This article offers a concise typology of spontaneous norms - i.e., norms that are formed or sustained through decentralized collective behavior in a community. The typology combines three criteria for identifying spontaneous norms: (i) implicit formation of (customary) rules, as opposed to...

This article offers a concise typology of spontaneous norms - i.e., norms that are formed or sustained through decentralized collective behavior in a community. The typology combines three criteria for identifying spontaneous norms: (i) implicit formation of (customary) rules, as opposed to...

Although the Igbo customary law of succession, which espouses the primogeniture principle, has recently been lambasted by the Nigerian courts for violating the equality provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and discriminating against women, the judicial engagement with the Igbo inheritance law...

This article will assess whether the changes in asylum-seeker movement over the most recent ten years to more significantly involve new states, such as the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, may be bringing about changes in how we assess customary international law on refugee law. The recent...

In the most recent few years, customary international law is increasingly crystalizing to affirm that states must grant nationality to children born in their territory, if they would be otherwise stateless. In prior scholarship, this author has argued that such a norm of a customary...

Despite the large number of environmental agreements at the global, regional and bilateral levels, the role of customary international law remains of great importance in practice. First, many treaties which are in force remain largely unimplemented. Secondly, treaties only bind those States that...

After the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya, Canadian courts can, in theory, apply customary international law (CIL) to private corporate actors for the purposes of a transnational tort claim pursuant to allegations related to human rights and/or...

In many modern nation states, both rich and poor, traditional law to this day plays an important role. Given the almost universal prevalence of traditional law, it is surprising how little we know about it. This is the first study that tries to take stock of traditional law from a cross-country...

Rules of customary law figure prominently in today’s law and policy. Across policy fields, courts and policy-makers are called to interpret and apply customary law. However, it is still a bit of a mystery how rules of customary law emerge and how they can be identified in the first place. In...

In many modern nation states, both rich and poor, traditional law to this day plays an important role. Given the almost universal prevalence of traditional law, it is surprising how little we know about it. This is the first study that tries to take stock of traditional law from a cross-country...

This article examines whether or not the FET standard has become a rule of customary international law. The article contains the first empirical analysis of this question based on the two conditions under which a treaty-based norm can transform into a customary rule. The article will argue that...

Before 1804, France was strictly divided in terms of legal regimes: a part was under Roman civil law while the majority of the territory was under customary laws which, as with common law, gave more flexibility to judges and fewer rights to the state. This dichotomy offers the unique opportunity...

In recent years, the banking industry has witnessed several cases of excessive risk-taking that frequently have been attributed to problematic professional norms. We conduct experiments with employees from several banks in which we manipulate the saliency of their professional identity and...

In recent years, the banking industry has witnessed several cases of excessive risk-taking that frequently have been attributed to problematic professional norms. We conduct experiments with employees from several banks in which we manipulate the saliency of their professional identity and...

Rules of customary international law provide basic legal protections to foreign investors doing business abroad. These rules remain of fundamental importance today despite the growing number of investment treaties containing substantive investment protection. In this book, Patrick Dumberry...

Indigenous customary laws often conflict with or contradict contract laws of foreign legal systems. If an indigenous person wishes to conduct an international transaction according to their customs, problems may arise where customs are inconsistent with governing laws. This paper examines the...

It is often observed in the literature on customary international law that the identification practice of the International Court of Justice for customary norms deviates from the traditional definition of customary law in Art. 38 (1) lit. b of the ICJ Statute. However, while there are many...

Access to justice is the term used to denote the institutional and social conditions for the realization of rights. In recent international security and development policy, the term is used in various ways as a guiding principle for "good law" and "good justice," and, for actors in these...

The paper examines the potential of customary international law to protect global public goods. In particular, it focuses on the question whether customary law can contribute to the mitigation of climate change. The analysis proceeds in the three steps. First, it will have a closer look at the...

This article articulates an explanatory theory of customary international law under which precedential concerns are central to explaining CIL formation, compliance and change. In contrast with previous theories, which emphasize the role of reciprocity, retaliation and reputation in sustaining...

Nearly two decades after South Africa’s democratization, questions of tradition and accountability continue to trouble the polity as more than 14 million black South Africans remain subject to state-recognized, so-called “traditional” leaders – kings, queens, chiefs and regents. This...

Land rights are essential assets for improving the livelihoods of the rural poor. This literature based paper shed light to some land rights issues that are crucial for the effectiveness and sustainability of implementing technological innovations in marginalized rural areas of Ethiopia, Ghana,...

Land rights are essential assets for improving the livelihoods of the rural poor. This literature based paper shed light to some land rights issues that are crucial for the effectiveness and sustainability of implementing technological innovations in marginalized rural areas of Ethiopia, Ghana,...

The question of the existence of legal protection for foreign investors under customary international law (or “custom”) has always been controversial. As a result of this perceived lack of established customary principles, States concluded thousands of bilateral investment treaties in the...

In 2008, the Traditional Courts Bill (TCB) was introduced in South Africa’s Parliament to regulate customary courts in place of the apartheid-era Black Administration Act. The TCB has come under wide ranging attack from civil society across the country, including from people based in the...

This paper examines the formation and evolution of customary international law in the field of foreign investment (Parts II and III) and its various forms interaction with international treaties, focussing mainly on BITs (Parts IV to IX). Although a comprehensive study on the customary rules for...

This contribution to a symposium on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. examines two ways of looking at the question of corporate liability under customary international law. It argues that the Second Circuit was wrong to ask whether a “norm of corporate liability” exists in the abstract and...

Customary international law is one of the three main sources of international law; lamentably, it has historically received little attention from law and economics scholars, despite providing rich material for economic analysis. In this chapter, we provide a concise overview of recent research...

Land management in Côte d Ivoire is based on two major systems of values: custom on the one hand, laws and regulations of the other. To supervise the land, everyone based on the register which provides the greatest possible benefits (Lavigne Delville, 1999). Based on the law, the State, local,...

Customary law has been criticized from very different angles. Rational choice theorists claim that what looks like custom is nothing but self-interest. Positivists doubt that anything beyond consent assumes the force of law. In this paper, we adopt an experimental approach to test these claims....

Customary law has been criticized from very different angles. Rational choice theorists claim that what looks like custom is nothing but self-interest. Positivists doubt that anything beyond consent assumes the force of law. In this paper, we adopt an experimental approach to test these claims....

Customary law has been criticized from very different angles. Rational choice theorists claim that what looks like custom is nothing but self-interest. Positivists doubt that anything beyond consent assumes the force of law. In this paper, we adopt an experimental approach to test these claims....

Customs and usages in England : achieving interpretive accuracy by giving effect to unexpressed intent / Geoff R. Hall -- Usages and implied terms under French and Belgian positive law : a subjective approach tending toward objectivity / Lydie Van Muylem -- White space, implied terms, and the...