ABSTRACT
Michael Akehurst, to whose memory this volume of essays is dedicated, devoted several substantial articles to the problem of the sources of international law, and particularly the role of custom. One need only mention in this context his stimulating articles on ‘Custom as a source of international law’ and The hierarchy of the sources of international law’.1 It is therefore particularly appropriate that the focus of this series of articles by some of his former friends and colleagues should be on what has popularly come to be known as the Friendly Relations Declaration,2 an instrument which, although adopted by the United Nations General Assembly well over twenty years ago, has had a continuing impact and influence on the subsequent development of international law.
