THE CONCEPT OF ‘SOURCE’ IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

Sources of international law are not as explicit and accessible as those of municipal law, nor is the machinery for their identification comparable to municipal law. However, the internationally accepted classification of sources of international law is formulated in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. These sources are:

1. international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting States;
2. international custom, as evidence of a gen­eral practice accepted as law;
3. the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations;
4. subject to the provisions of Article 59, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the vari­ous nations, as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law.