ABSTRACT

The key sources of international environmental law are the same as those which are traditionally recognised by general international law, namely: (1) international treaties or conventions; (2) customary international law; (3) general principles of law; and, as secondary sources (4) judicial decisions and the writings of eminent publicists. These sources are referred to in Art 38(1) of the 1945 Statute of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as those sources which will be applied by the ICJ in cases that come before it. Questions, however, remain as to whether these traditional sources of international law are exhaustive in respect of new subject areas such as international environmental law. As Sands notes, ‘(T)he list of sources identified in Art 38(1) does not wholly reflect the sources of obligation, broadly understood, which have arisen in international environmental law’ (Sands (1992) 103). In particular, as we shall see, many developing principles of international environmental law are also to be found set out in declarations and resolutions which are not themselves binding sources of law. These are often referred to as international ‘soft law’ by commentators. Each of the main sources of international environmental law will be considered briefly.