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Summary Introduction to International and EU law reporting problem 3
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Introduction to International and EU law about reporting problem 3
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International and European Union Law reportingproblem 3
Learning objectives:
- What is customary international law?
- What is the relationship between a Treaty and a custom? What if they coexist?
- How should a Treaty be interpreted?
Literature:
- Henriksen, Chapter 2, para 4; Chapter 3 para. 9.
Case Law:
- Military and Paramilitary activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua);
- Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (Nuclear Weapons);
- North Sea Continental Shelf Case;
- The Case of the S.S. Lotus (Lotus Case).
Summary case laws word press
What is customary international law?
Customary law is based on the everyday interaction of states and therefore has the ability to
adapt to changing circumstances. Customary law is not as detailed as treaty law.
Custom is a important source of international law and many well-known legal principles and
rules are derived from common usage and interstate practice. Custom is so important,
because there is no international ‘law-maker’.
International customary law arises when a particular way of behaving is:
1. followed as a general practice among states (objective element); and
2. accepted by those states as legally binding (subjective element).
Customary law binds all states (unless a state persistently objects) including a state that has
not taken part in the formation of the practice, such as a newly emerged state.
Customary legal norms don’t need to be universal. In Right of the Passage over Indian
Territory, the ICJ stated that ‘long continued practice between two States accepted by them
as regulating their relations’ can form the basis of mutual rights and obligations between
those states. Customary international law may also develop regionally between a particular
group of states. The local custom is than only binding for those regional states, for example
in Europe democratic governance may qualify as an example of regional customary
international law.
The objective element – State practice
Before a specific pattern of state behaviour becomes legally binding, it must be ‘the way
things are done’. In most cases, this requires constant repetition of a particular behaviour;
meaning that for a considerable period of times states have behaved in a certain (identical)
manner when confronted with the same facts. Physical acts, such as the conduct of military
, operations, and verbal acts such as press releases are seen as acts of a state. Resolutions
and declarations by international organizations, which constitute the sum of individual acts by
the participating states and may therefore also be relevant. But verbal acts must be public,
so internal documents don’t qualify as a state practice. State practice can be divided into
three elements:
1. Consistency
Requires that practice is reasonably uniform. As long as the conduct is generally
consistent with the rule, and inconsistent conduct is by and large treated as a breach of
the rule rather than an indicator of the recognition of a new rule, the conduct may suffice.
Thus, minor departures from a collective uniformity may be acceptable.
2. Duration
Practice evolves slowly and gradually over time, often through years of repeated
behaviour. The ICJ stated in the North Sea Continental Shelf Cases that time itself was
not perse a bar to form custom law. Consistency and representation are of greater
importance than mere duration. In situations of rapid change state practice may be
formed in a very short time potentially paving the way for the creation of so-called
‘instant-custom’. The international reaction to the terrorist attacks on the USA on 9/11
are an example of instant custom, because states were suddenly willing to accept that
armed attacks under article 51 of the UN Charter could be perpetrated by a non-state
actor (e.g. terrorist group).
3. Generality
The generality of the practice and the question of how widespread participation in the
practice must be. While unanimity is not required, practice should include the majority of
states. In the North Sea Continental Shelf Cases the ICJ stated that the practice by
states ‘whose interest are specially affected’ was of particular relevance. The task is
therefore not simply to determine how many states participate in a given practice, but
which states. States which are particularly active in a given area are more likely to be
devoted to developing applicable practices than other states.
Sea shelf consideration 73
A state may avoid being bound by an emerging customary rule by persistently objecting
to the practice. A state may avoid being bound by an emerging customary rule by
persistently objecting to the practice. The law therefore protects a state from the
imposition by a majority of other states of new obligations upon it while simultaneously
allowing the same majority to progressively develop the law without having to wait for
acceptance of it by every state involved. There are a few rules:
The persistent objector rule only applies in relation to new and emerging
customary rules; once a rule has come into existence, it can no longer be
objected to.
New states are also bound by existing customary law.
The persistent objector rule does not apply to peremptory norms/jus cogens.
The subjective requirement – opinion juris
Requirement of opinio juris sive necessitates: State practice only creates a legally binding
custom when it is accepted as law. The purpose of the subjective requirement is to
differentiate between acts motivated by a desire to honour or create a legal obligation and
those that are not. This involves some difficulties, because we can’t know what states believe
to be the law since they rarely motivate their behaviour.
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