How Simple Conclusions Carry Complex Issues: Some Thoughts on the Draft Conclusions on General Principles of Law.

The International Law Commission (ILC) adopted 11 draft conclusions on general principles of law in July 2023, which have garnered significant attention from international legal scholars. The complexity of identifying general principles of law is evident in the use of the term "may (be)" in several draft conclusions. The draft conclusions confirm that general principles of law are one of the sources of international law, as outlined in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). However, the relationship between general principles of law, treaties, and customary international law is not clearly explained in the draft conclusions. The identification of general principles of law relies heavily on inference, which may be a less logically sound approach. The question of what constitutes general principles of law in international law and how they contribute to the coherence of the international legal system remains a complex issue. [Extracted from the article]