International Law MCQs for Judiciary, Page 7

Correct answer: B. Object and purpose

Article 31 VCLT combines text, context, and object and purpose into a unified method. It avoids both wooden literalism and uncontrolled policy making.

Source note: VCLT Article 31

Correct answer: B. Opinio juris and broader normative expectation

A General Assembly resolution is not automatically binding, but it may still matter as evidence of state views, normative expectation, or wider legal opinion relevant to custom.

Source note: UN practice and custom doctrine

Correct answer: B. Non derogable

Human rights treaties often permit limited derogations in emergencies, but certain rights remain non derogable because of their fundamental status.

Source note: Human rights treaty law

Correct answer: B. The specific intent to destroy a protected group in whole or in part

Genocide is marked by a special intent to destroy a protected group, in whole or in part. That mental element is what makes genocide especially difficult to prove and doctrinally distinct.

Source note: Genocide Convention doctrine

Correct answer: B. Operate in separate spheres and usually need internal adoption for domestic effect

Dualism treats international law and domestic law as distinct legal orders. Under that view, an international rule may bind the state internationally, but it usually needs domestic transformation or adoption before courts apply it internally.

Source note: Malcolm N Shaw, International Law; JP International Law notes

Correct answer: A. Belong to a single legal order

Monism assumes a single legal order in which international and municipal rules are part of one system. The harder question in practice is not the theory itself, but which norm prevails when the two appear to conflict.

Source note: Malcolm N Shaw, International Law

Correct answer: C. Potentially important evidence of state opinion, even if not binding by itself

Most General Assembly resolutions are not binding in the same way as treaties or Security Council decisions under Chapter VII. Even so, they can be valuable evidence of opinio juris, political consensus, or the direction of developing law.

Source note: UN practice; Malcolm N Shaw, International Law

Correct answer: B. Clear, public, and intended to be binding

International law does recognise that a clear and deliberate unilateral declaration can carry legal effect. The crucial point is intention and clarity, not the mere fact that a political statement was made.

Source note: Nuclear Tests principle; Malcolm N Shaw, International Law

Correct answer: B. Denying a position on which another state reasonably relied to its detriment

Estoppel is based on fairness and consistency. Where one state has induced reliance through representation or conduct, it may later be prevented from taking a contradictory stance if that would cause prejudice.

Source note: General principles of international law

Correct answer: A. Whether it exercises effective authority

Recognition of governments generally focuses on effective control and authority, though modern practice may also reflect legitimacy concerns. The central legal issue is whether the entity actually governs the state in a meaningful sense.

Source note: Malcolm N Shaw, International Law

Correct answer: B. What happens to the nationality of persons connected with the territory

State succession is not only about treaties and property. It also directly affects individuals, especially through questions of nationality, habitual residence, and protection against statelessness.

Source note: State succession doctrine

Correct answer: B. Pursue reasonably available remedies within the respondent state before diplomatic protection is fully pressed

Diplomatic protection is usually subsidiary. International law expects local courts or administrative avenues to be tried first unless an accepted exception applies, such as futility or denial of justice concerns.

Source note: Diplomatic protection doctrine

Correct answer: C. At the relevant time of injury and through the presentation of the claim, subject to nuance

The rule is meant to prevent opportunistic shifting of nationality for claims. It is not usually applied in a mechanical or absurd way, but it does require a meaningful continuity between the injured person and the espousing state.

Source note: Diplomatic protection doctrine

Correct answer: A. A baseline level of treatment required by international law regardless of local standards

The idea of an international minimum standard emerged to prevent states from defending plainly unacceptable treatment by pointing only to domestic practice. It does not mean every foreign national must receive preferential treatment.

Source note: Malcolm N Shaw, International Law

Correct answer: A. Conduct begins abroad but its substantial effects or completion occur within the forum state

Objective territoriality allows a state to assert jurisdiction when a significant part of the wrongful conduct or its completion occurs within its territory. It is a practical answer to cross-border conduct that cannot be neatly boxed into one place.

Source note: Jurisdiction principles in international law

Correct answer: A. The nationality of the victim

Passive personality grounds jurisdiction by reference to the nationality of the victim. Once controversial, it has gained wider acceptance in particular contexts, especially serious transnational offences.

Source note: Malcolm N Shaw, International Law

Correct answer: A. Within the territory of the receiving state but inside a diplomatic mission or similar protected space

Territorial asylum occurs within the asylum-granting state's own territory. Diplomatic asylum is more exceptional because it is asserted from premises like an embassy located within another state.

Source note: Asylum doctrine

Correct answer: B. Sovereign acts and commercial or private-type acts

Under the restrictive theory, immunity is retained for sovereign public acts but not automatically for commercial dealings that resemble ordinary private transactions. The distinction is functional rather than ideological.

Source note: Modern state immunity doctrine

Correct answer: B. Waived immunity by express or sufficiently clear conduct

Immunity can be waived, but courts usually look for clarity because waiver affects sovereign procedural protections. Ambiguous conduct is generally not treated lightly as a surrender of immunity.

Source note: State immunity doctrine

Correct answer: A. A fact or situation assumed by the state and forming an essential basis of its consent

Not every mistake is legally significant. Treaty law treats error seriously only where it concerns a fact or situation that was fundamental to the state's consent when it accepted the treaty.

Source note: Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

Correct answer: A. Fraud or corruption in recognised circumstances

The law of treaties accepts that consent must be genuine. Fraud and corruption strike at the quality of consent itself, though the facts must be established carefully and are not presumed lightly.

Source note: Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

Correct answer: B. Leaves the meaning ambiguous, obscure, or manifestly absurd

The Vienna approach gives primacy to the text, context, and object and purpose. Supplementary means become especially useful when those primary tools leave genuine uncertainty or absurdity.

Source note: Vienna Convention Article 32

Correct answer: A. Exit inconvenient treaties too easily

International law protects treaty stability. If states could invoke changed circumstances too freely, pacta sunt servanda would be hollow and long-term treaty commitments would become unreliable.

Source note: Vienna Convention Article 62