Associate Professor Sarah Heathcote

Honorary Associate Professor
BA LLB (Hons) ANU; GDLP ANU; Diplôme d’études supérieures (Masters) Geneva; PhD Geneva
+61 2 6125 7624
Room 6.3.10

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Research Theme

Biography

Sarah Heathcote’s research and teaching focus on core areas of public international law and the law of international organizations, including aspects of international development law. She has participated in consultancies for law firms and international institutions.
Prior to joining ANU Law in 2008, she taught for almost a decade in Geneva, first at the Department of Public International Law and International Organization at the University of Geneva’s Law Faculty and then for Boston University.
At the ANU College of Law she teaches or has taught, in addition to courses in general international law, International Investment Law, the Law of International Institutions, as well as International Law and the Use of Force; and has published on these and related matters.
She has taught and given papers at many foreign universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Université libre de Bruxelles and Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II). She holds a Masters and a PhD from Geneva.

Appointments

  • Deputy Director, Centre for International and Public Law (CIPL), ANU College of Law, The Australian National University (until March 2019)
  • Convenor, International Law stream, Post-Graduate Program, ANU College of Law, The Australian National University (until 2018)

Awards

Year Title
2014 ANU College of Law Education Awards: Award for Excellence in Supervision

Significant research publications

  • Books:

LexisNexis Workbook: Public International Law, LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia, 2019, 132p.

The ICJ and the Evolution of International Law: The Enduring Impact of the Corfu Channel Case, Routledge (co-editors Th. Christakis and K. Bannelier), Routledge, UK, 2012, 377p.

Also in paperback from 2013.

  • Book Chapters, Articles and other Contributions to Collected Works:

‘Legal Models and Methods of Western Colonisation of the South Pacific’ Journal of the History of International Law vol. 24:1 (2022), pp. 62-101

‘State Responsibility, International Law and the Covid19 Crisis’ Australian Year Book of International Law vol. 39 (2021), pp. 122-140.

‘Secession, Self-determination and Territorial Disagreements. Sovereignty Claims in the Contemporary South Pacific’ Leiden Journal of International Law vol. 34:3 (2021) pp. 653-680.

‘Pacific Islands Forum’ Oxford Database International Organizations (OXIO), 2018, available at https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law-oxio/e8.013.1/law-oxio-e8?rskey...

‘Article 10: Traités prévoyant la participation d’un Etat successeur’ G. Distefano & G. Gagglioli (eds.), Commentaire à la Convention de Vienne sur la Succession d’Etats en matière de traités (1978), Bruylant, 2016, p. 339-372.

‘State of Necessity’, Oxford Bibliographies in “International Law”, ed., Tony Carty, New York: Oxford University Press, 15 January 2014, http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199796953/obo-...

‘State Omissions and Due Diligence in International Law: Aspects of Fault, Damage and Contribution to Injury in the Law of State Responsibility’ in S. Heathcote, Th. Christakis, K. Bannelier (eds.), The ICJ and the Evolution of International Law: The Enduring Impact of the Corfu Channel Case, Routledge, UK, 2012, p. 295-314;

‘Article 42: Validity and Continuation in Force of Treaties’, O. Corten & P. Klein (eds.), The Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties: Article by Article Commentary, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, p. 1015-1030 (co-author Marcelo G. Kohen).

‘Article 45: Loss of a Right to Invoke a Ground for Invalidity, Terminating or Withdrawing from or Suspending the Operation of a Treaty”, O. Corten & P. Klein (eds.), The Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties: Article by Article Commentary, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, p. 1064-1089 (co-author Marcelo G. Kohen)

‘Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness in the ILC Articles on State Responsibility: Necessity’, J. Crawford, A. Pellet, S. Olleson (eds.), The Law of International Responsibility, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010, pp. 491-501.

‘Est-ce que l’état de nécessité est un principe de droit international coutumier ?’ 2007/1 Revue belge de droit international pp.53-89 ;

‘La nécessité en common law’ Actes de la Société française pour le droit international (Grenoble 2006), Paris, Pedone, 2007, pp.97-108.

‘Mise en œuvre de la réparation des crimes de l’histoire : une possible [ré]conciliation des temps passés, présents et futurs ?’, L. Boisson de Chazournes, J.-F. Queguiner, S. Villalpando (eds.) Les réparations pour crimes de l’histoire, Bruylant, Brussels, 2004, pp.99-130 (co-author L. Boisson de Chazournes).

‘Les biens publics mondiaux et le droit international : Quelques réflexions à propos de la gestion de l’intérêt commun’ 13 Observateur des Nations Unies (2002), pp. 137-161.

‘The Role of the New International Adjudicator’, Proceedings of the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, Washington D.C., 2001, 129 (co-author L. Boisson de Chazournes)

Media:

13 May 2020, ‘State Responsibility under International Law and the COVID19 Crisis’, International Law and COVID19 ANU Law https://law.anu.edu.au/research/essay/covid-19-international-law

6 December 2013, ‘Explainer: Australia and Timor Leste in The Hague’ The Conversation, http://theconversation.com/explainer-australia-and-timor-leste-in-the-ha...

Other:

State of Necessity and International Law, PhD Thesis No. 772, University of Geneva, 2005, 506 pages.

Recent news

08
Nov
2019
Rachel Kirk (BA/Laws (Hons) ’17)
Rachel Kirk (BA/LLB (Hons) ’17) is looking forward to exploring her interest in international law during her 12-month fellowship at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
08
Apr
2019
Karla Brenner outside the law building
2018 ANU Prize recipient Karla Brenner talks about winning
12
Feb
2018
Camilla Pondell
ANU Law graduate Camilla Pondel (BMus LLB (Hons) ’16) will spend one year working as Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague after she was awarded the ANU College of Law PCA Scholarship for 2018.
21
Dec
2016
Sarah Dobbie
ANU College of Law alumna Sarah Dobbie has joined three Australian prime ministers, two high court justices and two Nobel Prize winners by becoming a recipient of the Rhodes Scholarships for Australia.

Past events

08
Mar
2018
Event image
1.50PM to 4.20PM Workshop

The possible interactions between treaty and custom are generally considered by reference to the well-established framework set out by the International Court of Justice in the North Sea Continental Shelf Cases of 1969; namely, the declaratory, crystallising and generating effects of a treaty (as for a resolution) on a customary rule.

16
Mar
2017
Event image
1.15PM to 5.30PM Workshop

This workshop explores how we see customary international law and its evolution in today’s uncertain times.

Currently supervising

  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
    Topic: The Implementation of Duties arising from Collective Norms: Theory, Practice, & Reconstruction
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
    Topic: Small scale uses of force: The threshold between "force" under the Jus Ad Bellum and "other forcible measures".
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
    Topic: Non-Refoulement as Custom: fait accompli or wishful legal thinking?
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
    Topic: Enforcement of Crimes of Universal Jurisdiction in the Absence of Traditional Jurisdictional Nexuses – State, Regional and International Practice in Bringing Individuals to Justice

PhD supervision

I am willing to supervise.

SJD supervision

I am willing to supervise.

MPhil supervision

I am willing to supervise.

LLM Masters thesis supervision

I am willing to supervise.

Honours thesis supervision

I am willing to supervise.

Internship supervision

I am willing to supervise.

Previous courses

Teaching awards

Year Title
2014 ANU College of Law Education Awards: Award for Excellence in Supervision

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