Customer Reviews

Akehurst's Modern Introduction to International Law

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The 7th edition of this classic among student textbooks builds upon the clarity and stile Michael Akehurst was famous for, and gives an up to date introduction to International Law. The author, Peter Malanczuk, Professor of International Law at the University of Amsterdam, included systematic references which will enable the reader to begin a journey into the advanced subjects of the Law - if he/she so wishes. Malanczuks perspective is broad and serves the needs both of students in International Law and in International Relations.

"Akehurst's Modern Introduction to International Law" by Peter Malanczuk is one of the best books on International Law for scholars and students of law, now a days. The text was re-written by Professor Peter Malanczuk (Erasmus University, Rotterdam) with aditional information based on the new developments like International Environmental Law or International Economic Law.

Certainly the basics of the book correspond to older editions, but new chapters make it a clear example of an "International Law" book than a modest "Introduction".

The text is well written and the concepts are in order. However, definitions about important international legal institutions were missed, for example, International Environmental Law, Custom, etc. These and other definitions are important for students in order to have clarity on the institutions and the subject.

The book, however, is well structured, keeping the interest of the reader on the topics of International Law and giving information on every topic to search further on in other sources.

I hope that the book will have translation to other languages.

Akehurst's Modern Introduction to International Law provides a sound basis for understanding the United Nations, treaties, and international law. The only drawback to the book is that the material is becoming somewaht dated with its 1997 copyright.

The book has gone through a number of reprints in between 1998 and 2004 leading me to suggest a 8th edition for 2006. The book

provided an academic premier for a course in Space Law. I enjoyed the Latin legal terms spread throughout the text. I do recommend that the reader have some prior knowledge of the law to more fully appreciate the text.

This book is the essential guide to international law. Not only does it cover important themes and treaties over every conceivable topic, it does so without too much legal jargon and too much dumbing down. It hits the perfect average reading level and provides citations to the primary sources from which statements are taken for further research and understanding. It is extrememly well organized. Truly, this is the best comprehensive book on international law available to the average person.

I'll second the previous reviewer's call for an updated edition. Apparently the next edition, the 8th, is due for release in February 2008.

As a student studying Political Economy, and hoping to pursue International Law at the graduate level - I find this book to be informative and an enjoyable read. Not only has the author taken steps to make sure the content is interesting and detailed, but the material is also unusually absorbing and has me "hooked".

This book is quite difficult to read. The books show importnat text in italics (sometimes) not even bold, different font type etc. You really don't know what's importnat and what's not until you get it on exam. Very very difficult to navigate within a text and do a lookup of important terms or topics. The index at the end of book is also very limited. The design is like of a paperback novel - just text, text and text, with very little differences in text. The only bold words are titles of chapters and subchapters. This has been so far the most difficult textbook to read I have ever had and I usually don't have problems reading any kind of textbook.
On the other hand the information within is invaluable, and give you clear idea of what is what and what matters in international law. Sometimes the explanations and text is not well-written, some places it reads like if you are reading a legal document rather than a textbook.
The book provides a generous sample of cases.
Authors should consider improving page layout and design, and writing in a bit lighter tone.

this was the best book I ever read, Yeah!