General Principles of Law Recognised by Civilized

Nations

Introduction
Material sources of international law may be defined as the
actual materials from which an international lawyer
determines the rule application to a given situation. The term
‘sources’ refers to methods or procedures by which material
sources is created.
Material source may also be described as the origin of the
law. The material source provides evidence of the existence
of rules which when proved, have the status of legally binding
rules of general application. The sources of international law
concern the particular rules which constitute the system, and
the process by which the rules become identifiable as rules of
law.
The sources of international law are classified into 5
categories:
1. International conventions
2. International customs
3. General principles of law recognised by civilized nations
4. Decisions of judicial or arbitral tribunals and juristic
works
5. Decisions or determinations of the organs of
international institution
General principles of international law
The general principles of international law is the third source
of international law recognised under Article 38(1)(c) of the
International Court of Justice statute. This provision comes
into picture when other traditional sources, such as the
treaties or customary law does not provide a rule of decision.
However, the term ‘general principles of international law as
applied to the civil nations’ is vague, and many scholars have
tried to interpret it.

According to G. Von Glahn, a renowned author of

international law, two views are prevalent about the phrase
‘general principles of international law’ recognised by
civilized nations. According to one view, the phrase includes
such general principles which are found in domestic
jurisprudence and can be applied to international legal
questions, such as, both sides of a dispute should be given
fair hearing and no one can be the judge in his own case. The
other view regards the phrase as linked to natural law as
interpreted during recent centuries in the western world.

By general principles of law, we mean those rules or

standards which we find repeated in much the same form in
the developed system of law, either because they have a
common origin, as in Roman Law, or because they express a
necessary response to certain basic needs of human
association. A few examples are, the rule of Pacta Sunt
Servanda, which means that contracts signed must be kept,
the right of self-defence for the individual against attack on
his person or family and the community against clear and
present danger, and the principle that no man may be a
judge in his own case, and that he who has to judge must
hear both the sides.

Reparation and remedies

Reparation means the damages paid to the injured party

caused by an unlawful act of the other party. The purpose of
reparation is to re-establish the situation that existed before
such harm occurred. International courts in various judicial
decisions have recognised reparation as a part of general
principles. In the case of AMCO Asia Corporation & Ors. v.
The Republic of Indonesia, the Permanent Court of
Arbitration while awarding damnum emergens or
reparations to the injured party, held that it is a common
principle of municipal law and, hence it is also considered as
a source of international law through general principles.

Prescription

Prescription refers to the acquisition of territory by an

adverse holding, peacefully without protest continuously for
a long time. It is recognised both in domestic and
international law cases. The principle has been used in
multiple cases by the international courts. In the Island of
Palmas case, the Arbitration Court applied this principle
while pronouncing the judgment. The United State in 1928
argued that the Island of Palmas was rightfully theirs since at
the end of the Spanish-American war in 1898, Spain ceded
the territory to the USA. However, the territory was
undisputed for a long time, and thus the contention of the
USA was rejected by the court, and Netherland was awarded
the Island.

Res Judicata

The principle of Res Judicata is encompassed in municipal as

well as international law. It is a Latin maxim which means, ‘a
matter decided’, or ‘the thing has been judged’. In legal
terms, once a case is finally adjudged by the court, it will be
deemed conclusive and the established fact of the case shall
not be disputed by either of the parties again in the higher
courts. The doctrine was applied by the ICJ in the Chorzow
Factory case, wherein an appeal by Poland to reopen the
issue of fact of the case was rejected by the court on the
ground of rule of res judicata.

Estoppel

Estoppel is a rule of national as well as international law that

bars a party from leading evidence that is inconsistent with
his prior conduct and facts against the opposite party. A
person should not benefit from his own inconsistency and
prejudice of another party. However, the principle is not
applicable in those cases where the person seeking it
benefits from such discrepancy. In the Tinoco Concessions
Arbitration Case, Costa Rica benefited from the inconsistency
of statements by Great Britain, and thus the Arbitration Court
rejected the plea of estoppel by Costa Rica.