Establishing rules of conduct is important not only among people, but also between states, intergovernmental organizations, and other subjects of international law. Such norms take the form of treaties, agreements, doctrines, judicial precedents, resolutions and recommendations, united under the common name “sources of international law”.
Essence and species
It should be clearly understood that the sources of international law are always fixed decisions adopted by states and intergovernmental organizations on a particular issue. These documents, as a rule, establish the rights and obligations of participants in international legal relations. But to accept them for execution or not, depends only on the side of the international legal relationship. The general procedure for adoption has acquired the name of ratification, and it is carried out only on a voluntary basis by the highest governing bodies of the country.
The sources of international law are diverse in forms of expression, and depending on this, there are two main sections:
- basic sources - represented by international treaties and international custom. The former are a written expression of the will of states in the field of regulation of a particular international legal relationship. The most striking example was the UN Charter. The second appears in the form of a written consolidation of the historically established manner of behavior in certain international circumstances. It is worth noting that international custom always smoothly transfers into an international treaty. This is because custom "fills" the lack of contractual regulation;
- auxiliary - represent the interpretation of the correct use of the main sources in a given situation. This category combines the international legal doctrine, international judicial precedents, and decisions of intergovernmental organizations.
The main difference between these categories is that for non-fulfillment of the obligation assumed by the main source, the violator is threatened with international sanctions. The second category is mainly recommendatory in nature.
For a more detailed explanation of the nature and types of sources of international law, we turn to two of its sub-sectors - economic and customs law.
Sources of International Economic Law
This sub-branch of law operates mainly with four types of sources: international treaties, international legal custom, decisions of international economic instances and domestic legislation of states.
Treaties, as sources of international economic law (hereinafter referred to as the IEP), are divided into three categories - international, intergovernmental and interdepartmental. And if the first two categories are characteristic of all sub-sectors, then the latter is a sign of the economic side of mutual cooperation between states. This fact is explained by the specifics of the sub-sector. As a rule, all agreements are formed and concluded within the framework of organizations such as the WTO, ILO, International Bank and IMF.
Despite the fact that the legal force is at the same level as the contract in terms of legal force, it is a source of formation of legal regulation for the Ministry of Economic Development. As a rule, this category ensures the functioning of not only the IEP, but also the majority of sub-sectors of private international law. Customs can exist on their own, but can be fixed in international decisions or conventions.
The decisions of the authorities are a specific source characteristic of the MEP. As a rule, they also get their consolidation in international treaties, but in them decisions of economic instances are given features of the principles of the sub-sector under consideration.
Domestic law becomes a source of MEP only if a dispute arises regarding a specific situation. It is taken into account as an auxiliary source, and therefore plays a secondary role.
Sources of international customs law
The specificity of this type of sources consists in using, along with the above forms of expression of the law of unilateral acts and resolutions of international organizations (for example, the WTO), as well as domestic legislation and customs precedents of international courts.
Sources of international customs law are based on the established practice of relations between states in the field of customs regulation. And it is she who falls into the outline of the created treaties and charters of international customs organizations.
The sources of international law are diverse. Their application in the regulation of relations depends not so much on the field of legal relations as on a specific case. Therefore, when resolving conflict situations, one should turn to all available sources, taking into account their “vertical” action.