Subject practice path

Public International Law Practice Tests

Practice Public International Law exam questions covering core doctrines, issue spotting, applied analysis, and exam-ready explanations.

How To Study This Subject

Learn the rule

Read the outline and identify the elements, exceptions, and policy tensions.

Test recall

Use the 20 free questions first, then move into timed premium sets.

Apply cases

Connect leading authorities to problem-question facts and ratio-based reasoning.

Write under time

Turn missed topics into IRAC plans and short timed answers.

Related Case Briefs

North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (Federal Republic of Germany v. Denmark; Federal Republic of Germany v. Netherlands)

ICJ Rep 1969, p. 3

For a treaty provision to become customary international law, it must be of a fundamentally norm-creating character and there must be extensive and virtually uniform state practice accompanied by a sense of legal obligation (opinio juris).

North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (Federal Republic of Germany v. Denmark; Federal Republic of Germany v. Netherlands)

ICJ Rep 1969, p. 3

For a treaty rule to become customary, state practice must be extensive and virtually uniform, and there must be opinio juris – a sense of legal obligation.

Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations

ICJ Rep 1949, p. 174

International organizations can possess objective international legal personality if necessary for the fulfilment of their purposes; they have the capacity to bring claims for damage caused to them or their agents, even against non-member states.

The Paquete Habana

175 U.S. 677

International customary law is part of US law and must be ascertained and administered by courts; where no controlling executive or legislative act exists, courts should look to the customs and usages of civilized nations.

Case Concerning the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Belgium)

ICJ Rep 2002, p. 3

Sitting foreign ministers enjoy full immunity from criminal jurisdiction in other states; no exception for international crimes has crystallized in customary international law.

Jus Cogens / Peremptory Norm Cases: Prosecutor v. Furundžija

IT-95-17/1-T, Trial Chamber Judgment of 10 December 1998

The prohibition on torture is a peremptory norm (jus cogens) from which no derogation is permitted; it imposes obligations erga omnes and triggers universal jurisdiction under certain conditions.

Prosecutor v. Furundžija

IT-95-17/1-T, Trial Chamber Judgment of 10 December 1998

Jus cogens norms, such as the prohibition of torture, are hierarchically superior and cannot be derogated from by treaty; they trigger universal jurisdiction and individual criminal responsibility.

The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu

ICTR-96-4-T, Trial Chamber Judgment of 2 September 1998

Genocide includes serious bodily or mental harm to members of a protected group; systematic rape and sexual violence can be a means of inflicting such harm and may constitute genocide if the requisite mens rea is proven.