also important to know what international law is. This type of law is formed by a group of international legal norms that regulate the laws that states have. All these agreements and treaties, as well as protocols, form an international law.
Thus, public international law is a system that helps to control the way in which states behave in their relations with others.
Public international law consists of the legal system whose main function is to control the way in which all states and other subjects behave. It oversees regulating the different competences and the types of relations established between them, based on some common aspects and values, to achieve international peace and cooperation through norms born from specific international sources.
In other simpler words, we could say that it consists of the legal system of the international community.
The main characteristics that we be observed in public international law are the following:
 There must be a common good for cooperation among States.
 Relationships are subject to general laws that relate the development of society.
 States must foster harmonious relations and maintain peaceful development.
 There must be adequate relations of a political nature that are basic to the life of states.
 It is as independent as governments, whether republican or monarchic.
 It is a right of coordination; it does not have centralized organs and the responsibility is collective.
 There is also a collective security, it is dynamic and legal.
 It has relativity of international legal duties.
On my opinion international law addresses and regulates the following issues: human rights, treatment of refugees, prosecution for international crimes, arms agreements, and controls, how states can claim new territories, regulating common spaces like water and outer space, trade between states, preventing war when it is okay for a state to use force, fair treatment of prisoners, preserving the environment and many others.