Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 April 2014
In this paper I address the justifications and methods adopted by scholars and international judges for the identification of jus cogens norms. More specifically, I examine how the approaches taken by these two subsidiary sources of international law relate. In so doing, I seek to highlight and develop a clearer understanding of why, in spite of considerable scholarly and judicial attention, more progress on the doctrine of jus cogens identification has not been made. The analysis covers assessment of the practice of interaction, but also its underpinnings, which include the implications of jus cogens identification for the legitimacy of international courts. I argue that scholars have focused on justificatory theory at the expense of methodological considerations and that this has limited the scope for the development of a useful discourse with international judicial bodies on matters of jus cogens identification.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Oslo. This paper was prepared under the auspices of MultiRights, an ERC Advanced Grant on the Legitimacy of Multi-Level Human Rights Judiciary; and PluriCourts, a Research Council of Norway Centre of Excellence on the Legitimacy of International Courts. It has benefited from the very useful comments of two anonymous reviewers, and Geir Ulfstein, Ragnar Nordeide, Nino Tsereteli, and Andreas Føllesdal. It has also benefited from comments received following presentation in staff seminars at Oslo University, Norway (June 2012) and Durham University, UK (November 2012).
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114. Ibid., at 6
115. See BOGANDY, Armin VON and VENZKE, Ingo, “In Whose Name? An Investigation of International Courts’ Public Authority and Its Democratic Justification” (2012) 23 European Journal of International Law 7 at 8Google Scholar; ULFSTEIN, Geir and KELLER, Helen, “Introduction” in Helen KELLER and Geir ULFSTEIN, eds., UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies. Law and Legitimacy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), at 7Google Scholar.
116. See D'ASPREMONT, Jean, Formalism and the Sources of International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) at 170CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Koskenniemi, , supra note 105 at 1947Google Scholar.
117. Wolfrum, , supra note 113 at 6Google Scholar.
118. Stone-Sweet, , supra note 112 at 15Google Scholar.
119. Ibid.
120. See Von Bogandy and Venzke, , supra note 115 at 18Google Scholar; also WHEATLEY, Steven, “On the Legitimate Authority of International Human Rights Bodies” in Geir ULFSTEIN et al., eds., The Legitimacy of International Human Rights Regimes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013) 84–116CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 84.
121. Wolfrum, , supra note 113 at 7Google Scholar.
122. See also Fauchald and Nollkaemper, , supra note 47 at 351Google Scholar.
123. See also Byers, , supra note 24 at 222Google Scholar.
124. See also Stone-Sweet, supra note 112 at 15 (suggesting that a dispute resolver can help to preserve legitimacy by anticipating the disputants and the community's reaction to the decision, through attempting to adapt the process and content of a decision to be in line with what would be acceptable to both).
125. Debated effects of jus cogens status beyond the VCLT include those directly within a human rights regime (such as non-derogability, no reservation, and precedence over conflicting norms (human rights or otherwise)), as well as beyond (such as limits on the authority of the UN Security Council, direct limits on national legislative authority, and an obligation on all states to “cooperate to bring to an end through lawful means any serious breach” (ILC Articles on State Responsibility)); see Cassese, , supra note 4 at 160–163Google Scholar; Orakhelashvili, , supra note 70Google Scholar; Vidmar, , supra note 29 at 24Google Scholar.
126. See also Von Bogandy and Venzke, , supra note 115 at 15–16Google Scholar.
127. See also Stone-Sweet, , supra note 115 at 74Google Scholar.
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129. Michael Domingues/United States, Report No. 62/02, Merits, Case 12.285, 22 October 2002; at para. 50, the Commission (citing scholarly work) explained that: “while based on the same evidentiary sources as a norm of customary international law, the standard for determining a principle of jus cogens is more rigorous, requiring evidence of recognition of the indelibility of the norm by the international community as a whole. This can occur where there is acceptance and recognition by a large majority of states, even if over dissent by a small number of states.”
130. See also Roach and Pinkerton 1987 Resolution N° 3/87, Case 9647, United States, 22 September 1987, para. 55.
131. See US response, Domingues, paras. 93–107. Para. 101: “The State claimed in this regard that the only argument presented in favor of this finding in the Commission's report is the assertion that the execution of Mr. Domingues would ‘shock the conscience of humankind.’ The State considered this assertion to be ‘specious at best,’ and argued to the contrary that the ‘acts of Mr. Domingues should shock the consciousness of humankind, not the punishment those acts have earned him.’ ”
132. See also De Wet, supra note 96 at 7.
133. See also Fauchald and Nollkaemper, , supra note 47 at 351Google Scholar.
134. Relevant factors could include the extent to which a court counts individuals amongst its main audience (so even if legitimacy is reduced from the perspective of states, it might still remain legitimate for individuals and thereby continue to be utilized); the nature of the audience of states (broader audience, more careful, as harder to predict reception); length of operation of the court (longer existence, able to build up more legitimacy); the powers of the court (e.g. just recommendatory, might see more value in including jus cogens in the decision to help strengthen the compliance pull); the level of entrenchment of the court (e.g. easily closed down, might lead court to be more cautious).
135. To be clear, the suggestion here is not that it will be possible to find a satisfactory method, but that it might be possible. The suggestion is also not that method is detachable from the underlying theory, but rather that having a theory does not entail a self-evident, workable method; see also d'Aspremont, supra note 116 at 14 and 24.
136. Special Tribunal for Lebanon, In the Matter of El Sayed, Case No. CH/PRES/2010/01, Order of the President Assigning Matter to Pre-Trial Judge, 15 April 2012, paras. 28−9; see also Cassese, , supra note 4 at 165–166Google Scholar; FABRI, H. RUIZ, “Enhancing the Rhetoric of Jus Cogens” (2012) 23 European Journal of International Law 1049CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
137. As Cassese notes, supra note 4 at para. 35: “Whether or not it is held that the international general norm on the right to justice has been elevated to the rank of jus cogens (with the consequence that States may not derogate from it either through treaties or national legislation), it is axiomatic that an international court such as the STL may not derogate from or fail to comply with such a general norm.”