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Sir Michael Wood

Sir Michael Wood
Former Member of the International Law Commission
Honorary Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law
University of Cambridge

Biography Biography in PDF

State Responsibility
State Responsibility
State Responsibility for Assistance in the Commission of an Internationally Wrongful Act
Video | Audio | TranscriptTranscript in PDF
(22/10/2025, 42 minutes)





State Responsibility
State Responsibility for Assistance in the Commission of an Internationally Wrongful Act

A. Legal Instruments 

International Law Commission, Articles concerning the Law of the Sea, 1956.
International Law Commission, Draft Articles on Diplomatic Intercourse and Immunities with commentaries, 1958.
International Law Commission, Draft Articles on the Law of Treaties, 1966.
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331.
International Law Commission, Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, 2001.
International Law Commission, Articles on Diplomatic Protection, 2006.
International Law Commission, Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, 2011.
International Law Commission, Draft conclusions on identification and legal consequences of peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens), 2022.


B. Jurisprudence


International Court of Justice, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2007, p. 43.
European Court of Human Rights, El-Masri v. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, no. 39630/09, Judgment of 13 December 2012.
International Court of Justice, Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, Advisory opinion of 23 July 2025.
C. Documents
International Law Commission, Analytical Guide to the Work of the International Law Commission on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts.
General Assembly resolution 56/83 of 12 December 2001 (Responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts).
General Assembly resolution ES-11/1 of 2 March 2022 (Aggression against Ukraine).


D. Doctrine


H. Aust, Complicity and the Law of State Responsibility, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011.
J. Crawford, State Responsibility: The General Part, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 395-412, 2013.
J. Crawford, The International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility: Introduction, Text and Commentaries, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002.
C. Dominicé, “Attribution of conduct to multiple States and the implication of a State in the act of another State”, in J. Crawford, A. Pellet, and S. Olleson (eds.), The Law of International Responsibility, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 281-289 (at pp. 284-289), 2010.

G. Gaja, “Interpreting Articles Adopted by the International Law Commission”, British Yearbppk of International law, vol. 85, pp. 10-20, 2014.
M. Jackson, Complicity in International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015.
V. Lanovoy, Complicity and its Limits in the Law of International Responsibility, Hart, London, 2016.
V. Lowe, “Responsibility for the Conduct of Other States”, Kokusaiho Gaiko Zassi, vol. 101, pp. 1-15, 2002.
H. Moynihan, “Aiding and Assisting: The Mental Element under Article 16 of the International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility”, International & Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 67, pp. 455-471, 2018.
H. Moynihan, Aiding and Assisting: Challenges in Armed Conflict and Counterterrorism, Chatham House, London, 2016.
G. Nolte and H. Aust, “Equivocal Helpers - Complicit States, Mixed Messages, and International Law”, International & Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 58, pp. 1-30, 2009.