The WTO Legal System: Sources of Law

Authors

David Palmeter
Petros C. Mavroidis, Columbia Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1998

DOI

https://doi.org/10.2307/2997915

Abstract

Modern discussions of the sources of international law usually begin with a reference to Article 38 (1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which provides:

The Court, whose function is to decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply:

1. international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states;
2. international custom as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;
3. the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations;
4. subject to the provisions of Article 59, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations, as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law.

Disciplines

Antitrust and Trade Regulation | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | International Law | International Trade Law | Law

Comments

© 1998 Cambridge University Press. Originally published in the American Journal of International Law, Vol. 92, p. 398, 1998.

Recommended Citation

David Palmeter & Petros C. Mavroidis, The WTO Legal System: Sources of Law, 92 Am. J. Int'l L. 398 (1998).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2620