westphalian system (1648) - American Society of International Law

PRINCIPLES/
CONCEPTS*
• Principle of sovereign equality
(Art. 2 (1))
● Fundamental values and
legality principles (Art. 1 (1),
(2))
- peace and security;
- self-determination;
- human rights
• Force, occupation prohibited
(Art. 2 (4))
• Legality vs. effectivity (ex
iniuria jus non oritur)
• Authority
- prescriptive/ binding powers
(Arts. 17 (2), 25);
- majority principle (Arts. 18 (2),
27 (2) (3), 67 (2), 89 (2), Charter
and Art. 55, ICJ Statute)
• Cooperation concept (Art. 1
(3))
*States’ sovereignty limited by
legality principles and Authority
UN CHARTER SYSTEM (San Francisco 1945)
PLAYERS
• States
- system limited to inter-state
relationships;
- exclusion of new powers/actors
FUNCTIONS/
PROCESSES
• Rule-making
- codification (Art. 13 (1)(a));
- GA Declarations of Principles (not
binding);
- ICJ quasi-legislative function:
advisory opinions (Art. 96);
- SC binding decisions (Art. 25)
• Enforcement System
- suspension, expulsion (Arts. 5,
6);
- Collective Security System (Chap.
VII)
• Ascertainment and Judicial
functions
- SC Political ascertainment (Art.
39);
- ICJ judicial functions (Arts. 92,
94)
• Administrative lawgivers:
- Secretariat (Chapter XV);
- ECOSOC (Chapter X);
- Trusteeship Council (Chapter
XIII);
- UNAT
POWERS*
• Characters and limits:
- organized decision-making
power;
- legislative weakness;
- preeminence of executive;
- imbalance of powers;
- veto power (Art. 27 (3)) blocking
SC decisions Chapter VII;
- weakness of judicial control
*Collective Security System not
able to guarantee respect for
global values
© Giuliana Ziccardi Capaldo, The Pillars of Global Law, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2008
Table 2: UN Charter System
UN SUPREMACY
• Preeminence of the Charter’s
obligations (Art. 103)
• Regional arrangements or
agencies (Chap. VIII)
- activities consistent with the
purposes and Principles of the UN
(Art. 52 (1));
- no enforcement action shall be
taken without the authorization of
the SC (Art. 53 (1))
• Specialized Agencies
- agreements to co-ordinate the
activities with the UN (Arts. 57,
63);
- the GA approves financial and
budgetary arrangements and
examines the administrative
budgets (Art. 17 (3))