header-logo header-logo

01 April 2010 / Dr Nikolaos Tsagourias , Professor Steven Greer
Issue: 7411 & 7412 / Categories: Opinion
printer mail-detail

Next steps

So far the public debate about the legality of the Iraq war has been dominated by a single issue: did the lack of a further UN Security Council resolution make it illegal?

So far the public debate about the legality of the Iraq war has been dominated by a single issue: did the lack of a further UN Security Council resolution make it illegal? (see NLJ, 5 March 2010, p 329). It is not our purpose to contribute to this debate much less to seek to resolve it. First, even if the war was illegal, there are few if any significant legal implications. Second, this holds even if the war was morally and politically justified, as one of us believes, and also, as the other thinks, if it was not.

The war appears to have been legal under UK law not least because, in spite of attempts to do so, its legality has not been successfully challenged in any UK court. So, when people say the war was “illegal” they generally

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
back-to-top-scroll