Conflict of Norms or Conflict of Laws? Different Techniques in the Fragmentation of Public International Law

MULTI-SOURCE EQUIVALENT NORMS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, Tomer Broude & Yuval Shany, eds., Oxford: Hart, 2010

30 Pages Posted: 28 Jan 2010 Last revised: 27 Dec 2014

See all articles by Ralf Michaels

Ralf Michaels

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law

Joost Pauwelyn

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID)

Date Written: January 28, 2010

Abstract

One of the most pressing topics in current international law is fragmentation. Traditionally, most constructive attempts to deal with fragmentation have been based onanalogies what one of us, in an earlier book, called "conflicts of norms" - those rules in domestic law that deal with conflicts of norms within one legal system. In this article, we assess under what circumstances a different approach, based on an analogy to conflict of laws - those rules in domestic law that deal with conflicts of norms between different legal systems - yields a more adequate structure. The result is that public international law conflicts are likely sui generis, with aspects of both conflict of norms and conflict of laws, and that to resolve this type of conflicts one can learn and borrow from both approaches. All through this article, we do not offer a systematic analysis, but rather a number of examples to demonstrate the existence, and usefulness, of two very different sets of conflict rules.

Suggested Citation

Michaels, Ralf and Pauwelyn, Joost, Conflict of Norms or Conflict of Laws? Different Techniques in the Fragmentation of Public International Law (January 28, 2010). MULTI-SOURCE EQUIVALENT NORMS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, Tomer Broude & Yuval Shany, eds., Oxford: Hart, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1543774

Ralf Michaels (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law ( email )

Mittelweg 187
Hamburg, D-20148
Germany

Joost Pauwelyn

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) ( email )

PO Box 136
Geneva, Geneva CH-1211
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://graduateinstitute.ch

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