The Sources of International Law国际法的渊源
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The Sources of International Law国际法的渊源
What are the sources of international law? The term source of law refers to legal rules governing the international community. Unlike national laws where sources of law are specified in the constitution, which is superior to laws and regulations, no such hierarchy exists in international law.The international court of justice stipulated a catalog of sources of international law which is used when deciding legal disputes submitted before the world court. 国际法的渊源是什么?“法律渊源”一词是指管理国际社会的法律规则。国内法的法律渊源由宪法规定，高于法律法规，但国际法不存在这种等级制度。国际法院（ICJ）规定了国际法渊源的目录，用于裁决提交给国际法院的法律争端。
The first source is international treaty, whether a general or particular convention, a bilateral, regional or multinational one, a treaty is a binding international agreement by which the states parties agree in writing to observe their contractual obligations. The second source is customary law as evidence of the general state practice accepted as law. At the outset, international law was mainly regulated by customs, which is an unwritten rule and consists of two parts: states’ practice and opinio juris. 第一个渊源是国际条约，无论是一般公约还是特别公约，双边、区域或多国公约，条约是缔约国书面同意遵守其合同义务的具有约束力的国际协定。第二个渊源是习惯法，习惯法是公认为法律的一般国家实践的证据。国际法最初主要是由习惯法规范的，习惯法是一种不成文的规则，由国家实践和法律确信两部分组成。
State practice is the material part of customary law and it combines state behavior and actions. In other words, it means what states do and say. Opinio juris is the second part of customary law, and it means that the state's verbal or material acts have to be accepted as a binding law by the rest of the international community. For instance, the world accepts and believes that it's legal for a state to act in self-defense. In addition to treaties and customs, other sources of law exist like the judicial decisions of international courts, jurists’ writings, which represent the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists. And lastly, the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations. While these are not formal sources, they can still play an important role as evidence of international law. 国家实践是习惯法的实质组成部分，是国家行为与行动的结合。换句话说，它指的是国家的言行。法律确信是习惯法的第二部分，它意味着国家的口头或实质行为必须被国际社会的其它成员接受为具有约束力的法律。例如，世界接受并相信一个国家采取自卫行动是合法的。除了条约和习惯法，法律的其它渊源也存在，如国际性法院的司法判决，以及法学家的著作，这些著作代表了资深公法学家的学说。最后一种渊源是文明国家公认的一般法律原则。虽然这些都不是正式渊源，但它们仍然可以作为国际法的证据发挥重要作用。
