Codification and Development of International Law

Abstract

The object of the present article is to survey the problems and to assess the achievements and prospects of the codification of international law within the United Nations in the light of the experience of the first five years of the activity of the International Law Commission. The Charter, in Article 13, imposes upon the General Assembly the obligation to “initiate studies and to make recommendations … for the purpose of encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification.” In pursuance of that article the General Assembly set up the International Law Commission and adopted a Statute regulating its functions and organization. The first session of the Commission took place in 1949. Since then, it has been meeting in yearly sessions lasting between eight and eleven weeks.