WHEN you damage or destroy someone’s property, as per the law of torts, you must compensate or repair the loss. When fumes from your factory harm someone’s crop, the failure to prevent the damage is your responsibility. The same applies to international cases of wrongful acts. Poland was made to pay reparations to Germany for unlawfully seizing a German-owned factory. Canada had to pay damages after vapours from a smelter drifted across the border, affecting American farms. States are now liable even for accidents that cause transboundary harm.

Military aggression causes the worst kind of transboundary harm. When one state attacks another and destroys its property, it must bear responsibility for the damage. Historically, societies everywhere have retaliated with counter-measures or forcing compensation from the aggressor. These practices were reviewed by legal experts at the International Law Commission, who incorporated them in the Articles on State Responsibility. “Every internationally wrongful act of a state entails the international responsibility of that state”, if it “is attributable to the state” and “constitutes a breach of an international obligation”. It is declared that “the responsible state is under an obligation to make full reparation for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act”. A whole chapter discusses the nature of restitution, compensation, damages and satisfaction. However, the intent to claim must be declared and formulated quickly otherwise the right to invoke responsibility may be lost. Under international law, each state in a group of affected states can invoke claims........

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