Source Public International Law Naveen

8/20/2019 Source Public International Law Naveen

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Sources of International Law

C.L. Akurugoda

Lecturer (Probationary)

Faculty of Law


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Article 38 of ICJ statute

• (a) International Conventions

• (b) International Customs

• (c) General Principles of law recognized by civilized nations

• (d) Judicial decisions and teaching of

highly qualified publicists (subject toArticle 59)


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• -G. Schwanzenberger-

• But this is not a hard and fast rule

International

Conventions

InternationalCustoms

General

principles

Judicial

Decisions

Academicwriting

Exclusive law creating

processes

Verification of alleged

rules


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Customary International Law

• CIL is considered as a dynamic

source of International law.

• Nature of IL system

• Lack of centralized government

organs


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Elements of CIL

• Physical element

(State Practice)

• Mental element

(Opinio jur is )


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Different opinions on value of CIL

• It is too clumsy and slow-moving to

accommodate the evolution of

international law any more. (W.Friedmann) So it is not significant as a

source of law today.

•

It is activated by the spontaneous bahaviour and thus mirrors the

conteporary concerns of society.


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The material fact/State practice

• Duration

• Consistency

• Repetition

• Generality


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Duration

• There is no rigid time element

• Depend upon the

circumstances of the case and

usage

• Does not the most important

component


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Continuity and Repetition

• Asylum Case(Columbia v. Peru)

…that a customary rule must ‘in accordance

with a constant and uniform usage practiced by

the State in question’


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Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Case

• Some degree of uniformity

amongst state practices was

essential before custom couldcome into existence .

http://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htm

http://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htmhttp://www.worldcourts.com/icj/eng/decisions/1951.12.18_fisheries.htm


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North Sea Continental Shelf case

• Dispute between Germany, Holland and Demark.

• Delimitation of the continental shelf

•

State practice had to be‘both

extensive and virtually uniformin the sense of the provision

invoked.’ http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=295&code=cs2&p1=3&p2=3&case=52&k=cc&p3=5

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=295&code=cs2&p1=3&p2=3&case=52&k=cc&p3=5http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=295&code=cs2&p1=3&p2=3&case=52&k=cc&p3=5http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=295&code=cs2&p1=3&p2=3&case=52&k=cc&p3=5http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=295&code=cs2&p1=3&p2=3&case=52&k=cc&p3=5http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=295&code=cs2&p1=3&p2=3&case=52&k=cc&p3=5http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=295&code=cs2&p1=3&p2=3&case=52&k=cc&p3=5http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=295&code=cs2&p1=3&p2=3&case=52&k=cc&p3=5


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Nicaragua v. US

• It was not necessary that the

practice in question had to be ‘in

absolutely rigorous conformity’ with the purported customary

rule


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• In order to deduce the existence of customary

rules, the Court deems it sufficient that the

conduct of state should, in general, be

consistent with such rules, and that instances

of state conduct inconsistent with a given ruleshould generally have been treated as

breaches of that rule, not as indications of the

recognition of a new rule• ICJ Reports, 1986, p. 98; 76 ILR,p.432.


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Can only few states create a custom?

• Yes

• They are intimately connected with the issue

in hand

Power

Wealth

special relationship with thesubject matter


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Examples

• UK Law of the sea/Prize law

• Soviet Union

& Space Law

USA


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• For a custom to be accepted and recognized it

must have the concurrence of the major

powers of that particular field

• Duration and generality takes second place

• Universality is not required

• Depending on the context some degree of

continuity must be maintained..


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Whether failure to act create a custom

not to act?

• Legal obligation not to act

• Incapacity or unwillingness


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Lotus casePCIJ, series A, No.10,1927, p18

• ‘abstention could only give rise

to the recognition of a custom ifit was based on a conscious duty

to abstain ’


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State Practice

STATE

State’s Legal officers

Diplomatic agents

Legislative institutions

Courts

Political leaders


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Lotus case


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• …the French maintained that there are existed

a rule of customary law to the effect that the

flag state of the accused(France) had exclusive

jurisdiction in such cases and that accordingly

the national state of victim (Turkey) was

barred from trying him.

• Justifications:

absence of previous criminal prosecutions by

such states in similar situations


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• Held:

‘only if such abstention were

based on their [the state] being

conscious of a duty to abstainwould it be possible to speak of an

international custom. ’


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North Sea Continental Shelf case


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• ‘… state practice, including that of states

whose interests are specially affected, shouldhave been both extensive and virtually

uniform in the sense of the provision invoked,

and should moreover have occurred in such away as to a general recognition that a rule of

law or legal obligation is involved ’


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Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case

• A state opposing the existence of

a custom from its inception

would not be bound by it…


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Reference

• Shaw,M.N, International Law, 5th Edition,

Cambridge University Press

• http://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/

Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdf
http://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdfhttp://anthonydamato.law.northwestern.edu/Adobefiles/A69b-spec-cust.pdf

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