Online Business School is now open. Business/Management
and Research curriculum and learning contents subscriptions
are available to International Universities,
Colleges, Management Development and Training Centres and their
Students and Staff throughout the world.
International law is the term commonly
used for referring to the system of law that
binds together nation-states in adherence to recognized values
and standards, differing from other legal systems in that
it concerns nations rather than private citizens [1] .
However, the term "International Law" can refer to three
distinct legal disciplines:
public
international law , which involves for
instance the United Nations, maritime law, international
criminal law and the Geneva conventions.
private
international law , or conflict
of laws , which addresses the questions
of (1) in which legal jurisdiction may a case be heard;
and (2) the law of which jurisdiction(s) apply to the
issues in the case
supranational
law or the law of supranational organizations,
which concerns at present regional agreements where
the special distinguishing quality is that laws of
nation states are held inapplicable when conflicting
with a supranational legal system.
Commercial law includes within its compass such titles as principal and agent; carriage by land and sea; merchant shipping; guarantee; marine, fire, life, and accident insurance; bills of exchange and partnership. It can also be understood to regulate corporatecontracts, hiring practices, and the manufacture and sales of consumergoods. Many countries have adopted civil codes that contain comprehensive statements of their commercial law. In the United States, commercial law is the province of both the United States Congress, under its power to regulate interstate commerce, and the states, under their police power. Efforts have been made to create a unified body of commercial law in the United States; the most successful of these attempts has resulted in the general adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code, which has been adopted in all 50 states (in which these can differ in each), the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.
Various regulatory schemes control how commerce is conducted, particularly vis-a-vis employees and customers. Privacy laws, safety laws (e.g., the Occupational Safety and Health Act in the United States), and food and drug laws are some examples.
International trade law includes the appropriate rules and customs for handling trade between countries. However, it is also used in legal writings as trade between private sectors, which is not right. This branch of law is now an independent field of study as most governments has become part of the world trade, as members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Since the transaction between private sectors of different countries is important part of the WTO activities, this latter branch of law is now very important part of the academic works and is under study in many universities across the world;(Such as the University of Allameh Tabatabaee in Iran).
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalizeinternational trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.[4][5] Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986-1994).
The organization is currently endeavoring to persist with a trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (or Doha Round), which was launched in 2001 to enhance equitable participation of poorer countries which represent a majority of the world's population. However, the negotiation has been dogged by "disagreement between exporters of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect farmers from surges in imports. At this time, the future of the Doha Round is uncertain."[6]
The WTO has 153 members,[7] representing more than 97% of total world trade[8] and 30 observers, most seeking membership. The WTO is governed by a ministerial conference, meeting every two years; a general council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the ministerial conference. The WTO's headquarters is at the Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland.
