Fundamentals of International Law — Theories and Doctrines in International Laws

You promise to return a friend's laptop on Friday. Why must you? Because you gave your word, because the college rules say so, because it is wrong to break promises, or because the friend will stop trusting you? Each answer is a theory of why a promise binds. International lawyers ask the same question about a rule that no Parliament enacted and no police enforce. Why does the rule bind a state at all, and what doctrines have grown out of the answer?

In two minutes

The theories of international law answer one question, why the law binds states: naturalists say because of reason and natural law, positivists say because states consented, and modern eclectic and sociological views combine consent with necessity and solidarity.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Public International Law on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.