The Operation of International Law in the National Legal System: in search for better understanding

INTRODUCTION. The issue of implementation of international legal norms is extensive and multifaceted, and most importantly, it is always relevant. Despite the long-term development of questions of the operation of international law in national legal systems, the issue remains in the focus of researchers. Russian scholarship is quite rich in research of this area, and the practice of Russian courts is also rich in examples of the use and application of international law. Their presentation at the international level can significantly enrich the basis for analytical comparisons with the practice of other countries and further developments in this area. Nevertheless, the research of Russian authors is not well represented in the international legal discourse: the appearance of works by our compatriots in foreign editions is not so frequent. That is why monographic research papers by Russian authors published in major foreign publishing houses is of great interest to both Russian and foreign readers. At the same time, such publications implicitly set a high bar for expectations from their content.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The article presents a critical understanding of the monograph of Professor S. Marochkin, published in 2019 by one of the world's oldest publishers Brill-Nijhoff (Leiden, the Netherlands) – "the Operation of international law in the Russian legal system. Changing approach". The article highlights key elements of the study. Special attention is paid to the reflections and conclusions of the author of the monograph on the theory of international law. The analysis of the research is based on general and private scientific methods.

RESEARCH RESULTS. Th reviewed monograph presents to our attention a wide range of Soviet and Russian general theoretical, discipline-specific and international legal doctrines. The work covers a significant period of theoretical, normative, institutional and practical development of the issue of implementation of international legal norms – more than three decades. This corresponds to the goal set out in the study – to show a changing approach to the issue in scholarship, judicial practice, and rule-making. The monograph consistently exposes the author's idea about the essence of national implementation of the principles and norms of international law, domestic legal and institutional mechanisms for such implementation, assessment and generalization of the practice of Russian courts related to the appeal to international law and the application of international legal norms. At the same time the monograph begs some questions: 1) on the author's understanding of the content of the concerned concepts in the theory of international law; 2) on the methods of law-formation in the national and international legal system; 3) on the constituent elements of the international legal system; 4) on the meaning and nature of self-executing international legal norms; 5) on the problem of international legal personality; 6) on the author's view of the state of modern legal scholarship in Russia.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Russian scholarship, as well as practice in the law-making, law-application and law-enforcement have gone a long way in mastering and ensuring the constitutional provision on the principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation as an integral part of the national legal system. The reviewed book emphasizes the importance of theoretical justification and competent application of theoretical theses on the place and role of norms and sources of international law within national jurisdiction, on the correlation of the legal force of international and domestic norms. Indeed, both legal scholars and public institutions that directly address questions about the operation of international legal norms need to have a complete understanding about the functioning of the regulatory and institutional mechanism for implementation of international legal obligations in the domestic sphere. In this light, it is reasonable to attach particular importance to the role of the judiciary branch in appealing to and applying international law. The research paper consistently demonstrates changes in the practice and approaches to the perception of international law over time with ups and downs in the estimation of its significance and role in the country's legal order. Although the study claims to offer an exhaustive fundamental analysis of all the problems raised, the author still makes some theoretical mistakes that complicate the correct understanding of his analytical work. Thereby the author challenges himself to continue the research of the issue in order to untangle some knots of doctrinal contradictions.

1. Berkman P., Vylegzhanin A., Young O. Baseline of Russian Arctic Laws. Dordrecht: Springer. 2019. 734 p. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-06262-0

2. Bezborodov Yu.S. Retsenziya na knigu: Marochkin S. Yu. Deistvie i realizatsiya norm mezhdunarodnogo prava v pravovoi sisteme Rossiiskoi Federatsii: monografiya. M.: Norma: INFRA-M, 2011. 288 s. [Book Review: Marochkin S. Yu. The Operation of International Law in the Russian Legal System. Moscow: Moscow:Norma Publ.; INFRA-M Publ. 2011. 288 p.]. – Elektronnoe prilozhenie k “Rossiiskomu yuridicheskomu zhurnalu”. 2012. No. 1. P. 45-46. (In Russ.)

3. Blishchenko I.P. International humanitarianlaw. Moscow: Progrès. 1989. 219 p.

4. Chernichenko S.V. Evropeiskii sud po pravam cheloveka: problema neispolnimosti postanovlenii [The European Court on Human Rights: the problem of unenforceable judgments]. – Moscow Journal of International Law. 2018. № 3. P. 6-17. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2018-3-6-17

5. Environmental Security in the Arctic Ocean. Ed. By P. Berkman and A. Vylegzhanin. 2013. Dordrecht: Springer. 459 p. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-4713-5

6. Governing Arctic Seas. Regional Lessons from the Bering Strait and Barents Sea. Vol. 1. Ed. By O. Young, P. Berkman, A. Vylegzhanin. Cham: Springer. 2020. 358 p. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-25674-6

7. Henkin L. Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law. Vol. 216: International Law: Politics, ValuesandFunction(GeneralCourseonPublicInternational Law). Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 1989. 416 p. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-8096_pplrdc_A9780792310488_01

8. Jiménez de Aréchaga E. El Derecho internacional contemporáneo (Russ. ed.: Jiménez de Aréchaga E. Sovremennoe mezhdunarodnoe pravo. Moscow: Progress Publ. 1983. 480 p.)

