CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ STATE SUCCESSION TO INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY A CRITICAL ANALYSIS… STATE SUCCESSION

TO INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MODERN SUCCESSION THEORY BASED ON THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW Ceren Zeynep Pirim *

Abstract : Within earlier doctrine, State succession to international responsibility was marked by a conflict between the ‘universal succession’ and ‘non-succession’ theories, the latter being prevalent. In the 20 th century, the principle of non-succession engaged in a new confrontation, this time with a succession approach based on the general principles of law. A considerable number of theorists started to reject the traditional non-succession theory and developed a new perspective arguing that the issue had to be analyzed considering the general principles of law, namely the concepts of acquired rights and unjust enrichment. This paper discusses the appropriateness of these concepts with respect to the law of State succession to international responsibility from a theoretical perspective. Resumé: Podle dřívější mezinárodně právní doktríny byla sukcese státu do mezinárodní odpovědnosti poznamenána konfliktem mezi teorií “univerzální sukcese“ a “ne-sukcese“, která převládala. Ve 20. století došlo u teorie popírající sukcesi k nové konfrontaci, tento- krát s přístupem k nástupnictví založeným na obecných zásadách právních. Značný po- čet teoretiků začal odmítat tradiční teorii “non-succession” a rozvinul novou argumentaci, podle níž je třeba analyzovat předmětnou otázku s ohledem na obecné právní principy, a to zejména konceptů získaných práv a bezdůvodného obohacení. Tento příspěvek pojednává o vhodnosti těchto pojmů s ohledem na právo sukcese států a mezinárodní odpovědnost v teoretické perspektivě. Key Words: acquired rights; general principles of law; international responsibility; State succession; unjust enrichment About the Author: Dr. Ceren Zeynep Pirim is Associate Professor at the University of Bahcesehir, Faculty of Law, Istanbul. She graduated from the Galatasaray University, Istanbul (LL.B) and Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne (LL.M and Ph.D). Introduction Although State succession, defined as ‘the replacement of one State by another in the responsibility for the international relations of a territory’, 1 is part of classical international law, 2 it corresponds to one of the grey areas of the legal order governing international relations. Namely, the fact that succession cases do not occur frequently and * E-mail: cerenzeynep.pirim@law.bau.edu.tr . The author is honoured and grateful to Prof. Pavel Šturma for his precious comments and advices. She also wishes to thank Dr. Joanna Gomula and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Karolina Wierczyńska for their valuable support and Steven Fuller and Mehmet Cengiz Uzun for their useful feedback on previous versions of this article. 1 Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties 1978, 1946 UNTS 3. 2 Malcolm Shaw, ‘State Succession Revisited’ (1994) 5 FYBIL 34, 34-5. 1.

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