The Responsibility of International Organisations towards other International Organisations : Law and Practice of the United Nations, the World Bank, the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Bimal N. Patel : book review

In this book Bimal N Patel confronts an important and topical issue of international law, namely the secondary rules of international law relating to responsibility of international organisations towards other international organisations. The adoption by the International Law Commission (hereafter the ILC or the Commission) of Draft Articles on State Responsibility in 2001 and the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organisations ten years later is a reflection of the importance of the secondary rules on responsibility in international law. International lawyers often focus on the primary rules (substantive rules such as the law on the use of force or international human rights law) but the secondary rules of international law (rules relating to, for example, responsibility and remedies) are essential to the proper functioning of any legal system, including international law. Patel's book, therefore, provides a welcome focus on the secondary rules.