International Courts of General and Limited Jurisdiction International tribunals National Courts, enforcing norms taken from international sources Arbitral Dec Often used for resolving problems related to commercial deals with state enterprises Academic Exposition, Synthesis, Persuasion, and Consensus Articles i Custom: Observation of What States Actually Do and Say Publications and information systems of the State Department and its foreign equivalents, IGOs National yearbooks International yearbooks Truth reconciliation Commission Reports The Restatement When you visualize the sources of law for US domestic law, it is relatively easy to think in terms of statutes, cases, administrative regulations and perhaps a few other stray texts in a given jurisdiction. It is not realistic to transfer that basic orderliness to international law, but the next few sections will provide a framework for thinking about the sources of international law in a similar and systematic way POSTSCRIPT There is a growing body of writing about the concept nternational law. This grants a certain authority to norms which are not legally binding in a traditional understanding of international law. A good introduction to this idea and an exploration of its use in certain fields can be found in a book called Commitment and Compliance edited by Dinah Shelton for the American Society of International Law. It can be found at JX4171 03 C67 2000 on the second f Back to the table of ContentsInternational Courts of General and Limited Jurisdiction International tribunals National Courts, enforcing norms taken from international sources Arbitral Decisions Often used for resolving problems related to commercial deals with state enterprises Academic Exposition, Synthesis, Persuasion, and Consensus Monographs Articles Custom: Observation of What States Actually Do and Say Publications and information systems of the State Department and its foreign equivalents, IGO’s, etc. National yearbooks International yearbooks Truth & Reconciliation Commission Reports The Restatement When you visualize the sources of law for US domestic law, it is relatively easy to think in terms of statutes, cases, administrative regulations and perhaps a few other stray texts in a given jurisdiction. It is not realistic to transfer that basic orderliness to international law, but the next few sections will provide a framework for thinking about the sources of international law in a similar and systematic way. POSTSCRIPT There is a growing body of writing about the concept of "soft law" in international law. This grants a certain authority to norms which are not legally binding in a traditional understanding of international law. A good introduction to this idea and an exploration of its use in certain fields can be found in a book called Commitment and Compliance edited by Dinah Shelton for the American Society of International Law. It can be found at JX4171 .O3 C67 2000 on the second floor. Back to the Table of Contents --------------------------------------------------------------------------------