Generally Accepted International Rules

It is universally agreed that usages generally accepted as expressing principles of law constitute one of the main sources of international law. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate how a rule becomes generally accepted as a part of customary international law. There are several different ways in which international law deals with this subject. Ordinarily, a rule is considered generally accepted when it is supported by constant practice of states acting on the conviction that the practice is obligatory. Alternatively, an international agreement sometimes incorporates certain rules as ones considered to be generally accepted; or an agreement is considered as declaratory of certain generally accepted rules binding on all states. In addition, international agreements may also provide that rules to be adopted by an international organization shall be considered as generally accepted (unless a state expressly opts out). Occasionally, an international agreement that is not yet in force may become binding on all states because of its adoption by a consensus, signifying its general acceptance. Finally, a resolution of an international organization, adopted by consensus, or a nearly unanimous decision, may declare that a rule has become generally accepted

Sources of International Law

To summarize, States can agree on international law begin made in any way they wish. Once they agree on a method, the matter is over. As I have pointed out, every few y ears we invent a new method; there is no end to ingenuity of human beings. by the year 2000, there might be one or two more methods. We are still applying the 19th century rule that international law is made by the community of states, but in every generation the community has been able to invent new methods for crystallizing international law. We finally have accepted the principle that it is important to be able to establish new international law quickly in certain circumstances. We cannot wait any longer for the ratification by all states because it takes too long. We read recently that the Security Council adopted a resolution establishing the International Tribunal for War Crimes in Bosnia. The states agreed: we want it done, it cannot be done quickly otherwise, we don\u27t need a treaty, a decision of the Security Council is sufficient. The tribunal\u27s statute was drafted by the Secretary-General, the Security Council approved it, the tribunal was established. Thus, it was done, promptly and efficiently. An important international institution was established by another new method

The Council of an International Sea-Bed Authority

It is generally accepted that the international regime for the exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed, to be agreed upon at the 1973 Law of the Sea Conference, will consist of a basic set of rules and of an international machinery for the implementation of these rules. Except for some early proposals limited to a simple secretariat for registering claims, and apart from some recent proposals for an all-embracing international organization dealing with all aspects of the law of the sea, most models of an international sea-bed authority are designed on lines similar to those of the specialized agencies of the United Nations. They contemplate, therefore, a structure centered on a plenary assembly, an executive council and a secretariat. Some of the models envisage, in addition, a tribunal, a variety of commissions, and even some operating enterprises. With respect to the prevailing model, there seems to be a general agreement that the Sea-Bed Authority\u27s Assembly shall consist of all Member states; each Member State shall have one vote; and that most decisions shall be taken by a majority of the members present and voting. While some Governments might have preferred a system of weighted voting, similar to the one prevailing in the International Monetary Fund, other international financial institutions and some commodity arrangements, no official proposals of that kind have been made. There is less agreement on the composition and voting procedure of the Executive Council of the future International Sea-Bed Authority, and it is the purpose of the present paper to explore the proposals made so far and the possible ways of reconciling the apparent differences

The New Dimensions of United Nations Peacemaking

Since its beginning, mankind has alternated between periods of peace and war. The Twentieth Century was the first one in which attempts were made to outlaw war and to establish institutions which would protect the peoples of the world against war. After the carnage of the Second World War, the United Nations was established to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, and the Security Council was given the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. The founders of the United Nations tried to ensure that the Council would have necessary means for discharging this responsibility, and Member States agreed to make available to the Council for this purpose armed forces sufficient for maintaining peace

American Acceptance of the Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice: Experiences and Prospects

The International Court of Justice ( ICJ or Court ) is the successor to both the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Permanent Court of International Justice. Before the first court was established in 1899, only ad hoc tribunals existed. This was due to a basic fact of international law that international tribunals possessed jurisdiction only if the parties to the case conferred it on the tribunal either for that case or previously by an international agreement. Therefore, the great problem of international law today is how to confer as much jurisdiction on the international court as possible. Now that the use of force is generally prohibited, the only way one can solve a dispute is by a decision of some impartial international body. Despite the doubts of some people, the International Court of Justice is the closest thing we have to such an impartial international body