Part IV Normative Development, Ch.19 Formation of Customary International Law and General Principles
Pierre-Marie Dupuy
From: The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law
Edited By: Daniel Bodansky, Jutta Brunnée, Ellen Hey
- Subject(s):
- Biodiversity — Customary international law — General principles of international law — Soft law — Opinio juris — Lex specialis — Exclusive economic zone
There exist a growing number of treaties dealing with many, if not all, aspects of the human environment (see Chapter 20 ‘Treaty Making and Treaty Evolution’). A good number of these agreements are currently in force. Over the last four decades, such instruments have combined to create a dense network of conventional obligations; nonetheless, the place and role of customary international law remains of great importance in practice for several reasons.1 First, although they may be in force, many treaties remain for the most part unimplemented, or at best only...
