Can international law be reconciled with municipal law?
Where a reconciliation between international law and municipal law is possible, the courts will make it.'2 Where there is a statute which conflicts with international law, instances of which will presently be noted, the courts must perforce give ef- fect to the statute even as against the treaty, provided the treaty is earlier in time.
Does municipal law prevail over a contrary rule of international law?
This phenomenon has led to the infer- ence that the municipal law enforceable in the courts prevails over a contrary rule of international law, which is enforceable by the Executive at the initiative of the aggrieved foreigner or 9.
See statement of Secretary Bayard, supra note 7. 10.
Heathfield v.
Chilton, 4 Burr. 2015 (K.
B. 1766); Triquet v.
International law and municipal law
In principle, international law operates only at the international level and not within domestic legal systems—a perspective consistent with positivism, which recognizes international law and municipal law as distinct and independent systems.
Conversely, advocates of natural law maintain that municipal and international law form a single legal system, an approach sometimes referred to as monism.
Such a system, according to monists, may arise either out of a unified ethical approach emphasizing universal human rights or out of a formalistic, hierarchical approach positing the existence of one fundamental norm underpinning both international law and municipal law.
Is public international law enforceable before municipal courts?
According to a monist approach public international law is therefore directly enforceable before municipal courts without any need for incorporation into municipal law.
Overview
In principle, international law operates only at the international level and not within domestic legal systems—a perspective consistent with positivism, which recognizes international law and municipal law as distinct and independent systems.
Conversely, advocates of natural law maintain that municipal and international law form a single legal system, an approach sometimes referred to as monism.
Such a system, according to monists, may arise either out of a unified ethical approach emphasizing universal human rights or out of a formalistic, hierarchical approach positing the existence of one fundamental norm underpinning both international law and municipal law.
Sources of international law
Article 38 (1) of the ICJ’s statute identifies three sources of international law: treaties, custom, and general principles.
Because the system of international law is horizontal and decentralized, the creation of international laws is inevitably more complicated than the creation of laws in domestic systems.
Where does municipal law come from?
Municipal law existed long before international law came upon the scene and survives its depressions.
Even in a legal State international law controls but a very small part of external State activity and a smaller part of internal State activity, so that it is a little tenuous to argue that municipal law finds its source in international law.
