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and Psychological School of Law is the previously mentioned Juan Bautista
Alberdi. However, while Alberdi applies it to explain the development of the
Argentine domestic legal system, Álvarez uses it to explain and justify the
development of a hemispheric-wide American International Law. Although
Alberdi and Álvarez share this school of legal philosophy, their views on American
International Law are not identical. They both see American International Law
as the set of legal principles contributed by all the American republics to foster
the development of global international law. They both agree that American
International Law should not weaken universal law and justice. Yet, here the
similarities end. Alberdi, concerned with the possible development of a double
standard of justice, sees American regional legal principles as new contributions
to global international law, but not as a distinct regional legal system.
Alternatively, Álvarez believes that American legal principles will both contribute
to the development of global law and constitute a permanent, independent
regional legal system.
Subscribing to the Social and Psychological School of Law and to its
fundamental beliefs that law emerges from society and that there is neither a
society without law nor a legal system without a social basis, Álvarez maintains
that there is both an American continental society (including the United States
and all of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean) and an American
International Law. For Álvarez, the shared formative experience of all the
American republics as they struggled for independence and diplomatic
recognition, their geographical unity and separation from Europe, and their
unique characteristics and problems created an American continental society.
This continental society, in turn, laid the foundation for the emergence of several
novel legal principles, such as the right of independence during emancipation
and the principles of non-intervention and sovereign equality during the struggle
for recognition and acceptance in the community of nations. Together, these
principles constitute a new body of hemispheric law that Álvarez calls American
International Law. Accordingly, he defines American International Law as the
regional international legal system formed by the set of institutions, norms, rules,
doctrines, agreements, customs, and practices that are peculiar to the New
World. 10
Álvarez believes that the characteristic of universality often attributed to
international law is actually neither attainable nor desirable. For him, "... the
solidarity of nations does not consist in their being guided always by the same
principles but rather … [in their being guided] by well-defined principles which
take into account the peculiar conditions of certain groups of states so that the
latter may develop in harmony with their special needs" (1909, 216).
Accordingly, since all international legal principles are not universal, there is
room for regional legal systems, such as American International Law. In this
context, American International Law does not seek to perpetuate any
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