9. Korovin E.A. Mezhdunarodnoe pravo perekhodnogo vremeni [International Law of the Transitional Period]. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo Publ. 1924. 143 p. (In Russ.)

10. Kurs mezhdunarodnogo prava v 7 tomakh. T. 1: Ponyatie, predmet i sistema mezhdunarodnogo prava. Otv. red. R.A. Müllerson, G.I. Tunkin [The Course of International Law in 7 volumes. Vol. 1: The Concept, Subject and System of International Law. Ed. by R.A. Müllerson, G.I. Tunkin]. Moscow: Nauka Publ. 1989. 360 p. (In Russ.)

11. Levin D.B. Aktual'nye problemy teorii mezhdunarodnogo prava [Some Problems of the Theory of International Law]. Moscow: Nauka Publ. 1974. 264 p. (In Russ.)

12. Lukashuk I.I. International law: General part: (Synopsis). Kiev : Kiev State University Press. 1968. 105 p.

13. Mälksoo L. Case Law in Russian Approaches to International Law. – Comparative International Law. Ed. by A. Roberts [et al.]. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2018. P. 337-352.

14. Mälksoo L. Russian Approaches to International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2015. 240 p.

15. Marochkin S.Yu. Deistvie i realizatsiya norm mezhdunarodnogo prava v pravovoi sisteme Rossiiskoi Federatsii [The Operation of International Law in the Russian Legal System]. Moscow:Norma Publ.; INFRA-M Publ. 2011. 288 p. (In Russ.)

16. Marochkin S.Yu. The Operation of International Law in the Russian Legal System. A Changing Approach. Leiden; Boston: Brill Nijhoff. 2019. 324 p.

17. Martens F.F. Sovremennoe mezhdunarodnoe pravo tsivilizovannykh narodov. T. 1 [Modern International Law of Civilized Nations. Vol. 1]. Saint Petersburg: Tip. A. Benke Publ. 1882. 417 p. (In Russ.)

18. Müllerson R.A. Natsional'no-pravovaya implementatsiya mezhdunarodnykh dogovorov [National Legal Implementation of International Treaties]. – Sovetskii ezhegodnik mezhdunarodnogo prava, 1978 [Soviet Yearbook of International Law, 1978]. Moscow: Nauka Publ. 1980. P. 125-136. (In Russ.)

19. Nefedov B.I. Printsipy v mezhdunarodnom prave: terminologiya [Principles in International Law: terminology]. – Moscow Journal of International Law. 2019. No. 1. P. 6-17. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2019-1-6-17

20. Nefedov B.I. Samoispolnimye dogovory i Mezhdunarodnye pakty o pravakh cheloveka [Selfexecuting Treaties and International Covenants on Human Rights]. – Moscow Journal of International Law. 2015. No. 4. P. 18-26. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2015-4-18-26

21. Roberts A. Comparative International Law? The role of national courts in creating and enforcing international law. – Internationaland Comparative Law Quarterly. 2011. Vol. 60. Issue 1. P. 57–92. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020589310000679

22. Roberts A. Is International Law International?. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2017. 406 p.

23. Tunkin G. I. Teoriya mezhdunarodnogo prava [Theory of International Law]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ. 1970. 511 p. (In Russ.)

24. Tunkin G.I. Theory of International Law. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1974. 497 p.

25. Voronin E.R., Kulebyakin V.N., Nikolaev A.V. Gosudarstvennyi perevorot v Kieve v fevrale 2014 g.: mezhdunarodno-pravovye otsenki i posledstviya [The Coup d’etat in Kiev in February 2014: International Law Context and Consequences]. – Moscow Journal of International Law. 2015. No. 1. P. 11-28. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24833/0869-0049-2015-1-11-28

26. Vylegzhanin A.N. Sud'ya Mezhdunarodnogo suda OON, professor F.I. Kozhevnikov [Professor F.I. Kozhevnikov – Judge of the International Court of Justice]. – MGIMO Review of International Relations. 2012. No. 2. P. 250-252. (In Russ.)

27. Vylegzhanin A.N., Kritskiy K.V. Souchastie SShA v gosudarstvennom perevorote v Kieve – eto mezhdunarodnoe pravonarushenie [US Complicity in the 2014 Coup d’etat in Kiev is an International Crime]. – Mezhdunarodnaya zhizn'. 2019. No. 3. P. 2-19. (In Russ.)