Non-binding International Law

Abstract

Abstract: Non-binding legal rules are a set of rules included in documents that do not constitute official binding sources of law according to paragraph 1 of Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. These positions do not have binding legal force، but they can nevertheless have certain (indirect) legal consequences and aim to achieve these consequences and lead to them. These rules have always been the subject of jurisprudential debate among Western legal scholars، some of whom have refused to call them law because there is no non-binding law. Either there is binding law or there is no law. While others have gone so far as to say that the effectiveness of these rules in achieving the desired goals should be investigated and the issue of investigating their legality should be ignored. This jurisprudential opinion focuses on the many advantages provided by non-binding law that neither treaties nor custom can provide. Therefore، the majority opinion goes to defending these rules and overlooking their flaws.