The Preponderance of International Courts in the Conflict of Treaty Law and Customary International Law

Abstract

The foundations of a society's legal system are profoundly impacted by the law's historical context. International law is separate from the laws of particular countries. Legal determination in the community is more difficult than in a sovereign state because there is no worldwide legislature or system of courts with binding jurisdiction. Almost from the start, there were legal professors who believed that the Statutes were the ones responsible for establishing authority. This means that if a treaty establishes a norm that conflicts with an existing international custom, the rule in the treaty will take precedence. While some legal experts believe the Statute was created to establish a hierarchy, others argue that its only goal was to give a compilation of the international law sources in the order in which a court would properly analyze them. This study looks at how international courts tend to rule in situations where customary international law and treaty law are in direct opposition to one another.