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Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law [MPEPIL]

Armed Attack

Karl Zemanek

Content type:
Encyclopedia entries
Product:
Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law [MPIL]

Module:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law [MPEPIL]
Article last updated:
October 2013

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 13 March 2024

Subject(s):
Self-defence — Conduct of hostilities — Paramilitary groups — Weapons — Armed attack

Published under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law under the direction of Professor Anne Peters (2021–) and Professor Rüdiger Wolfrum (2004–2020). 

1 Art. 51 UN Charter makes an ‘armed attack’ the condition for the exercise of the right of self-defence. In the judgment on the merits of the Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua Case (Nicaragua v United States of America) (‘Nicaragua Case’) the International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’) declared, however, that ‘a definition of “armed attack” which, if found to exist, authorizes the exercise of the “inherent right” of self-defence, is not provided in the United Nations Charter, and is not part of treaty law’ (Nicaragua Case para. 176). The...
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