Ricerc@Sapienza

The chapter discusses the philosophical foundations of the current regulation of the use of force. The
chapter argues that, in correspondence with the emergence of a sphere of substantive rules protecting common
interests of humankind, international law is also gradually developing a system of protection against egregious
breaches of these interests. This conclusion is reached through an analysis of the law and practice governing the
action of the UN Security Council as well as the law of state responsibility concerning individual and collective

The facts characterising the March 2014 situation in Crimea offer an opportunity to test the legal relationship between state and individual responsibility under international law for a crime, the crime of aggression, which has seldom been the object of judicial assessment. The author takes account of a number of legal requirements necessary in assessing state and individual responsibility for aggression and maintains that, even with respect to the crime of aggression, state and individual responsibility remain separated at least as far as secondary rules are concerned.