Midterm Public International Law (Legal Sources)
STATES
Montevideo Convention 1934
= customary international law
4 requirements to be considered a state (art. 1);
1. Population
2. Territory
3. Government
4. Relationship with other states
Motherstate agreeing is crucial
Need quite some recognition (threshold) & certain states matter more (neighboring or UN states)
Self-determination
TREATIES & reservations
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) VCLT
= customary international law
- Art 2; use of terms, pacta sunt servanda (afspraken moeten worden nagekomen)
- Art 2(1)(d); definition of reservations
- Art 9(2); Adoption of the text of treaty -> 2/3 majority must give consensus
- Art 11; How a state consents to be bound; signature, ratification, etc.
- Art 18; Signatory must not act in a matter that contravenes the ‘object & purpose’ of the
treaty (most of the time found in the preamble)
- Art 19-23; All on reservations
(treaty reservations can be found at the end of treaties)
CEDAW 1979
art. 27(1); comes into force …
OTHER SOURCES
- Ius Cogens
Erga omnes (applies to everyone) norms. Overrides others
- Customary law
General practice
- General principles
Guide on how rules should be interpreted
- Judicial decisions & scholars
Non-binding, but cases can be used as evidence of custom and of treaty interpretation
Treaty, custom, and general principles are equal.