LCIL Lecture: 'Some Reflections on Territorial Sovereignty Today' by Prof Malcolm Shaw QC

Lecture summary: This talk reflects upon the evolution of territorial sovereignty in international law. Professor Shaw will trace the classic origin and formulation of this key concept and discuss the major challenges to it, from internal threats such as self-determination and secession to external challenges such as the rise of international human rights, international criminal law and international environmental law. What may be concluded as to the balance between globalisation and territorialism today?

Professor Malcolm Shaw QC is a Senior Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and Emeritus Sir Robert Jennings Professor of International Law, University of Leicester. 

Author of International Law, 8th ed, 2017 (translated into Chinese, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese and Turkish); of the 5th edition of Rosenne’s Law and Practice of the International Court of Justice, 2016, and of Title to Territory in Africa, 1986, as well as of many articles in leading journals such as the British Year Book of International Law, the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and the European Journal of International Law.

Lectures delivered include the Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lectures in Cambridge (2010); the inaugural General Course on International Law at the Xiamen Academy of International Law, China (2006) and the first Shabtai Rosenne Memorial Lecture in the Peace Palace, Hague (2011). 

Former Trustee of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. Elected Associé of the Institut de Droit International in 2013. 

Practising barrister at Essex Court Chambers specializing in public international law. 

The Lauterpacht Centre Friday lecture series is kindly supported by Cambridge University Press. 

A sandwich lunch is available for all attendees from 12.30 pm in the Old Library.

Numbers are limited so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. Please note the lecture programme is subject to revision without notice

An audio recording of this lecture is available on the University's Streaming Media Service

A list of all recorded events and lectures at the Lauterpacht Centre can be viewed in on this website in Media/Audio recordings.