Illegal Annexation and State Continuity: The Case of the Incorporation of the Baltic States by the USSR : A Study of the Tension Between Normativity ... on International Law and Human Rights, 5) - Hardcover

Malksoo, Lauri

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9041121773 ISBN 13: 9789041121776

Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff, 2003

Synopsis

The depth and intensity of the transformation in Eastern and Central Europe in the 1980's and 1990's took most diplomats and political commentators by surprise. Needless to say, European politics now looks completely different from how it did during the stale years of the Cold War. This volume is an in-depth analysis of one aspect of the transformation - namely the Baltic States' struggle to regain the statehood they had lost in the Soviet occupation in June 1940. It analyses the claim of illegality of the Soviet occupation, arguments about possible prescription, the legal consequences of illegality as well as the restoration of the statehood of the three Baltic States after 1990. The relevant facts are clearly described and the application of the legal rules is skillfully based on arguments from precedent and legal principle. The author also discusses the question of the significance of (pure) legal status, detached from the enjoyment of rights and obligations which that status entails in law.

About this title

About the Author:

Lauri Mälksoo defended his doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Professor Christian Tomuschat at the Faculty of Law of the Humboldt University Berlin. The dissertation was conferred an award by the Humboldt University Library Society "Friends of the Faculty of Law". Dr. Mälksoo now works as counselor for the Estonian Legal Chancellor (ombudsman) and as lecturer of international and European law at the University of Tartu.

Review:

'... Illegal Annexation and State Continuity offers valuable insight to both the legal basis for the finding that the Baltic states continued their international legal personalities, and the effects of this determination on the subsequent development of international law.'
American Journal of International Law, Volume 88 No. 3.
'...Mälksoo makes a clear contribution to scholarship by putting together various elements to form a coherent thesis, with an argument well supported by fact. Readers of English Literature can also benefit from access to German and Baltic doctrine, through Mälksoo's reliance on sources in these languages.'
Yaël Ronen for Global and European Law Books Review Program.

About this edition

• Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 9041121773
• ISBN 13: 9789041121776
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 410