What constitutes ‘state practice’ PDF

Preview

Summary

......

Description

What constitutes ‘state practice’? One of the principle sources of international law and is an element in the formation and identification of customary law. Customary law must be a general practice accepted as law of which state practice forms the basis. State practice covers acts or statements by a state from which views about customary law may be inferred. (Customary law is “law consisting of customs that are accepted as legal requirements or. obligatory rules of conduct; practices and beliefs that are so vital and intrinsic a part of a. social and economic system that they are treated as if they were laws”) A state’s practice can be obtained from its legislation, decisions in domestic courts, and its activities on an international stage- when interacting with other countries e.g when forming treaties. As stated in the Asylum case by the ICJ “a customary rule must be in accordance with a constant and uniform usage practiced by the state in question” In North Sea Continental Shelf Case the ICJ remarked that “state practice, including that of states whose interests are specially affected , had to be both extensive and virtually uniform in the sense of the provision invoked” Furthermore, in the case of Nicaragua v US it was emphasized that “it was not necessary that the practice in question had to be in absolutely rigorous conformity with the purported customary rule”...