This book gathers the contributions presented to the first edition of the Gaetano Morelli Lectures, held in the Spring of 2014 on “the Present and Future of Jus Cogens”. The first two Chapters reproduce the two general courses by Christian Tomuschat and by Pierre-Marie Dupuy. Two short Chapters, by Enzo Cannizzaro and by Beatrice Bonafé, address topics dealt with in the final seminar class.

Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens): Disquisitions and Dispositions is a collection of contributions on various aspects of jus cogens in international law.

Whilst the concept of jus cogens has grown increasingly more important in public international law, lawyers remain hugely divided both over what precisely confers a jus cogens status on a norm, and what this conferral implies in terms of legal consequences. In this ground-breaking book, Ulf Linderfalk clearly and succinctly explores the reasons for this divide in order to facilitate more rational and productive future discourse.

Because of its unique nature, the sources of international law are not always easy to identify and interpret. This book provides an ideal introduction to these sources for anyone needing to better understand where international law comes from. As well as looking at treaties and custom, the book will look at more modern and controversial sources.

One of the most complex doctrines in contemporary international law, jus cogens is the immediate product of the socialization of the international community following the Second World War. However, the doctrine resonates in a centuries-old legal tradition which constrains the dynamics of voluntarism that characterize conventional international law. To reconcile this modern iteration of individual-oriented public order norms with the traditionally state-based form of international law, Thomas Weatherall applies the idea of a social contract to structure the analysis of jus cogens into four areas: authority, sources, content and enforcement. The legal and political implications of this analysis give form to jus cogens as the product of interrelation across an individual-oriented normative framework, a state-based legal order, and values common to the international community as a whole.

The Oxford ILDC online database, an online collection of domestic court decisions which apply international law, has been providing scholars with insights for many years. This ILDC Casebook is the perfect companion, introducing key court decisions with brief introductory and connecting texts. An ideal text for practitioners, judged, government officials, as well as for students on international law courses, the ILDC Casebook explains the theories and doctrines underlying the use by domestic courts of international law, and illustrates the key importance of domestic courts in the development of international law.

In this volume Dinah Shelton considers jus cogens, its place in legal scholarship from Grotius to the present day, and its use in various domestic courts.