THE RULES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW THAT REGULATE THE USE OF INTERSTATE FORCE

Abstract

Just as the most important norms governing the behaviour of individuals are embodied in domestic law, some norms governing the behaviour of states are embodied in "international law. International law, however, operates in quite a different social context. The foundations of an overwhelming social concensus and of a central authority which endows its rules with sanction, are lacking. States are not subject to law; international law is not a law, above states but one between them. This situation is so anomalous for a legal system that some professional lawyers deny the legal character of international law completely, claiming that it lacks the distinctive characteristic of effective sanctions.