Knowra International law International law International law is the body of rules and principles governing relations among states and other international actors. Its sources include treaties, customary rules, and general principles.
Treaty : A formal agreement between states or other international legal persons, governed by international law. Treaties are explicit, written sources of obligations between international actors.
Treaty law : The rules governing the conclusion, interpretation, application, and termination of treaties. It explains how negotiated agreements become binding and how their terms are understood.
Domestic law : The law made and enforced within a state's own legal system. Domestic systems usually have centralized legislatures and courts, unlike international law.
International humanitarian law : Rules that limit the effects of armed conflict and protect people who are not, or are no longer, fighting. It regulates conduct during war rather than deciding whether resort to force is lawful.
Jus cogens : A peremptory norm of international law accepted by states as non-derogable. Its status raises questions about whether some obligations outrank state consent and conflicting treaties.
Customary international law : Rules arising from general state practice accepted as law. It binds states through practice and legal conviction, even without a written treaty.
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties : A 1969 treaty codifying key rules on treaties between states. Its provisions set widely used rules for treaty interpretation, reservations, and termination.
Supranational law : Law made by an organization whose rules can bind members beyond ordinary intergovernmental cooperation. The European Union shows a stronger transfer of authority than international law generally entails.
International human rights law : International rules requiring states to respect and protect fundamental rights. It applies legal obligations to how states treat people under their jurisdiction.
Universal jurisdiction : A basis for national courts to prosecute certain grave crimes regardless of where they occurred or the accused's nationality. It tests how far states may enforce international norms beyond their territorial connections.
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