International law consists of rules and principles that govern the relations of nations with each other. Public International Law concerns itself only with questions of rights between several nations, or nations and the citizens or subjects of other nations. In contrast, Private International Law deals with controversies between private persons, natural or juridical, arising out of situations having significant relationship to more than one nation. In recent years, the line between public and private international law has become increasingly uncertain.
International Law includes the basic concepts of law in national legal systems. It also includes substantive law, procedure, process, and remedies. Customary law and conventional law are the primary sources of international law. Customary international law results when states follow certain practices generally and consistently out of a sense of legal consistency. Recently, the customary law was codified in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Conventional international law derives from international agreements and may take any form that the contracting parties agree upon. International agreements create law for the parties of the agreement. They may also lead to the creation of customary international law when they are intended for adherence generally and are, in fact, widely accepted.
General principles common to systems of national law are a secondary source of international law. There are situations where neither conventional nor customary international law can be applicable. In this case, a general principle may be invoked as a rule of international law because it is a general principle common to the major legal systems of the world and not inappropriate for international claims.
International law imposes upon the nations certain duties with respect to individuals. It is a violation of international law to treat an alien in a manner which does not satisfy the international standard of justice.
International organizations play an increasingly important role in the relationships between nations. The United Nations, the most influential among international organizations, was created on June 26, 1945. The declared purposes of the United Nations are to maintain peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems, and to be a center for harmonizing the actions of the nations and attaining their common ends.
TEXT B
.
