Danilo Türk Book Presentation

which culminated in the late 19th and early 20th century in the work of authors like Triepel, Jellinek and Kelsen. However, the interpretation of international lawbasedonphilosophical ideas, includingKelsen’s normativism, were challenged by alternative interpretations of international law – both those arising fromcommon law tradition and reflected in the British and in the American legal thinking and various sociological approaches to international law which emphasize social solidarity, the role of international institutions and the rights of the individual (Duguit, Le Fur, Scelle, Alvarez). After World War II there was a huge growth in the development of international legal norms under the auspices of the United Nations. This significantly increased the body of international law and allowed for a variety of interpretations. The positivist interpretations in particular demonstrated the value of careful analysis and systematic interpretation of the growing volume of state practice. At the same time, the increase in the number of sovereign states has enhanced the importance of theoretical inquiry into the evolution of sovereignty in an interdependent world, where international law limits sovereignty in a variety of new ways. Natural law, the oldest among theoretical interpretations of international law, also finds ongoing reinforcement in some of the trends of the past decades. Human rights law and humanitarian law in particular have increased the importance of the ethical base upon which the system of international law rests. International law evolves in response to developments in its sources: treaties, international customary law and the general principles of law. In addition to the sources enumerated in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, developments of the past decades have given rise to new sources of norms of international law, and the interplay between treaty-law and customary law has developed a new dimension. The role of decisions of international organizations as a source of international legal obligations has also increased. In the case of the United Nations, the Security Council has expanded the scope of its activity, using a teleological interpretation to define its powers under the UN Charter. Article 103 of the Charter, under which obligations under the Charter prevail over obligations under any other international agreement, has meant that decisions of the Security Council

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