Is General International Law Customary Law Only?

Abstract

Is general international law customary law only? At first glance this problem seems to be of purely academic interest However this is not so. It is gratifying that the twentieth century has seen enormous leaps forward in international law. However, these gains far from satisfy the needs of the international community for legal regulation. The decade of international law proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly testifies that die international community is aware of an urgent need for further progressive development of international law, and that measures need to be taken to ensure its effectiveness. This means first of all the further development of general international law, which is die foundation of the whole system of international law. The problem is whether we should rely on the development of general international law by custom only, or if it may also be achieved by multilateral treaties. The second important problem is whether, in attempting to create a new world order based on the rule of law, we should exclude the possibility of an international treaty becoming a kind of constitution of the international community. It is hoped that these two questions suffice to illustrate that the problem I am going to discuss is also of great practical political importance.