Sources of International Law

International law is introduced to maintain international peace and security among different states or countries. It is
mainly defined as a set of rules, agreements, and treaties that builds a connection between states and
countries. Indian Constitution under Articles 51 and 253 promotes International peace and security and allows
Parliament to make any law with the aim to execute an international treaty, convention, or agreement respectively.

Sources of International Law The sources of International Law are recognized under Article 38(1) of
the International Court of Justice (ICJ) statute which is an authoritative statement and backbone of the sources of
International law. Article 38 of the ICJ states “The Court, whose function is to decide in accordance with
international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply: (a) international conventions, international
custom, e general principles judicial decisions

Treaties and Conventions - Treaties and conventions are one of the most important sources of International
Law. These conventions can be multilateral or bilateral. Multilateral conventions relate to the treaties which
formulate the universal of the law., bilateral conventions are those which is formed by two states to deal with a
particular matter concerning these states. In a treaty, countries create their terms of rights and obligations
out of their volition, thus it is very similar to a contract. a treaty is a written agreement between two or more
States which lays down the manner in which every State would act while doing dealings with other
participating States

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaty 1969, A treaty is an agreement whereby two or more states establish
or seek to establish a relationship between them governed by international law.” Treaties act as a direct
source of rights and obligations for the states, they codify the existing customary source of law.

Customs
Customs is the original and the oldest source of International Law. As mentioned under Article 38(1)(b) of
the ICJ, it is a usual practice that is accepted as a law. The rules of customary International Law include
two major elements. The first element is the general state practice which means there must be consistent
state practice whereas such practices are unwritten and are based on humanitarian principles as well as
inter-state diplomatic relations. The second element is Opinio Juris which means the opinion of the law.
Ingredients of the international custom include continuity, certainty, consistency, uniformity, antiquity,
accepted as law, and not in conflict with Municipal Law.

General Principle of Law

“General Principles of law recognized by civilized states” is defined as the third important source of
international law under Article 38 (1) of the ICJ. These are the legal norms that exist among the majority of
nations resulting in easy maintenance of justice. Res- judicata, subrogation, equity, prescription, and
estoppel are some of the general principles of law common to municipal legal systems.

Judicial decisions
Judicial decisions as well as juristic works are the indirect sources of international law. Under this, the
previous decisions given by the court can be used as evidence of international law. There is an exception to
this that is stated under Article 59 of the ICJ, “The decision of the Court has no binding force except
between the parties and in respect of that particular case.” ICJ plays an important role in the law-making
process,