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IO Lecture-Legal Personality

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30 views12 pages

IO Lecture-Legal Personality

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nil.sarker1may
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LEGAL PERSONALITY

OF INTERNATIONAL
ORGANISATION
Presented by:
Md. Sadekul Islam
Assistant Professor
Department of Law, FSSS, BUP
Principle Questions
I. Do international organizations have legal
personality (LP) and when and how do they
acquire it?
II. What are the consequences of the attribution
of legal personality?
Background
It was not until the creation after the First
World War of the League of Nations and the
International Labor Organization which were
open organizations that the issue of the legal
personality of international organizations came
seriously to be discussed.
Conceptual Aspect
International Legal Personality- a concept lack of
fixed content.
When an entity has international legal personality,
the implications will differ from entity to entity. As a
result of this, one must go beyond the mere
definitions and instead look at the practical results
of attributing international legal personality to an
entity, such as an international organisation.
Requirements of LP
Certain essential requirements to be fulfilled:

Entitled to enjoy certain rights and is legally


empowered to establish these rights if they are infringed.
Discharge some duties and obligations endowed
upon it and liable to be sued if it fails to perform the
duties.
Can enter into contract.
Can hold and dispose of property.
 Reparation for injuries suffered in the service of the United
Nations, Advisory Opinion: ICJ Reports 1949, p. 179---
Even though there is no fixed content, it can be said that
international legal personality is possessed by an entity if it is--
“capable of possessing international rights and
duties and [has] the capacity to maintain its rights
by bringing international claims.”

Question: Does IO fulfill these requirements?


Present Conception
 Traditionally, States were seen as the only subjects of
international law. The Permanent Court of International
Justice (PCIJ) affirmed in the Lotus case [PCIJ, Series A, No.
9, 1927, p. 18] that-

“international law governs the relations between


independent States in order to regulate the
relations between these co-existing independent
communities or with a view to the achievement of
common aims.”
Admittedly, at present next to State, IOs are also
regarded as one of the subjects of International
Law. Legal personality of IOs is recognised both
nationally and internationally.
However, by 1945 controversy existed over
whether public international organisations could
be regarded as possessing legal personality as the
status was claimed for different organisations.
League Covenant of LoN had no specific
provision regarding this.
Art 104 of UN Charter:
“The Organisation shall enjoy in the territory of each
of its members such legal capacity as may be
necessary for the exercise of its functions and
fulfillment of its purposes.”
The term ‘legal capacity’ refers to the ability of the
Organisation to act as a subject of international
law, thereby possessing the attributes necessary to
hold and dispose of property, make contracts, and
otherwise conduct itself as a legal person.
Art 1, Section 1 of the Convention on the Privileges and
Immunities of the United Nations (adopted by UNGA in
1946) states:
“The United Nations shall possess juridical
personality. It shall have the capacity-
(a) to contract;
(b) to acquire and dispose of immovable property;
(c) to institute legal proceedings
 Reparation for injuries suffered in the service of the United
Nations, Advisory Opinion: ICJ Reports 1949, p. 179---

“The Court unanimously affirmed the legal


personality of the United Nations and observed that
“the United Nations is a subject of international law
and capable of possessing international rights and
duties, and that it has capacity to maintain its rights
by bringing international claims.”

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