Jean d'Aspremont

Samantha Besson

The question of the sources of international law inevitably raises some well-known scholarly controversies: where do the rules of international law come from? And more precisely: through which processes are they made, how are they ascertained, and where does the international legal order begin and end? These traditional questions bear on at least two different levels of understanding. First, how are international norms validated as rules of international "law", i.e. legally binding norms? This is the static question of the pedigree of international legal rules and the boundaries of the international legal order. Second, what are the processes through which these rules are made? This is the dynamic question of the making of these rules and of the exercise of public authority in international law. The Oxford Handbook on the Sources of International Law is the very first comprehensive work of its kind devoted to the question of the sources of international law. It provides an accessible and systematic overview of the key issues and debates around the sources of international law. It also offers an authoritative theoretical guide for anyone studying or working within but also outside international law wishing to understand one of its most foundational questions. Thisandbook features original essays by leading international law scholars and theorists from a range of traditions, nationalities and perspectives, reflecting the richness and diversity of scholarship in this area.

The Oxford Handbook on the Sources of International Law

States are no longer alone on the international scene. Other institutions intervene alongside States, and even sometimes in their place, such as international organizations, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations, regions or global cities. Still, one would look in vain for clear indications in international law, including for the basic principles of an “international law of institutions” that could address the three fundamental questions of social and political organization that are representation, regulation and responsibility. What institutions may act in whose name internationally? What are the conditions for their actions to bind us legally and have the legitimacy to do so? And what institutions should be held responsible, by whom and how, in case of violation of international law? The time has come to reconstruct the international institutional order.

Samantha Besson

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