1st report - general principles

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Firstusedin1780.

Beforethat,thetermislawofnations. Only states (19th century), until it developed.

Now, it consists of rules and principles

dealing with the conduct of states and

international organizations and theirrelations with person, whether natural orjuridical.

General International Law refers to a largenumber of states, on the basis of either

customary international law or multilateraltreaties

Universal international law

if such rulesbecome binding upon all states.

RegionalInternationalLaw appliesonlytocertaingroupsofstates.e.g.lawofthe

EuropeanUnion

ParticularInternational

Law

rules

which

are

bindingupontwoorfewstatesonly.

Thisiscontroversialbecauseoftheproblemoftheitseffectivenessandenforcement.

Why?Becauseoflackofsanctionsincasesofviolationofinternationalnormsascompared

tomunicipal

law.

one s a e comm s an ega ac aga nsanother state, what is the available sanction?

One is selfhelp. Some forms of selfhelp arecountermeasures, such as retorsion and

.

Retorsion is a lawful act which is designed ton ure e wrong o ng s a e or examp e,

cutting off economic aid (this is lawful becausethere is no legal obligation to provide economicaid, apart from under special treaty provisions).

Reprisalsareactswhichwouldnormallybeillegalbutwhicharerenderedlegalbyaprior

illegalactcommittedbytheotherstate.

Statesuccession stateresponsibility peaceandsecurity thelawsofwar thelawoftreaties thelawofthesea thelawofinternationalwatercourses

theconductofdiplomaticrelations

international

organizations economyand

development

airlawandouterspaceactivities theuseoftheresourcesofthedeepsea theenvironment,communications; theinternationalprotectionofhumanrights.


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Article 38(2) of the Statute of theInternational Court of Justice (ICJ) provides

that the court may decide cases ex aequo et

bono, but only where the parties agreethereto. In 1984 the ICJ decided a case using"equitable criteria" in creating a boundary in

the Gulf of Maine for Canada and the US.

t s ou t u w et er equ ty s a source ointernational law at all; even if it is, the

indicate that it is, at most, a very lowranking.

However, when a tribunal is authorized todecide ex aequo et bono, the tribunal isallowed to substitute its own ideas of equityfor any and every rule of international law.

NOTE:Differentsourcesofinternationallaw

arenotarrangedinastricthierarchicalorder.

Supplementingeach

other,

in

practice

they

areoftenappliedsidebyside.However,ifthereisaclearconflict,treatiesprevailovercustomandcustomprevailsovergeneral

principlesandthesubsidiarysource.

The Philippines renounces war as aninstrument of national policy, adopts the

generally accepted principles of internationallaw as part of the law of the land and adheres

to the policy of peace, equality, justice,freedom, cooperation, and amity with all

nations. (Article II, Section 2, 1987Constitution)

1st report - general principles

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