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Foreword: America's Conscience on International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Michael P. Scharf
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Paul R. Williams
Affiliation:
American University, Washington DC
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Summary

What role does international law play in foreign policy crises? That is a question regularly discussed in the academy, but all too often without the reality check of experience in the arena.

In the United States of America, law and tradition have assigned the role of “conscience of the government” regarding compliance with international law to the little-known Office of the Legal Adviser of the Department of State. Created by statute in 1931, and resting on a tradition of legal advice within the Department that dates back to 1848, the Office of the Legal Adviser is charged with advising the Secretary of State on all legal issues, domestic and international, and with advising all branches of the U.S. Government on how to formulate and implement the foreign policies of the United States in accordance with international law and the responsible development of international institutions. Although the Legal Adviser is appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and heads an office of nearly two hundred government attorneys, until now, the history and function of that office have been far less well chronicled than those of smaller elite U.S. Government legal offices, such as the Office of the Solicitor General and the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice.

Type
Chapter
Information
Shaping Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis
The Role of International Law and the State Department Legal Adviser
, pp. xi - xviii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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