Law Public Interntional Law Essay

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Christine Chinkin has observed that the classification of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ law is unhelpful and misleading in reflecting enforceability in international law. What are the sources of international law? What is meant by ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ law? Do you agree with Chinkin’s assessment and why?
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Introduction

This essay first discusses the nature and lack enforcement of hard laws, being those defined under the ICJ statue and Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 (VCLT). It argues that in reality, soft instruments are already applied in the interpretation and application of hard ‘legal’ obligations, as seen by ICJ and UN instruments as well as emerging non-binding agreements in non traditional areas of International law (IL), despite their prima facie non-binding and unenforceable character. It concludes that despite Chinkin’s valid arguments against a binary divide between hard and soft laws in terms of enforceability (valid as it may be), framing the debate as ‘hard’ versus ‘soft’ law itself is unhelpful and misleading on a conceptual level, as international rules are ultimately not about enforceability but ensuring certainty in future behaviours and expectations of collective standards.

Sources of International Law – ‘hard’ treaties, customs and general principles

While the precise definition of hard and soft international law remains unsettled and contentious to date, generally, the former refers to legally binding rules interpreted and enforced by courts while the later, a residual catch all for everything else resembling law but falling short of the imposing binding and enforceable obligations on the parties.

Without a leading body responsible for international law making and enforcement, the Statute of the ICJ (‘the Statute’) is a wide-held authority on the sources of international law. It asserts that the court will determine disputes

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