A Baedeker for lawyers

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AS you know, a Baedeker was a series of guidebooks for travellers published in 1832 by Karl Baedeker, a German publisher. Unlike the guidebooks of today where negative observations are clothed in silky diplomatic language, the Baedekers were laced with incredibly rude comments, which must have discouraged not a few voyagers. I wonder what he would have written about the Philippines, in the 19th century when it was still a Spanish colony.

In the guidebook for Spain, Baedeker called the Spaniards indolent and described their towns as “wreathed in tobacco smoke,” and the cafes and restaurants as “deficient in comfort and cleanliness and customers should always count their change.” He warned that in the cities, “police will arrest anyone they can lay their hands on….”

Perhaps, I am being unfair to the author by calling his book, International Law, A Pre-Bar Reviewer, a “Baedeker for lawyers.” After all, Atty. Saul Hofileña, Jr, the author, is refined in his use of the English language; he is succinct and frank but never rude like Mr. Karl Baedeker. I made the comparison simply because Atty. Hofileña’s, Reviewer is a veritable guide through the maze of treaties,conventions, statutes, norms and traditions, crime and punishment, human rights, impunity, anything that is within the ambit of international law.

Every day we are blasted with news from tri-media and social media about China’s blatant incursions in our Exclusive Economic Zone and the mysterious landings of Chinese military (?) planes in Davao. We were alarmed when President. Duterte declared that he had withdrawn from the Rome Statute, without even consulting the Senate. The world might just plunge deeper in turmoil because President Trump seemed to have followed suit by withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council. I won’t even mention the attacks on Palestine and the worldwide refugee crisis. Atty Hofileña says that International Law has become “the 800-pound gorilla of law.” I think I know what he means.

His Baedeker of law is timely; its cover is red like those 19th century Baedeker guidebooks; it is available at Solidaridad, Fully Booked, Popular, and Rex bookstores. Although the Reviewer is intended for those who are about to take the bar examinations, it is easy reading for lay persons like us who feel that a basic knowledge of international law might help us react to discombobulating events with less emotion and rhetoric.

International Law can be intimidating. Yet, this 178-page Reviewer written in a question and answer format is easy to digest. Here are examples:

Question: What is the Rome Statute? Answer: Rome Statute is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court. The purpose of the Rome Statute is to end impunity through the prosecution of crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and crimes of aggression.

Question: Define genocide. Answer: Genocide is defined by the Rome Statute as acts committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group,” such as (1) killing members of the group; (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. Let me go to (5) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Question: May a Head of State be held liable under the terms of the Rome Statute? Answer: Yes, according to Art. 27 of the Rome Statute, the Statute shall apply equally to all persons without distinction based on official capacity. The fact that he is a Head of State or a member of government shall not exempt him from criminal responsibility. Neither will immunities under national or international law protect him from prosecution. There are Qs & As about “Responsibility of States for Wrongful Acts,” “Immunities and Internationally Protected Persons,” “Extradition,” “Law of the Sea,” “Environmental Law,” etc.

Saul Hofileña, Jr. is a law professor of San Beda College, a former law school dean and a pre-bar reviewer. He has also just published International Law, a ponderous book that is physically as well as intellectually weighty. He is also a historian; his book on Philippines history, Under the Stacks, is a bestseller available locally and in Singapore.

I have read Hofilena’s Pre-Bar Reviewer and recommend it to anyone who would like to understand, without rhetoric or emotions, the problems and challenges that are bedeviling our country today.

(ggc1898@gmail.com)