Customary International Law in Europe

Customary International Law

Customary international law applies in international
law in case of absence of a treaty. J. L. Brierly, in “The Law of
Nations: an Introduction to the International Law of Peace” states that in order to
determine what international customary law is on a particular subject “we must
look at what states do in their relations with one another and attempt to understand
why they do it, and in particular whether they recognize an obligation to adopt a
certain course, or, in the words of Article 38, we must examine whether the alleged
custom shows ‘a general practice accepted as law.’”(1)

Ian Brownlie, in “Principles of Public International Law” lists the following sources
of custom as “diplomatic correspondence, policy statements, press releases, the
opinions of official legal advisers, official manuals on legal questions, e.g.
manuals of military law, executive decisions and practices, orders to naval forces
etc., comments by governments on drafts produced by the International Law
Commission, state legislation, international and national judicial decisions, recitals
in treaties in the same form, the practice of international organs, and resolutions
relating to legal questions in the United Nations General Assembly.”(2)

Notes

1. J.L. BRIERLY, THE LAW OF NATIONS: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF
PEACE 60 (6th ed. 1963).
2 IAN BROWNLIE, PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW 5 (5th ed. 1998).

See Also

• Sources of the international law. Bibliography
• Norms of Customary International law
• International crimes and international law. Bibliography
• Preventing war in international law. Bibliography
• Efficacy of international law. Bibliograpy
• International law today
• New actors in international law. Bibliography
• How to search legal journal indexes?
• International humanitarian law Part 2

Further Reading

• Bederman, David J., Custom as a Source of Law. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• Customary International Law on the Use of Force: a Methodological Approach. Leiden ; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2005.
• Chigara, Ben. Legitimacy Deficit in Custom : a Deconstructionist Critique. Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT : Ashgate/Dartmouth, 2001.
• Commitment and Compliance : the Role of Non-binding Norms in the International Legal System, New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.
• D’Amato, Anthony A, The Concept of Custom in International Law, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1971.
• The Fundamental Rules of the International Legal Order: Jus Cogens and Obligations Erga Omnes. Leiden; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2006.
• Lepard, Brian D., Customary International Law: a New Theory with Practical Applications. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press,2010.
• The Nature of Customary Law. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007
• Schlütter, Birgit, Developments in Customary International Law: Theory and the Practice of the International Court of Justice and the International Ad Hoc Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia. Leiden; Boston : Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2010.
• Villiger, Mark Eugen, Customary International Law and Treaties: a Manual on the Theory and Practice of the Interrelation of Sources, 2nd ed., The Hague; Boston: Kluwer Law International, 1997.
• Tams, Christian J. Enforcing Obligations Erga Omnes in International Law. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2005