This monograph analyses the questions raised by the legal effects of peremptory norms of international law (jus cogens), reflected in Article 53 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. A comprehensive study of this problem has been lacking so far in international legal doctrine. Peremptory norms, although often criticised and even more often approached with sceptical nihilism, nevertheless attract growing doctrinal and practical attention, and have increasing importance in determining the permissible limits on the action of State and non-State actors in different areas. In view of this overriding impact on what might otherwise be instances of the law-making process, peremptory norms concern a constitutional aspect of international law. Peremptory norms are non-derogable norms, and the concept of derogation is among the key concepts analysed here. Derogation from peremptory norms can be attempted in a wide variety of situations, but if peremptory norms are to operate as norms and not merely as aspirations, they must generate consequences that are also peremptory. This effects-oriented character of peremptory norms is examined in a variety of fields. The hierarchical superiority of peremptory norms is not limited to the sphere of primary legal relations, but becomes most crucially relevant after a specific peremptory norm is breached. A norm's peremptory character is relevant not only for its substance but also for its consequences; peremptoriness consists primarily in the capacity to impact through its effects upon conflicting acts, situations and agreements.
There are frequent claims that the international legal regulation in one or another field of international law is uncertain, vague, ambiguous, or indeterminate, which does not support the stability, transparency, or predictability of international legal relations. This monograph examines the framework of interpretation in international law based on the premise of the effectiveness and determinacy of international legal regulation, which is a necessary prerequisite for international law to be viewed as law. This study examines this problem for the first time since these questions were addressed, and taken as the basic premises of the international legal analysis in the works of J. L. Brierly and Sir Hersch Lauterpacht. Addressing the different aspects of the effectiveness of legal regulation, this monograph examines the structural limits on and threshold of legal regulation, and the relationship between the established legal regulation and non-law. Once the limits of legal regulation are ascertained, the analysis proceeds to examine the legal framework of interpretation that serves the maintenance and preservation of the object and intendment of the existing legal regulation. The final indispensable stage of analysis is the interpretation of those treaty provisions that embody the indeterminate conditions of non-law. Given that the generalist element of international legal doctrine has been virtually silent on the problem and implications of the effectiveness and determinacy of international legal regulation, this study examines the material accumulated in doctrine and practice for the past several decades, including the relevant jurisprudence of all major international tribunals.
The nature of international law as a legal system which, on the one hand, responds to the need for interaction between states inherent to international society and, on the other hand, is based on agreement between states, categorically excludes viewing international law as the product of a specific regional, i.e., European, tradition. Yet it is still asserted that international law is a European tradition. Such assertions are not only conceptually flawed, but are also unsupported by evidence. The origins of international law lie outside Europe, and at no stage of its development has international law been a truly European system. This holds true not only in terms of general international law, but also in relation to certain ideas developed at the European level, including the 'public law of Europe', and of modern European projects that appear to be based on ideas of a regional solidarity in Europe.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.