Sources of International Law

The general sources of international law are identied in Article 38 of the

Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the primary judicial body

within the United Nations system. They include:

1) International conventions recognized between states

Treaties are binding upon those states that have either accepted the

obligations through ratication, the state parties, or to the extent they

represent customary international law. Examples of international

conventions include the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights (ICCPR) and the four Geneva Conventions of 1949.

In relation to treaties, ratication or accession represents a state's

acceptance of a treaty's binding obligations. The common term for states

that ratify or accede to conventions is “state parties.”Signature by a state of

a treaty does not make the treaty binding upon the state and thus states

do not become state parties. Rather, signature signals an intent to observe

the treaty's provisions domestically, which may lead to eventual

ratication. Pakistan, for example, is a signatory to the 1977 Protocols

Additional to the Geneva Conventions.

2) Customary law derived from the general accepted practice of States

Customary law is not codied per se. Rules of customary international law

are derived from a combination of widespread and consistent state

practice and “opinio juris,”a belief in the existence of a legal obligation⁴

Peremptory norms or jus cogens are principles of customary international

law that are absolute and binding. Not all customary international law

rises to this level, but all peremptory norms are considered customary

international law. These norms include prohibitions on genocide, slavery

and torture and may not be derogated from under any circumstances.

3) General principles of law recognized by civilized nations

These principles are derived from concepts commonly present in domestic law systems.
4) Judicial decisions

The decisions of the ICJ are binding only upon the parties to the case to

the extent of the applicability of the case itself.⁵The ICJ(along with several

international tribunals) nevertheless frequently references previous ICJ

decisions in decisions.⁶ It is also important to note that judicial decisions

as sources of international law in the ICJ Statute are not limited to

international courts (though international court decisions have greater

authority).⁷ Domestic court decisions represent the practice of a state,

providing evidence for the development of customary international law.⁸

5) Scholarly writings of the “most highly qualied publicists”

Sources 1 through 3 may be considered binding or “hard” law, while

judicial decisions and scholarly writings, though inuential, are

considered non-binding or “soft”law.