Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

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ISSUES OF PROOF OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF

LAW IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION
Michael D. Nolan
Frédéric Gilles Sourgens*

Interesting though this discussion of the character of
such ‘general principles’ may be in the theory of
international law, it is even more important to know
what they in fact represent … .1
I. INTRODUCTION
The Statute of the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) defines
“the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations” as a
source of public international law the Court will apply.2 As
defined in Article 38(1)(c) of the ICJ Statute, general principles of
law are the main source of law on questions not fully settled by
treaty and custom.3 Such unsettled areas exist increasingly when
public international law intersects with the traditionally “private”
sphere, such as can be the case in the context of investment law
(which may well import aspects of the law of obligations),
international environmental law (which may import standards of
delictual or tort liability), and procedural issues in international