Just Cause (in War)
Classical just war theory distinguishes the justice of going to war (jus ad bellum) from the justice of how war is waged (jus in bello) (see War). As the theory of jus ad bellum evolved over the past millennium, a war had to satisfy multiple criteria to be just. The war must be waged (1) by a legitimate authority who is (2) acting with right intention; (3) the war must have reasonable prospects of success at attaining its goals, the importance of which is (4) proportional to the harm that the war can be expected to inflict (see Proportionality (in War)); (5) the war must be the last resort; and (6) there must be a just cause for the war. None of these criteria is clear or unambiguous, but just cause is perhaps the most contested. 
 
 
Keywords: 
 
practical (applied) ethics; 
war and conflict
War, Aggression and Self-Defence by Yoram Dinstein
Yoram Dinstein’s seminal textbook is an essential guide to the legal issues of war and peace, armed attack, self-defence and enforcement measures taken under the aegis of the Security Council. This fourth edition incorporates new material on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, response to armed attacks by terrorists, recent resolutions adopted by the Security Council and the latest pronouncements of the International Court of Justice. In addition, several new sections consider consent by States to the use of force (as expressed either ad hoc or by treaty); an armed attack by non-State actors; the various phases in the Gulf War up to the occupation of Iraq in 2003 and beyond; and immunities from jurisdiction. With many segments rewritten to reflect recent State practice, this book remains a comprehensive and highly readable introduction to the legal issues surrounding war and self-defence. An indispensable tool for students and practitioners.
The Rights of War and Peace
Since the nineteenth century, Hugo Grotius' "Rights of War and Peace" has commonly been seen as the classic work in modern public international law, laying the foundation for a universal code of law. However, in the seventeenth century and during the Enlightenment, the work was considered a major work of political theory that strongly defended the rights of individual agents - states as well as private persons - to use their power to secure themselves and their property. Grotius' continuing influence owed much to the eighteenth-century French editor Jean Barbeyrac, whose extensive commentary was standard in most editions, including the classic, anonymously translated, English one (1738), which is the basis for the Liberty Fund edition. The present edition also includes the Prolegomena to the first edition of "Rights of War and Peace" (1625); this document has never before been translated into English, and adds new dimensions to the great work.