The importance of a doctrine in the contemporary international law codification

Abstract

The article analyzes the key methods of legal acts systematization from the general law theory perspective and describes the peculiarities of the procedure for the arrangement, improvement and the update of normative legal acts in international law.It is noted that codification is the most important law-making method in the contemporary international law, and the UN International Law Commission is one of the key institutions that successfully carries out this work.It is pointed out that the Commission has invested a considerable amount of effort into clarification and systematization of main sources of international law such as an international treaty, an international custom, and general principles of law.
 It is emphasized that the interaction and linkage between the main sources of international law and the subsidiary means for the determination of international law rules, i.e. court decisions and the doctrines of the most qualified international lawyers, have largely remained vague, complicated and unregulated to date.It is indicated that a scientific doctrine is ambiguously applied in the practice of international courts which justify their rulings with regard to the judicial decisions and works of the UN International Law Commission. Similarly, the Special Rapporteurs of the Commission refer to the practice of international and national courts and the scientific doctrine.A special model of international legal norms codification during the third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea involving the application of innovative and unprecedented negotiation methods and procedures is also highlighted. It is underlined that the successful preparation of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is attributed to the fact that the text of the future treaty was gradually drafted during the conference itself, the proposals were submitted by individual states or the groups of states, legal experts and lawyers had a special influence on the formation of the treaty provisions.It is emphasized that a detailed study of the doctrine’s influence on the codification of international law will enable its subjects to better understand the main practical and theoretical approaches adopted by international courts and international organizations in the decision-making procedure.