COVID-19 Claims and the Law of International Responsibility

This paper considers the role that the law of international responsibility, both State responsibility and responsibility of international organizations, plays in claims and disputes about COVID-19. It proceeds by examining in turn the rubrics of the internationally wrongful act, content of responsibility, and implementation of responsibility. On most points, blackletter law is perfectly capable of answering the questions raised by claims related to COVID-19. But evolutionary potential inherent in the normal international legal process should also be recognised, whether it manifests itself by further strengthening current rules, elaborating vague rules by application, filling gaps in current law by generating new practice or even, exceptionally, revisiting rules currently in force.