Understanding Jus Cogens In International Law And International Legal Discourse

Whilst the concept of jus cogens has grown increasingly more important in public international law, lawyers remain hugely divided both over what precisely confers a jus cogens status on a norm, and what this conferral implies in terms of legal consequences. In this ground-breaking book, Ulf Linderfalk clearly and succinctly explores the reasons for this divide in order to facilitate more rational and productive future discourse.

International law is an underdeveloped branch of legal research: researchers still disagree over the proper understanding of several of its most fundamental issues, and genuinely so. This book helps to explain why. It brings clarity that will no doubt make international legal research more rational, which in turn vouches for a more productive legal discourse.

"The book guides the reader through an analysis of eight distinct performances at work in the discourse on customary international law. One of its key claims is that customary international law is not the surviving trace of an ancient law-making mechanism that used to be found in traditional societies. Indeed, as is shown throughout, customary international law is anything but ancient, and there is hardly any doctrine of international law that contains so many of the features of modern thinking. It is also argued that, contrary to mainstream opinion, customary international law is in fact shaped by texts, and originates from a textual environment"--Page 4 de la couverture.

Offers a new perspective on international law and international legal argumentation: to what event is international law a belief system?

This book presents a critical view of international law as an argumentative practice that aims to 'depoliticise' international relations. Drawing from a range of materials, Koskenniemi demonstrates how international law becomes vulnerable to the contrasting criticisms of being either an irrelevant moralist Utopia or a manipulable façade for State interests. He examines the conflicts inherent in international law - sources, sovereignty, 'custom' and 'world order' - and shows how legal discourse about such subjects can be described in terms of a small number of argumentative rules. This book was originally published in English in Finland in 1989 and though it quickly became a classic, it has been out of print for some years. In 2006, Cambridge was proud to reissue this seminal text, together with a freshly written Epilogue in which the author both responds to critiques of the original work, and reflects on the effect and significance of his 'deconstructive' approach today.

Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens): Disquisitions and Dispositions is a collection of contributions on various aspects of jus cogens in international law.

In 2022, the ILC adopted the Draft Conclusions on Peremptory Norms of General International Law. The text of the Draft Conclusions consists of twenty-three Draft Conclusions and addresses two aspects: the identification of peremptory norms and their legal consequences. Attached to the Draft Conclusions is an Annex with a non-exhaustive list of jus cogens norms previously identified by the Commission. The International Law Commission's Draft Conclusions on Peremptory Norms serves, in part, as a commentary on the ILC's work and provides a broader understanding of the Draft Conclusions from the perspective of an insider. The book goes beyond a commentary, however, as it provides an analysis and evaluation of the broader legal issues raised by the Draft Conclusions. Relying inter alia on the discussions within the Commission and the doctrinal debate surrounding the concepts covered, the book will not only offer explanation of what is addressed in the Draft Conclusions but also an assessment of the choices made by the Commission and the consequences of those choices.