The Concept of Conventional International Law Situated Within the Framework of Obligation and the Framework of Authorization

Abstract

The present chapter analyzes the concept of conventional international law from the perspectives of the framework of obligation and the framework of authorization. In comparison with the concepts of general principles of law and customary international law—unwritten public international law, the concept of conventional international law may be seen as relatively unproblematic, because it consists of textually formulated rules to which States have, or have not, given their consent. Moreover, in contrast with the concepts of general principles of law and customary international law, the concept of conventional international law, in the form of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, contains within itself a body of ‘secondary’ rules, rules about conventional international law. Nevertheless, when analyzed from the perspectives of the framework of obligation and the framework of authorization, the concept of conventional international law is incoherent, relying on inconsistent assumptions relating to the origin of rules of public international law and to the way in which the members of international society are situated in respect of each other.KeywordsInternational SocietySpecial SupplementVienna ConventionFree ZoneInternational SettlementThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.