THE ROLE OF THE JUDICIARY IN RECOGNIZING AND IMPLEMENTING INTERNATIONAL LAW: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SRI LANKA

International law had had a profound impact and influence on the domestic legal system in the contemporary world. However, the status of international law within the domestic legal system is not properly defined in many of the jurisdictions including Sri Lanka. In the absence of such a constitutional provision, the judiciary as the last bastion of hope has a responsibility of interpreting domestic law in light of the international standards that have been agreed upon by the country through ratification of international treaties and those principles of customary international law that has become binding on the country. However, too much judicial activism could jeopardize the constitutional fundamentals of separation of powers and the rule of law. Therefore, this study argues that the best way to resolve this issue is by providing a constitutional provision for the role of the judiciary in the recognition and implementation of international law in a domestic context. Using a qualitative methodology with a comparative analysis of the constitutional provisions of the selected jurisdictions of India and South Africa a proposal is made for a constitutional provision for the judicial role in the recognition and implementation of international law in Sri Lanka. The results have revealed that a constitutional provision would help to advance the separation of powers and the rule of law and to well define the role of the judiciary in absorbing international treaty law to the domestic sphere, making the law more certain and predictable and upholding the rights and duties of individuals in a domestic context while fulfilling international obligations of a country under the domestic legal system

Synthetic rating system for railway bridge management

Railway bridges deteriorate with age. Factors such as environmental effects on different materials of a bridge, variation of loads, fatigue, etc will reduce the remaining life of bridges. Bridges are currently rated individually for maintenance and repair actions according to the structural conditions of their elements. Dealing with thousands of bridges and several factors that cause deterioration, makes the rating process extremely complicated. Current simplified but practical rating methods are not based on an accurate structural condition assessment system. On the other hand, the sophisticated but more accurate methods are only used for a single bridge or particular types of bridges. It is therefore necessary to develop a practical and accurate system which will be capable of rating a network of railway bridges. This paper introduces a new method for rating a network of bridges based on their current and future structural conditions. The method identifies typical bridges representing a group of railway bridges. The most crucial agents will be determined and categorized to criticality and vulnerability factors. Classification based on structural configuration, loading, and critical deterioration factors will be conducted. Finally a rating method for a network of railway bridges that takes into account the effects of damaged structural components due to variations in loading and environmental conditions on the integrity of the whole structure will be proposed. The outcome of this research is expected to significantly improve the rating methods for railway bridges by considering the unique characteristics of different factors and incorporating the correlation between them

Classification of railway bridges based on criticality and vulnerability factors

Bridges are currently rated individually for maintenance and repair action according to the structural conditions of their elements. Dealing with thousands of bridges and the many factors that cause deterioration, makes this rating process extremely complicated. The current simplified but practical methods are not accurate enough. On the other hand, the sophisticated, more accurate methods are only used for a single or particular bridge type. It is therefore necessary to develop a practical and accurate rating system for a network of bridges. The first most important step in achieving this aim is to classify bridges based on the differences in nature and the unique characteristics of the critical factors and the relationship between them, for a network of bridges. Critical factors and vulnerable elements will be identified and placed in different categories. This classification method will be used to develop a new practical rating method for a network of railway bridges based on criticality and vulnerability analysis. This rating system will be more accurate and economical as well as improve the safety and serviceability of railway bridges

The evolution of The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Consular

This paper examines the growth and evolution of the principle of diplomatic/consular immunity in international law with focus on the Vienna Convention of 1961 which has comprehensively codified the principle. The paper found that the immunity granted to Diplomats under the 1961 Vienna Convention has severally been abused by the diplomatic communities to the detriment of the citizens of the host countries. The immunities against  prosecution granted by the Convention to Diplomats to facilitate the performance of their diplomatic functions are being abused by the diplomats who invoke the immunities as a shield for their personal brushes with the law of the host communities The paper makes some useful suggestions as to how to curb the abuses in view of the wide acceptance by the global community of the principles of diplomatic immunity enshrined in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic and Consular Relations

Theories Involved in Recognizing and Implementing International Law in Domestic Contexts

The impact of international law on the domestic legal system has never being more visible and potent as we see it today. While this being the case, international law itself does not provide a mechanism as to how international law should be absorbed in to the domestic legal system and that question is left for the country in question to decide. In selecting an appropriate method for introducing international law into the domestic legal system, the theoretical aspirations of monism and dualism has been in the forefront of many books and articles that have been written on the subject, yet it has been rejected as being failing to appraise the actual practises of the countries in question when adopting a particular mechanism for bringing international law into the domestic legal system. This article there for explores the reasons as to why monism and dualism has failed to introduced a methodology in bringing international law into the domestic context and what theoretical explanations could be provided for such failure with a conclusion on a more pragmatic approach in choosing the middle way between monism and dualism. Keywords: Monism, Dualism, International Law, Incorporation, Transformation DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/109-09 Publication date:May 31st 202