Summaries of the Work of the International Law Commission
General principles of law
See also: Analytical Guide | Texts and Instruments
At its sixty-ninth session, in 2017, the Commission included the topic “General principles of law” in its long-term programme of work.1 A syllabus describing the possible overall structure of, and approach to, the topic was annexed to that year’s report of the Commission.2
The General Assembly, in resolution 72/116 of 7 December 2017, took note of the inclusion of the topic in the long-term programme of work of the Commission.
At its seventieth session, in 2018, the International Law Commission decided to include the topic “General principles of law” in its programme of work and appoint Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez as Special Rapporteur for the topic.3
At its seventy-first session, in 2019, the Commission had before it the first report of the Special Rapporteur,4 which addressed the scope of the topic and the main issues to be addressed in the course of the work of the Commission. The report also addressed previous work of the Commission related to general principles of law and provided an overview of the development of general principles of law over time, as well as an initial assessment of certain basic aspects of the topic. Three draft conclusions were proposed. The Commission decided to refer draft conclusions 1 to 3, as contained in the Special Rapporteur’s first report, to the Drafting Committee, taking into account the views expressed in the plenary. The Commission subsequently received an oral interim report of the Drafting Committee on draft conclusion 1, provisionally adopted by the Drafting Committee. The report was presented for information only.5
At the same session, the Commission decided to request from the Secretariat a memorandum surveying the case law of inter-State arbitral tribunals and international criminal courts and tribunals of a universal character, as well as treaties, which would be particularly relevant for its future work on the topic.6
At its seventy-second session, in 2021, the Commission had before it the second report of the Special Rapporteur,7 in which the Special Rapporteur addressed the identification of general principles of law in the sense of Article 38, paragraph 1 (c), of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and proposed six draft conclusions. The Special Rapporteur also made suggestions for the future programme of work on the topic. The Commission also had before it a memorandum by the Secretariat surveying the case law of inter-State arbitral tribunals and international criminal courts and tribunals of a universal character, as well as treaties, which would be particularly relevant for its future work on the topic.8 The Commission decided to refer draft conclusions 4 to 9, as contained in the Special Rapporteur’s second report, to the Drafting Committee, taking into account the views expressed in the plenary. The Commission subsequently considered a report of the Drafting Committee on the topic9. The Commission provisionally adopted draft conclusions 1, 2 and 4 and commentaries thereto and took note of draft conclusion 5.10
At its seventy-third session, in 2022, the Commission had before it the third report of the Special Rapporteur,11 in which the Special Rapporteur discussed the issue of transposition (Part One), general principles of law formed within the international legal system (Part Two), and the functions of general principles of law and their relationship with other sources of international law (Part Three). The Special Rapporteur proposed five draft conclusions. He also made suggestions for the future programme of work on the topic (Part Four) The Commission decided to refer draft conclusions 10 to 14, as contained in the third report, to the Drafting Committee, taking into account the views expressed in the plenary. The Commission subsequently considered the report of the Drafting Committee on the consolidated text of draft conclusions 1 to 11, provisionally adopted by the Committee.12 The Commission provisionally adopted draft conclusions 3 and 7, adopted the commentaries to draft conclusions 3, 5 and 7 and took note of draft conclusions 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11.13
At the seventy-fourth session, in 2023, the Commission adopted, on first reading, 11 draft conclusions on general principles of law, together with commentaries thereto. The Commission decided, in accordance with articles 16 to 21 of its statute, to transmit the draft conclusions, through the Secretary-General, to Governments for comments and observations, with the request that such comments and observations be submitted to the Secretary-General by 1 December 2024.
The work of the Commission on the topic as described above has been proceeding in accordance with the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly under the item relating to the report of the International Law Commission.14
1 See Yearbook … 2017, vol. II (Part Two), para. 267.
3 See Yearbook … 2018, vol. II (Part Two), para. 363.
4 Document A/CN.4/732.
5 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-fourth Session, Supplement No. 10 (A/74/10), paras. 203–206.
7 Document A/CN.4/741 and Corr.1.
8 Document A/CN.4/742.
9 Document A/CN.4/L.955 and Add.1 and Add.1/Corr.1 (Spanish only).
10 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-sixth Session, Supplement No. 10 (A/76/10), paras. 169–172.
11 Document A/CN.4/753.
12 Document A/CN.4/L.971.
13 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-seventh Session, Supplement No. 10 (A/77/10), paras. 94–99.
14 General Assembly resolutions 73/265 of 22 December 2018, 74/186 of 18 December 2019, 75/135 of 15 December 2020, 76/111 or 9 December 20212 and 77/103 of 7 December 2022.