Treaties as a Source of General Rules of International Law

Abstract:     
Attempts a theoretical explanation of the power of treaties to extend their rules to nations not parties to them – to rationalize, in a nonpejorative use of that term, the Court's citation of the Bancroft treaties in Nottebohm and its use of treaty provisions in other cases – and to provide a basis for the continued use of the contents of treaties in assessing the requirements of international law. Thus this paper is basically argumentative – it attempts to state what the law ought to be by demonstrating that the law as it is logically compels the adoption of the present thesis.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 41

Keywords: Treaties, International Law, Bancroft Treaties, Nottebohm Case, Asylum Case, Lotus Case

JEL Classification: K10, K19, K30, K33

Accepted Paper Series