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Eben: | | |
The Weakness of International Law | |
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< | Black theorizes that it is possible to explain the quantity and style of law, defined as the “normative life of a state and its citizens,” delivered in every individual setting and across settings. (Black, 2, 6). The quantity of law, is measured by the “number and scope of prohibitions, obligations, and other standards...and by the rate of legislation, litigation, and adjudication.” (Black, 3). The style of law, whether penal, compensatory, therapeutic or conciliatory, is explicable based on the social environment in which the law operates. (Black, 4). | >
> | Black theorizes that it is possible to explain the quantity and style of law, defined as the “normative life of a state and its citizens,” delivered in every individual setting and across settings. (Black, 2, 6). The quantity of law is measured by the “number and scope of prohibitions, obligations, and other standards...and by the rate of legislation, litigation, and adjudication.” (Black, 3). The style of law, whether penal, compensatory, therapeutic or conciliatory, is explicable based on the social environment in which the law operates. (Black, 4). | | | In applying Black’s framework to explain the quantity and style of international law as it operates against countries, I realized that it is hard to conclude that international law, which derives from custom and convention, is actually law at all. | | | Thinking Beyond Law
In my summer job, I recently attended negotiations between two factions within a group opposed to a dictator in the Middle East. They had the same objective – to overthrow this man – but the majority had long denied rights and citizenship to the minority, and the minority had in turn violently agitated for independence. But the political landscape had changed, and they suddenly needed each other. | |
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< | Their history, their different languages and cultures, their perceptions of power relative to the other, the centuries of mistrust and resentment that had accrued – all were more powerful in that room than law. The lawyers present knew that, and operated within it. As the only people there not controlled or influenced by the record of discord, the lawyers for each side spotted when the parties were close on an issue, or when one side was tiring and might cave, or when one side was closing to walking out and the tone needed to be recalibrated, and in that fatiguing manner, they waded through the morass to come up with and technically draft seven points of agreement over two days. | >
> | Their history, their different languages and cultures, their perceptions of power relative to the other, the centuries of mistrust and resentment that had accrued – all were more powerful in that room than law. The lawyers present knew that, and operated within it. As the only people there not controlled or influenced by the record of discord, the lawyers for each side spotted when the parties were close on an issue, or when one side was tiring and might cave, or when one side was verging on walking out and the tone needed to be recalibrated, and in that fatiguing manner, they waded through the morass to come up with and technically draft seven points of agreement over two days. | | | Seven points of agreement over two days. None of it would have happened if the parties were unwilling to negotiate, but it was close to not happening anyway because of all of the extra baggage. There will always be baggage, though, and I can use legal training, if not the law itself, to sort through it. |
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