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Traditional and Modern Approaches to Customary International Law: A Reconciliation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Anthea Elizabeth Roberts
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Extract

The demise of custom as a source of international law has been widely forecasted. This is because both the nature and the relative importance of custom’s constituent elements are contentious. At the same time, custom has become an increasingly significant source of law in important areas such as human rights obligations. Codification conventions, academic commentary, and the case law of the International Court of Justice (the Court) have also contributed to a contemporary resurrection of custom. These developments have resulted in two apparently opposing approaches, which I term “traditional custom” and “modern custom.” The renaissance of custom requires the articulation of a coherent theory that can accommodate its classic foundations and contemporary developments. This article seeks to provide an enriched theoretical account of custom that incorporates both the traditional and the modern approaches rather than advocating one approach over the other.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 95 , Issue 4 , October 2001 , pp. 757 - 791
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2001

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156 Id.

157 Id. at 65–66.

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159 Id. at 256.

160 Id.

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175 Id.

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178 E.g., North Sea Continental Shelf, 1969 ICJ Rep. 3.

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180 Kirgis, supra note 42, at 149.

181 Wimbledon, S.S., 1923 PCIJ (ser. A) No. 1, at 25 (Aug. 17)Google Scholar; see also North Sea Continental Shelf, 1969 ICJ Rep. at 231 (Lachs, J., dissenting); id. at 241, 246–47 (Sørensen, J. ad hoc, dissenting); Nottebohrn case (Liech.v. Guat.), Second Phase, 1955 ICJ Rep. 4, 22 (Apr. 6).

182 Dworkin, supra note 46, at 246–47, 255–57.

183 Id.

184 John, King Gamble & Charlotte, Ku, New Actors and New Technologies: Center Stage for NGOs? 31 Law & Pol’y Int’l Bus. 221, 243–44 (2000)Google Scholar.

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187 See examples in Brownlie, supra note 6, at 19–25.

188 ICJ Statute Art. 59; see also Brownlie, supra note 6, at 20–21.

189 For example, torture was held to be against customary international law but remains common throughout the world. Filartiga v. Pena–Irala, 630 F.2d 876 (1980).

190 For example, consumer boycotts were called on French products over French nuclear testing. Protests Hurt Wine’s Sales, N.Y. Times, Dec. 25, 1995, §1, at 58. Similarly, many U.S. corporations terminated their presence in South Africa in protest over apartheid well before they were required to do so by federal laws. Kevin, P. Lewis, Dealing with South Africa: The Constitutionality of State and Local Divestment Legislation, 61 Tul. L. rev.. 469, (1987)Google Scholar.

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195 Dworkin, supra note 46, at 285.

196 Id.

197 Geny, in D’Amato, supra note 6, at 49.

198 Dworkin, supra note 46, at 246–47, 255–57.

199 S.S. “Lotus” (Fr. v. Turk.), 1927 PCIJ (ser. A) No. 10, at 18 (Sept. 7). The Court affirmed this principle in Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, 1996 ICJ Rep. 226, 238, para. 20 (July 8). These decisions establish a residual negative principle, which provides that in the case of a non liquet (an absence of law), whatever is not prohibited in international law is permitted. Daniel, Bodansky, Non Liquet and the Incompleteness of International Law, in International Law, The International Court of Justice and Nuclear Weapons 153 (Laurence, Boisson de Chazournes & Philippe, Sands eds., 1999)Google Scholar; Ole, Spiermann, Lotus and the Double Structure of International Legal Argument, in id. at 131 Google Scholar; Julius, Stone, Non Liquet and the Function of Law in the International Community, 1959 Brit. Y. B. Int’l L. 124, 135 Google Scholar.

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201 D’Amato, supra note 6, at 97–98.

202 Schachter, supra note 15, at 335.

203 See “The Fluid Nature of Custom, ” infra p. 784.

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205 Charney, supra note 21, at 543; Henkin, supra note 25, at 36.

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207 E.g., Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d 876 (1980); The Paquete Habana, 175 U.S. 677 (1900); see also Chibundu, M. O., Making Customary International Law Through Municipal Adjudication: A Structural Inquiry, 39 Va. J. Int’l L. 1069 (1999)Google Scholar.

208 Chodosh, supra note 17, at 121; Simma & Alston, supra note 18, at 90–100; Watson, supra note 143, at 609–12; Arthur, A. Weisburd, The Effect of Treaties and Other Formal International Acts on the Customary Law of Human Rights, 25 Ga. J. Int’l & Comp. L. 99, 129 (1995/96)Google Scholar; Weisburd, Customary IL, supra note 31, at 41.

208 Schachter, supra note 48, at 10.

210 Meron, supra note 2, at 61.

211 S.S. “Lotus” (Fr. v. Turk.), 1927 PCIJ (ser. A) No. 10, at 28 (Sept. 7). The Court affirmed this principle in North Sea Continental Shelf (FRG/Den.; FRG/Neth.), 1969 ICJ Rep. 3, 44 (Feb. 20); see also Simma 8c Alston, supra note 18, at 99–100, 104.

