The field of public international law is vast, comprising an entire legal system governing the rights and obligations of states in their relations with one another and, increasingly, with non-state actors. The area has undergone explosive growth in the past half-century and, accordingly, has had a pervasive influence on international affairs and domestic legal systems alike. Canada, in particular, has been a leader in this field, such that today there is virtually no aspect of Canadian law that is not in some way influenced by international law.
Public International Law will provide students and practitioners alike with a comprehensive survey of this complex and increasingly important area of the law. It describes and places in context the fundamental elements of the international legal system—the sources of international law, its subjects, its key institutional structures, its interaction with domestic legal systems—and systematically reviews its most important substantive topics. Where appropriate, issues of particular relevance to Canada and Canadian law are highlighted.
While the treatment is intended to introduce lawyers and law students to a new field, detailed case analyses and bibliographical references will also make this book of interest to those already familiar with the international legal system.

John Currie teaches International Law, Constitutional Law, Torts, and Legal Research and Writing in the Common Law Section, Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Currie was an associate with the firm Lang Michener in both Toronto and Ottawa, where his practice focused on civil litigation, administrative and constitutional law, as well as agency work at the Supreme Court of Canada. While in practice he acted inter alia for the Government of Canada during the Somalia Inquiry and as Supreme Court of Canada agent for Delwin Vriend in Vriend v. Alberta.
Professor Currie holds a combined specialist degree in astronomy and physics from the University of Toronto, an LL.B. from the University of Ottawa, and an LL.M. from the University of Cambridge where he studied international and European Union law. He is co-author of Injunctions (1996), Supreme Court of Canada Manual: Practice and Advocacy (1996), Settlement Procedure and Precedents in Ontario (1998), and The Law of Criminal Attempt, 2nd ed. (2000) and a contributor to various journals on international legal issues. He is currently consulting on a Russian law reform project funded by the World Bank, and sits on the Executive of the Canadian Council on International Law.

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