Guiding Questions

1. What are the sources of Cambodian law?

Primary sources include the formal laws issued by State authorities.
International law is also an integral source of Cambodian law: so the word 'law' in
Cambodia can mean both domestic and international law. Secondary sources
include customs, traditions, doctrine and judicial decisions.

2. What is its hierarchy?

3. What are sources of international law?
The main sources of international law are treaty law, international customary
law, and general principles of law recognised by civilised nations.

4. What is its hierarchy?

5. What constitutes customary international law (international custom)?
Customary international law arises when a significant number of states
consistently engage in a pattern of behavior AND the conviction has developed
among states that this behavior is required by international law (otherwise known
as opinio juris).

6. Where can state practice be found? Or what is the evidence of state practice?
Forms of State practice include, but are not limited to: diplomatic acts and
correspondence; conduct in connection with resolutions adopted by an
international organization or at an intergovernmental conference; conduct in
connection with treaties; executive conduct, including operational conduct “on the
ground”

7. What is opinion juris?

opinio juris is the second element necessary to establish a legally
binding custom. Opinio juris denotes a subjective obligation, a sense
on behalf of a state that it is bound to the law in question. The
International Court of Justice reflects this standard in ICJ Statute,
Article 38(1)(b) by reflecting that the custom to be applied must be
"accepted as law".
As with customary international law, opinio juris is an unsettled and
debated notion in international law.

8. Would a bilateral agreement between two states be a source of law?

9. Would a bilateral agreement between two states be a source of international law?
Treaties can be bilateral (between two States) or multilateral (between three or
more States). Treaties can also include the creation of rights for individuals.
10. What implication would a widely adhered multilateral treaty have on the few states that
are not parties thereto (if those states informally accept and conform their conduct to
the provisions of the treaty)?
11. Would procedural aspects of a treaty, such as a provision on dispute settlement, be
viewed as passing into customary international law?
12. What is peremptory norm or jus cogens?
13. Provide examples of jus cogens.
14. What is refoulement?
the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be
subjected to persecution.

Under international human rights law, the principle of non-

refoulement guarantees that no one should be re- turned to a country where
they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment and other irreparable harm.

15. What is territorial aggrandizement?