Unlocking the Key Sources of International Law: A Guide to Dispute Resolution - Essay Sample

Introduction

International law is a set of standards and rules used in relation to different countries. The sources of international law are different from those of countries because it has no parliament responsible for the legislation of policies. Despite the lack of parliament to create international law, there is an International Court of Justice, courts and tribunals entitled with the responsibility of solving conflicts between nations (Greenwood, 2020). There are several sources of international law, as identified by the Statute of the ICJ, Art. 38.

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Customary International Law

Customary internal law is an unwritten source of law that dictates the relationship between different countries. Two elements characterize the custom. First, it must have "opinion Juris" or a belief in legal responsibility, and secondly, it must be widely used by many States. A new international law based on customary policies cannot be created unless both elements are present (Greenwood, 2020). An example of customary international law is the policy that requires countries to give immunity to Head of States visiting their other nations.

Treaties

Treaties are agreements, convention, or protocol between States or sometimes between international bodies and States, are the second primary source of international law. Treaties are not strictly the source of law, but an obligation under the law. As a result, treaties only bind to countries that are parties to it, but not all nations of the world. However, treaties derived from customary international law are binding to all countries whether a country is or not a party (Greenwood, 2020). Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties is an example of such treaties because although less than half of the countries are parties to it, it is used by all countries.

General Principles

While customs and treaties are the essential sources of international law, the ICJ Statute recognizes general principles as another source of law affecting nations. These are laws recognized by civilized countries. General principles are often used when an internal tribunal or ICJ wants to apply concepts such as a corporation's legal personalities acceptable in national legal systems. In this case, however, international law hardly adopts general principles as used in one country but instead search for principles recognized in different national legal systems (Greenwood, 2020). Barcelona Traction Co. case is an excellent example of the application of general principles in international law.

Judicial Decision

Judicial decisions are subsidiary means of determining the rule of law in cases involving international conflicts. These decisions are not binding to any country, except to parties in a particular case. In most cases, however, ICJ and many international tribunals use their past judicial decision as a guide in international law cases. As a result, it wrong to assume that since judicial decisions are “subsidiary” they are less important. In this case, both international and national court judicial decisions are used, although the former is regarded as more authoritative than the later (Greenwood, 2020). The functions of State courts are practices of the country, thus contributing to the formation of customary international law, thus becoming an acceptable source of international law.

Writings

Writings by people with vast knowledge and experience in international law such as the jurist, publicist, and academics. These individuals do not create laws but provide a persuasive guide on the existence of specific laws (Greenwood, 2020). In this case, however, it is essential to understand that there is a danger in isolating a passage from one article or book and applying it to the international law without taking into consideration other aspects of the policy.

International laws are legal policies governing the relationship between different states. There are many sources of international law, with customary law and treaties as the primary sources. Other sources include general principles, judicial decisions, and writing, among others, as identified by the Statute of the ICJ, Art. 38.

References

Greenwood, C. (2020). United Nations audiovisual library of international law [Video]. United Nations. https://legal.un.org/avl/ls/Greenwood_IL_video_2.html