Danilo Türk Book Presentation

have become a major source of international legal obligation of states in the area of the maintenance of international peace and security. Other features of the recent evolution of international law can be seen in the results of several decades of progressive development and codification of international law due to the work of the UnitedNations and its International Law Commission.The relationship between international law and domestic law, as well as between international law and the law of the European Communities (more recently that of the European Union) has also become much more complex. The doctrines of monism and dualism, established in scholarly literature and in state practice, provide only a point of departure in the inquiry. Many constitutional systems have adopted international law – i.e. treaties binding upon them and the applicable customary law, including the principles of international law, such as those enshrined in Article 2 of the UN Charter – as part of their legal systems. Domestic courts, including constitutional courts, are increasingly giving weight to international law in deciding cases before them. In practice, however, the actual applicability of a particular international norm in domestic law depends on the precise state of the relevant international and domestic law. European Union Law constitutes another important development with a major effect on the application of international law. It represents a unique system of legal principles and norms which, on the one hand, apply directly within the national legal systems of EU member states and, on the other hand, they have to conform to the peremptory norms of international law (ius cogens). The institutions of the European Union have strengthened the rule of international law. By acting in conformity with the norms of international law they contribute to the application of international law by states while, in the areas of EU competence, the decisions of the EU bodies provide the means for the direct application of the relevant norms of international law within the national legal systems of EU member states. The latter function, also referred to as the “Europeanization of international law” strengthens the effectiveness of international law. In all these situations Article 103 of the UN Charter remains decisive.

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