State Responsibility under International Law

In international law, responsibility follows from obligation; as a result, every time a subject violates its international commitments, that subject also bears international responsibility. Due to the structure of the international legal system and the theories of state sovereignty and state equality, state responsibility is a fundamental principle of international law. It stipulates that anytime when one state violates another state’s international law, there is an international obligation between the two. A violation of an international agreement results in the need for compensation. The law of state responsibility outlines when an international duty is to be considered broken, together with the repercussions of such breach, including which States are allowed to retaliate and how. International law does not concern itself with the source of the obligation that is breached, unlike national laws, where different rules frequently apply depending on the source of the obligation breached (e.g., contract law, tort law, criminal law), and in general (and unless otherwise specifically provided), the same rules apply to the breach of an obligation regardless of how the origin of the obligation is a treaty, customary international law, a unilateral declaration, or the judgement. The International Law Commission finished the ARSIWA, or Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, in August 2001 after more than 40 years of effort. The goal of ARSIWA is to define the principles of State responsibility that apply widely around the world. This paper is thus determined towards discussing the concept of state responsibility, it’s kinds , consequences and some important cases relating to the same.