Is International Law Actually a Law? Case Study 2022

Running head: IS INTERNATIONAL LAW ACTUALLY A LAW?
IS INTERNATIONAL LAW ACTUALLY A LAW?
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Author Note

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IS INTERNATIONAL LAW ACTUALLY A LAW?
The hardship while dealing with international law is because it deals with the non-
codified rules. The monotonous question that comes into mind with the name is, whether
International Law is a law? Another question strikes about the legality of International law in
global parlance. However, as per the view of many jurists and political authors, above all
confusion, there exists a political impact of International Law, which is very significant in the
modern global world. The debate often arises with international Law is not about that
whether one nation’s foreign policy is favoring the nation from the other states or not, but the
theories of law that are domestically applicable in various countries can be made applicable
to international affairs uniformly. This study aims to evaluate the question of international
law from the viewpoints of John Bolton, Anthony D’Amato and Anthea Roberts in their
books.
Public international law is the fixed rule, guidelines and norms that apply to nations
agreeing to follow it.1 The sources of international law include customs, treaties and general
laws that comply with the international law-making standard. International Law monitors
different states by helping them in creating protocols and conceptual frameworks for different
subjects like war, trade, and human rights. This law helps different nations in the world to
maintain a stable and healthy international relation and recognition among each other2. To
answer the query that whether the subject of international law is a law or not, one needs to
know the proper definition of law. Law is a set of rules, norms or obligation that regulates the
relationship among people and society.3 For the legitimacy of a system of law, there exist two
preconditions. One is a framework that ensures the government’s authority, and second is the
rule of law based on sovereignty and public culpability. Another important aspect of the law
1Von Glahn, Gerhard, and James Larry Taulbee. Law among nations: an introduction to public
international law. Routledge, 2015..
2 Smith, Rhona. International human rights law. Oxford University Press, 2019.
3 Kelsen, Hans. "What is the Pure Theory of Law?." Law and Morality. Routledge, 2017. 101-108.

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IS INTERNATIONAL LAW ACTUALLY A LAW?
is that it contains solutions or methods to solve a conflict that can arise between people.
Another important aspect that must be there in any system of law is that the sources,
procedure, and methods of lawmaking should be flexible enough to adopt the changes
required.
According to the view of John Bolton, the problem with international law is that the
sources are practical and depends mostly on the society. That is the reason international law
sources are not always uniformly accepted.4 Treaties are the primary source of International
Law. It considered an agreement between sovereign States or international organizations.
Usually, treaties are bilateral or multilateral. States can be entered into treaties for various
reasons. The Article 2(1)(a) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,
describes ‘treaty’ as an international union determined between different States in written
format and ruled by international law.5 John Bolton refers to various theories and views of
jurists while describing the theories of international law. Neil MacCormick,a legal
philosopher, while describing the idea of legal justification, pointed out cases where a judge
cannot depend on commonly accepted open rules. A legal verdict must be justified logically.
According to his view law is a normative order and it is an institutional fact. MacCormick
stated that the guidelines of a legal argument must be drawn from the international statute
that is reasonable and an adjudicator must comply with those statues while framing a new
regulation or while explaining an existing statute. MacCormick’s theory focuses on the rule
of rational thinking in legal decision-making and legal justification. MacCormick’s theory
was more of a theory of positivism of natural law. Furthermore, he stated rulemaking
4 Aust, Helmut Philipp, and Georg Nolte, eds. The Interpretation of International Law by Domestic
Courts: Uniformity, Diversity, Convergence. Oxford University Press, 2016.
5 Lo, Chang-fa. Treaty interpretation under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: a new
round of codification. Springer, 2017.