Origins of the Right of Self-Defence in International Law: From the Caroline Incident to the United Nations Charter

This book examines a long-standing dispute regarding the prerequisite for the exercise of the right to self-defence and aims to offer a possible better alternatives for interpreting the significance of the precondition provided for in the Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, by taking a historical perspective on the development of that concept from the mid-19th century to 1945. The book defines the right of self-defence as understood in and before 1945, suggesting the typology which represents the strata of the concept. It will contribute to the current debate regarding the right of self-defence in contemporary international law, including that against terrorism, by providing a framework to analyse the state practice since 1945.

Tadashi Mori, Ph.D. (2008), the University of Tokyo, Japan, is Professor of International Law at that university. He has published many articles on the right of self-defence in international law and has received awards including Japan Academy Medal.