OUVRAGE : C.I. Fuentes, Normative Plurality in International Law: A Theory of the Determination of Applicable Rules

Carlos Iván FUENTES

This book provides a theoretical framework for explaining the choices made by international decision-makers in terms of what constitutes law. It comprehensively analyzes the practice of human rights courts in applying legal instruments outside their competence and proposes that this practice recognizes that different normative instruments coexist in an un-ordered space, and that meaning can be produced by the free interaction of those instruments around a problem. Based on this, the book advances its normative plurality hypothesis, which states that decision-makers must survey the acquis of international law in order to identify all the instruments containing relevant normative information for a particular situation. The set of rules of law applicable to the situation must then be complemented with other instruments containing specific normative information relevant to the situation, resulting in a complete system of norms advancing a common purpose.



TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

1.1. “We Had Nothing Before Us”
1.2. “We Had Everything Before Us”
1.3. Normative Plurality in International Law

2. Talking About Sources: The Constant Reliance on a Non-objectified Element

2.1. Introduction
2.2. God as the Law
2.3. Natural Law
2.4. General Principles of Law
2.5. Conclusion

3. The Imperfect Paradigm: Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice

3.1. Introduction
3.2. Nature and Function of Article 38
3.3. The Sources in Article 38
3.4. The Jurisprudence of Incorporation
3.5. Conclusion

4. Human Rights as a New Paradigm

4.1. Introduction
4.2. Interpretation as Normative Expansion
4.3. Five Examples
4.4. Conclusion

5. Normative Plurality in International Law

5.1. Introduction
5.2. Situating the Argument
5.3. The Theory of Alf Ross
5.4. Adjusting the Theory
5.5. The Normative Plurality Hypothesis
5.6. Normative Plurality and Systemic Integration
5.7. Conclusion

6. General Conclusion
Bibliography

Carlos Iván FUENTES, Normative Plurality in International Law: A Theory of the Determination of Applicable Rules, Berlin, Springer, 2016 (240 pp.)