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“. . . to codify American International Law”; and the 1938 Declaration of Lima
(Sánchez i Sánchez 1943, 130-131). 30
Some of the doctrinal statements supporting the existence of American
International Law include, not surprisingly, those made by Álvarez, U.S. scholar
Charles G. Fenwick, and many other Latin American jurists in their own legal
treatises. For instance, in his books Le droit international américain (American
International Law) and El Nuevo Derecho (The New Law), Álvarez asserts that
the set of international principles, institutions, practices, doctrines, conventions,
customs, and even problems unique to the American republics constitute a
continental international law neither inherently opposed to nor separate from
global international law (1962a, 76). Similarly, in his own treatises about the
Organization of American States and the Inter-American System, Fenwick adds
that several inter-American treaties, which are legitimate sources of international
law, confirm the existence of American International Law. In this context,
Álvarez and Fenwick counter the argument that many early regional treaties
remained un-ratified by asserting that most of the key inter-American treaties of
the twentieth century have been ratified. Specifically, Fenwick refers to the 1948
Charter of the Organization of American States, which he describes as a
summary of Inter-American Law. 31 Other doctrine-like statements include (1)
the declarations made by many Western Hemisphere leaders and diplomats,
such as Thomas Jefferson, Carlos Calvo, CarlosTejedor, Luis María Drago,
Gerónimo Estrada, Báltazar Brum, and Carlos Saavedra-Lamas, who have
proclaimed new international legal principles and (2) the writings of several non-
Western Hemisphere scholars who have also accepted and proclaimed the
existence of a hemispheric-wide American International Law, such as Franz Von
Liszt, Franz von Holtzendorff, Paul Fauchille, Karl Strupp, and Georges Scelle. 32
All of the arguments presented by Álvarez and those who support the
existence of American International Law are inspired and strongly endorsed by
both the Jus-Naturalist and Social and Psychological schools of legal philosophy.
The Jus-Naturalist School of Law imposes on the American republics a moral
obligation to exercise "civil disobedience" against the unjust norms of traditional
Euro-centric international law that sought to perpetuate the supremacy of the
colonial powers. This school of law also grants the American republics the right
to continue to propose new fairer principles to reform international law. The
Social and Psychological School of Law asserts the right of the American
republics to reform global law and to develop a regional legal system that will
address their needs and be responsive to their social, cultural, economic, and
political characteristics and aspirations.
The continued evolution of international law supports the position of
Álvarez and his intellectual allies. Today, key global international agreements
recognize the right of regions to have their own legal systems, and many
regional treaties and organizations, such as those establishing the Inter-
American System and the European Union, confirm the existence of regional
43