Part III The Sources of International Responsibility, Ch.33.7 Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness in the ILC Articles on State Responsibility: Necessity

Necessity, previously called ‘state of necessity’ by the ILC, refers to situations where the sole means by which a State, or possibly the international community as a whole, can safeguard an essential interest threatened by a grave and imminent peril, is temporarily not to respect an international obligation protecting an interest of lesser value. 1 The interest being thus protected might be one of the State alone, or perhaps, one of the international community as a whole. 2 Elevating necessity to the rank of a circumstance precluding wrongfulness, a State, or...