War Law Author: Michael Byers Publisher: Atlantic Books Price: £16.99
It is a melancholy reflection that, at a time when more people than ever are becoming aware of the important role of international law in the everyday world, one of the fastest growing areas in the field is the law of war. This is partly because there is a lot of war about (indeed, there has been for much of the past 30 years or so), but much of the interest in the topic stems from television coverage of conflicts which are both harrowing and controversial. Added to these elements is the challenge – as yet unmet either in the real world or in the lawyer’s study – of the impact of terrorism by non-state actors and whether the ‘war on terror’ can accurately be so described or not.
