General Principles and the Coherence of International Lawprovides a collection of intellectually stimulating contributions from leading international lawyers to the discourse on the role of general principles in international law. Offering a comprehensive analysis of the doctrines, practices, and debates on general principles of law, the volume assesses their role in safeguarding the coherence of the international legal system. This important book addresses the relationship between principles of law and the other sources of international law, explores the interplay between principles of law and domestic and regional legal systems and the role of principles of law with regard to three specific regimes of international law: investment law, human rights law and environmental law.
This book examines the role played by domestic and international judges in the “flexibilization” of legal systems through general principles. It features revised papers that were presented at the Annual Conference of the European-American Consortium for Legal Education, held at the University of Parma, Italy, May 2014. This volume is organized in four sections, where the topic is mainly explored from a comparative perspective, and includes case studies. The first section covers theoretical issues. It offers an analysis of principles in shaping Dworkin’s theories about international law, a reflection on the role of procedural principles in defining the role of the judiciary, a view on the role of general principles in transnational judicial communication, a study on the recognition of international law from formal criteria to substantive principles, and an inquiry from the viewpoint of neo-constitutionalism. The second section contains studies on the role of general principles in selected legal systems, including International Law, European Union Law as well as Common Law systems. The third section features an analysis of select legal principles in a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on the comparison between European and American experiences. The fourth and last section explores selected principles in given areas of law, including the misuse of the lex specialis principle in the relationship between international human rights law and international humanitarian law, the role of the judiciary in Poland as regards discrimination for sexual orientation, and the impact of the ECtHR case law on Italian criminal law with regard to the principle of legality. Overall, the book offers readers a thoughtful reflection on how the interpretation, application, and development of general principles of law by the judiciary contribute to the evolution of legal systems at both the domestic and international levels as well as further their reciprocal interactions.
Because of its unique nature, the sources of international law are not always easy to identify and interpret. This book provides an ideal introduction to these sources for anyone needing to better understand where international law comes from. As well as looking at treaties and custom, the book will look at more modern and controversial sources.
This book provides a comprehensive analysis of an often neglected, misunderstood and maligned source of international law. Article 38(1)(c) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice sets out that the Court will apply the 'general principles of law recognized by civilized nations'. This source is variously lauded and criticised: held up as a panacea to all international law woes or denied even normative validity. The contrasting views and treatments of General Principles stem from a lack of a model of the source itself. This book provides that model, offering a new and rigorous understanding of Article 38(1)(c) that will be of immense value to scholars and practitioners of international law alike. At the heart of the book is a new tetrahedral framework of analysis - looking to function, type, methodology and jurisprudential legitimacy. Adopting an historical approach, the book traces the development of the source from 1875 to 2019, encompassing jurisprudence of the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Court of Justice as well as cases from international criminal tribunals, the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organisation. The book argues for precision in identifying cases that actually apply General Principles, and builds upon these 'proper use' cases to advance a comprehensive model of General Principles, advocating for a global approach to the methodology of the source.
This Oxford Handbook examines the sources of international law, how the understanding of sources changed throughout the history of international law; how the main legal theories understood sources; the relationship between sources and the legitimacy of international law; and how sources differ across the various sub-areas of international law.
A collection of essays on the various aspects of the legal sources of international law, including theories of the origin of international law, explanation of its binding force, normative hierarchies and the relation of international law and politics.
International lawyers usually disregard the vital functions that general principles of law may play in the decisions of international courts and tribunals. As far as international criminal law is concerned, general principles of law may be crucial to the outcome of an international trial, inter alia because the conviction of an accused in respect of a particular charge may depend on the existence of a given defence under this source. This volume examines the role that general principles of law have played in the decisions of international criminal courts and tribunals. In particular, it analyses their alleged ‘subsidiary’ nature, their process of determination, and their transposition from national legal systems into international law. It concludes that general principles of law have played a significant role in the decisions of international criminal courts and tribunals, not only by filling legal gaps, but also by being a fundamental means for the interpretation of legal rules and the enhancement of legal reasoning.
In General Principles for Business and Human Rights in International Law Ludovica Chiussi Curzi offers a critical analysis of the relevance of general principles of law in the multifaceted business and human rights field.
Many different, and even opposite, meanings are ascribed to the term `sources' of international law. The author of this work goes back to the meaning of the term `source' in general (spring or well) and analyses in detail the various sources of international law. He first explains the sources of general, and then those of particular international law. He starts with general principles of law, which is followed by common features of customary process of whatsoever kind, and then by general and by particular customary law. Custom will be followed by unilateral acts of States and with opposable situations in international law which are closely linked with this kind of sources of international law. The explanation ends with treaties in regard to which there are the least doctrinal controversies. The explanation cannot be quite homogeneous. There are still deep doctrinal misunderstandings in respect to general principles of law and of unilateral acts of States. The author therefore offers a critical analysis of representative views of other authors and tries to reach solutions to problems presented. He also gives a systematic explanation of recent pronouncements of international courts and tribunals with regard to customary law, and he examines the specific solutions prescribed in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
