Reception of other sources of international law

• Author: Gib van Ert
• Pages: 279-286



 Reception of other sources

of international law

Treaty and cu stom are by far the most signi f‌icant sources of inter-

national law. ey are also the only two sources for which the common

law has developed clear reception ru les. ere is, therefore, little to say

on the reception of other i nternational legal sources. I brief‌ly consider

the reception or non-reception of these other sources here.

. General principles of law

As noted in Chapter , international tribunal s may apply “general prin-

ciples of law recognized by civi lized nations” to resolve controversies

for whic h no applicable treaty or customary rule may exist. is is a

pragmatic and potentially useful source of law at the internationa l

level, but its relev ance to a domestic court is quest ionable. Domest ic

legal systems usually do not exper ience gaps in the law of the sort

contemplated by general pri nciples. (Even i n international law, cases

in whic h there is a need to supplement treaty a nd custom by general

principles are rare.) Further more, to the extent that general principles

in international law derive from or are developed from analogies to do-

mestic law, there is seeming ly no need for a domestic court to have re-

gard to them. In short, general principles of law recognized by civilized

nations are presumably already establ ished in Canadian law without

the need to receive them f rom internationa l law. ere is no estab-

lished common law ru le, analogous to the i ncorporation doctrine for

custom or the implementation requirement for treaties, to ex plain the