The Statute as a Source of International Law: a General Theoretical Characteristic

Abstract

The purpose of this article is a thorough theoretical study of the statute as a particular source of international law. In order to achieve it, we tried to solve the following tasks: to find out the legal nature of the statute as a source of law; to reveal the general theoretical features of the statute as a source of international law, based on existing such international legal acts; on the basis of the essential characteristics of the statutes, determine their place in the system of sources of law, the system of sources of international law; to distinguish between common and distinctive features of the statutes as sources of national and international law. The methodological toolkit involves the use of a number of common methods, techniques and approaches when exploring the statute as a source of international law. These include dialectical and epistemological, historical and comparative law, formal legal and semiotic methods, as well as material, institutional and systemic approaches. The scientific novelty of the study of the statute as a source of international law is marked by both general theoretical and sectoral, spatial and other peculiarities. These legal acts are predominantly multilateral, organizational, constituent, programmatic, to a certain extent model legal act, unlike statutes, which are domestic sources of law. Types of statutes can be: standard and individual, universal and regional statutes, etc. In general, the statutes, among other legal instruments, belong to international treaties as one of the main sources of international law. Properly ratified statutes at the domestic level are part of national legislation, where there are also statutes of enterprises, territorial communities, religious and non-governmental organizations, law enforcement agencies, etc. The conclusions are to emphasize the particular legal nature of the statute as a source of international law, which is at the same time a source of national law, with rather different characteristics depending on the type of legal system, type of legal family, etc. The study of the Statute of the International Court of Justice emphasizes its conceptual and programmatic character (contains a list of sources of international law), the Charter of the United Nations – respectively basic and framework character (on the basis of its provisions other international legal acts are adopted and international organizations are created, etc.), The Statute of UNESCO or other UN specialized agencies, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court ‒ constitutive in order to determine the organizational and administrative structure, functional and institutional basis for the establishment and operation of specific organizations.

Keywords: international law; sources of law; statute; sources of international law; lawmaking; model statute; theoretical analysis.