212 D’Amato, supra note 6, at 62, 63; Akehurst, supra note 7, at 43–47.

213 Akehurst, supra note 7, at 37; MacGibbon, Acquiescence I, supra note 115, at 145–46; MacGibbon, Acquiescence II, supra note 115, at 138.

214 Barcelona Traction, Light & Power Co. (Belg. v. Spain), Second Phase, 1970 ICJ Rep. 3, 31 (Feb. 5).

215 Wolfke, supra note 115, at 135; Weisburd, supra note 208, at 107–09; see also Akehurst, supra note 7, at 39.

216 Henkin, supra note 25, at 41.

217 Dworkin, supra note 46, at 192–93; Kelly, supra note 1, at 522.

218 D’Amato, supra note 6, at 68–70; Charney, supra note 21, at 536–38.

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225 Id. at 257.

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228 Bedjaoui, supra note 121, at 136–37.

229 South West Africa (Eth. v. S. Afr.; Liber, v. S. Afr.), Second Phase, 1966 ICJ Rep. 6, 34 (July 18); cf. Christian, Tomuschat, Obligations Arising for States Without or Against Their Will, 241 Recueil des Cours 195, 303 (1993 IV)Google Scholar.

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231 Bedjaoui, supra note 121, at 141. While developing states hold the majority of power, these norms may still be criticized for allowing the majority to bind the minority.

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233 See also “coherentism” in epistemology. Nicholas, Everitt & Alec Fisher, Modern Epistemology 102–07 (1995)Google Scholar.

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237 Id. at 19–20.

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246 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, Princ. 21, Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 3, UN Doc. A/CONF.48/14/Rev.l (1972), reprinted in 11 ILM 1416 (1972). This principle was reiterated (in slightly modified form) in Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, UN Doc. A/CONF.151/5/Rev.l (1992), reprinted in 31 ILM 874 (1992).

247 Brownlie, supra note 6, at 285–86.

248 Schachter, supra note 48, at 11 (citation omitted); see also Schachter, supra note 81, at 733–34.

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255 Meron, supra note 2, at 61.

256 E.g., Human Rights Commission, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1988/17, at 23 (1988); see also Schachter, supra note 15, at 338; D’Amato, Response, supra note 31, at 469.

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261 Hart, supra note 47, at 90.

262 D’Amato, supra note 6, at 97–98.

263 Weisburd, Customary IL, supra note 31, at 30–31.

264 North Sea Continental Shelf (FRG/Den.; FRG/Neth.), 1969 ICJ Rep. 3, 44 (Feb. 20); id. at 230–31 (Lachs, J., dissenting); Akehurst, supra note 7, at 37; Weisburd, supra note 208, at 107.

265 Rawls, supra note 46, at 20.

266 D’Amato, supra note 6, at 97.

267 Byers, supra note 6, at 157–59.

268 Bin Cheng, in International Law, supra note 19, at 249.

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270 Nicaragua, 1986 ICJ Rep. at 109, para. 207.

271 Id.

272 Id. at 98, para. 186.

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274 Charney, supra note 124, at 834.

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276 Cassese, supra note 124.

277 The draft resolution condemning NATO’s use of force, UN Doc. S/1999/328, was sponsored by Belarus, India, and the Russian Federation and supported by China, Namibia, and the Russian Federation in the Security Council.

278 For example, German Foreign Minister Kinkel stated, “The decision of NATO [on air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia] must not become a precedent.” Deutscher Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 13/248, at 23, 129 (Oct. 16, 1998), quoted in Simma, supra note 275.

279 Some states focused exclusively on the preliminary issue of jurisdiction; others, including Germany, argued that the intervention represented a justifiable exception to the normal rules. The United States focused on the humanitarian catastrophe, the acute threat to security of neighboring states, the serious violation of humanitarian law, and the resolutions of the Security Council but did not expressly argue for a right to unilateral humanitarian intervention. Oral pleadings (Yugo. v. U.S. etal.), 1999 ICJ Pleadings (Legality of Use of Force), at <http://www.icj-cij.org>.

280 Charney, supra note 124, at 836–37.

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284 SC Res. 1203 (Oct. 24, 1998); see also SC Res. 1199 (Sept. 23, 1998); SC Res. 1160 (Mar. 31, 1998).

285 See supra note 277.

286 This distinction is made by D’Amato, supra note 6, at 61–63, though not with respect to unilateral humanitarian intervention.

287 Brownlie, supra note 6, at 515; Cassese, supra note 83, at 147.

288 Brownlie, supra note 6, at 515; Shaw, supra note 251.

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297 Meron, supra note 2, at 44–45.

298 Id. at 44; Schachter, supra note 110, at 539; Schachter, supra note 81, at 735.

299 Meron, supra note 2, at 58.

300 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra note 83, Art. 53.

301 Supported by Resolution on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources, GA Res. 1803, UN GAOR, 17th Sess., Supp. No. 17, at 15, UN Doc. A/5217 (1962). See also Brownlie, supra note 6, at 527–29, 535–38.

302 Supported by Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, GA Res. 3281, UN GAOR, 29th Sess., Supp. No. 30, at 50, UN Doc. A/9030 (1974). See also Brownlie, supra note 6, at 526–27, 538.

303 Meron, supra note 2, at 44.

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307 Chinkin, supra note 221, at 857–58.