Some Remarks on the Factors Influencing the Emergence and Evolution of International Law

Extract

Scientific enquiry has shown that no branch of law can be attributed to a supernatural, natural or any other cause detached from the economic design of society. The concept of positive law is variously interpreted: It is spoken of as a man-made system; as a law applied to and respected by man; as an inevitable consequence of every superior authority and an element intrinsic to its functions; as a law arising out of the competence of only some of the organs of state and as one medium of expression of the will of states. Positive law is held to be based on either formally recorded enactments or on unwritten accepted practices. It is considered to be a category of conduct applied to and observed within the frameworks of individual social groupings described as states (domestic law), or to some or all of these groupings collectively (international law). But whatever the concept applied to positive law, every single interpretation suggested affirms that it is, and has never been anything but, a socio-historic phenomenon evolved and shaped over the course of time out of the crucible of human behaviour and is in a perpetual state of flux.