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Mr. Cezary Mik

Mr. Cezary Mik
Professor of International Law and European Law
Head of the Chair of International and European Law
Faculty of Law and Administration, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University

Biography Biography in PDF

International Law
General International Law
Application of the Principle
of pacta sunt servanda to
Other Sources of International Law
Video | Audio
(27/10/2022, 44 minutes)

The Principle of pacta sunt servanda
in International Law
Video | Audio
(27/10/2022, 54 minutes)
International Law
General International Law
Application of the Principle of pacta sunt servanda to
Other Sources of International Law
A. Legal Instruments

Charter of the United Nations, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco, 24 October 1945.

Charter of the Organization of American States, Bogota, on 30 April 1948, Treaty Series, vol. 119, p. 3.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331.

Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations (A/RES/2625(XXV)), New York, 24 October 1970.

International Law Commission, Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, 2001.

International Law Commission, Guiding Principles Applicable to Unilateral Declarations of States Capable of Creating Legal Obligations, 2006.

International Law Commission, Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, 2011.

International Law Commission, Conclusions on Identification of Customary International Law, 2018.

B. Jurisprudence

International Court of Justice, North Sea Continental Shelf, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Nuclear Tests (New Zealand v. France), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1974, p. 457.

International Court of Justice, Nuclear Tests (Australia v. France), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1974, p. 253.

International Court of Justice, Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Gulf of Maine Area, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 246.

International Court of Justice, Continental Shelf (Libyan Arab Jarnahiriya/Malta), Application to Intervene, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain, Jurisdiction and Admissibility, Judgment, I. C. J. Report 1994, p. 112.

International Court of Justice, Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain, Jurisdiction and Admissibility, Judgment, I. C. J. Report 1995, p. 6.

International Court of Justice, Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain, Merits, Judgment, I. C. J. Report 2001, p. 40.

International Court of Justice, Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (New Application: 2002) (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Rwanda), Jurisdiction and Admissibility, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2006, p. 6.

International Court of Justice, Territorial and Maritime Dispute between Nicaragua and Honduras in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Honduras), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2007, p. 659.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon, The Prosecutor v. Ayyash et al., Appeals Chamber, Interlocutory Decision on the Applicable Law: Terrorism, Conspiracy, Homicide, Perpetration, Cumulative Charging, Case No.: STL-11-01/I, 16 February 2011 (“Applicable Law”), para. 118.

International Court of Justice, Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2012, p. 99.

International Court of Justice, Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia), Judgment, 21 April 2022.

C. Documents

United Nations Millennium Declaration (A/RES/55/2), 18 September 2000.

Fifth report on unilateral acts of states, by Mr. Victor Rodríguez Cedeño, Special Rapporteur (A/CN.4/525 and.1 and 2, reproduced in Yearbook of the International Law Commission 2002, vol. II, Part One).

2005 World Summit Outcome (A/RES/60/1), 24 October 2005.

D. Doctrine

M. Adenas, M. Fitzmaurice, A. Tanzi, J. Wouters (eds.), General Principles and the Coherence of International Law, Brill/Nijhoff, London-Boston, 2019.

A. Alvarez-Jiménez, “Methods for the Identification of Customary International Law in the International Court of Justice’s New Millenium Jurisprudence: 2000–2009”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 60 (3), 2011, pp. 681-712.

C. F. Amerasinghe, Principles of the Institutional Law of International Organizations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005.

G. Arangio-Ruiz, The Declaration on Friendly Relations and the System of the Sources of International Law, Sijthoff/Noordhoff, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1979.

J. d’Asprement Lynden, «Les travaux de la Commission du droit international relatifs aux actes unilatéraux des Etats», Revue Générale de Droit International Public, vol. 109 (1), 2005, p. 163.

O. Barsalou, «Les actes unilatéraux étatiques en droit international public: Observations sur quelques incertitudes théoriques et pratiques», Canadian Yearbook of International Law, vol. 44, 2006, pp. 395-420.

G. Bastid Burdeau, «Quelques remarques sur la notion de droit dérivé en droit international», in: Droit du Pouvoir, Pouvoir du Droit: Mélanges Offerts à Jean Salmon, Éditions E. Bruylant, Bruxelles, 2007.

S. Besson, J. d’Asprement (eds.), The Oxford Handbook on the Sources of International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017.

C. A Bradley (ed.), Custom’s Future:International law in a Changing World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016.

J.-P. Cot, A. Pellet, M. Forteau (coord.), La Charte des Nations Unies: Commentaire article par article, vol. I, Éditions ECONOMICA, Paris, 2005.

J. Dehaussy, Propos sur les sources du droit international: L’exercice de la function normatrice dans un ordre juridique singuilier, Éditions A. Pédone, Paris, 2017.

G. Distefano, Fundamentals of Public International Law: A Sketch of the International Legal Order, Brill-Nijhoff, Leiden-Boston, 2019.

M. Dordeska, General Principles of Law Recognized by Civilized Nations (1922-2018), Brill-Nijhoff, Leiden-Boston, 2020.

C. Focarelli, International Law as Social Construct: The Struggle for Global Justice, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012.

C. Goldman, “Acta sunt servanda? A Regime for Regulating the Unilateral Acts of States at International Law”, Australian Year Book of International Law, vol. 25, 2006, p.43.

T. Hassan, “Good Faith in Treaty Formation”, Virginia Journal of International Law 21 (3), 1980, p. 443.

E. Kassoti, The Juridical Nature of Unilateral Acts of States in International Law, Brill-Nijhoff, Leiden-Boston, 2015.

J. Klabbers, A. Wallendahl (eds.), Research Handbook on the Law of International Organizations, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2011.

B. A. Kuzmarov, Unilateral Acts: A History of a Legal Doctrine, London-New York: Routledge, 2020.

B. D. Lepard, Customary International Law: A New Theory with Practical Applications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010.

M. H. Mendelson, “The Formation of Customary International Law”, Recueil des Cours de l'Academie de Droit Internationale, vol. 272, 1998.

F. O. Raimondo, General Principles of Law in the Decisions of International Criminal Courts and Tribunals, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden-Boston, 2008.

I. Saunders, General Principles as a Source of International Law, Hart Publishing, Oxford-London-New York-New Dehli-Sydney, 2021.

M. P. Scharf, Customary International Law in Times of Fundamental Changes: Recognizing Grotian Moments, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013.

H. G. Schermers, N. M. Blokker, International Institutional Law: Unity within Diversity, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden-Boston, 2011.

B. Schlütter, Developments in Customary International Law: Theory and Practice of the International Court of Justice and the International Ad Hoc Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden-Boston, 2010.

B. Simma, D.-E. Khan, G. Nolte, A. Paulus (eds.), The United Nations Charter: A Commentary, vol. I, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012.

P. Saganek, Unilateral Acts in Public International Law, Brill-Nijhoff, Leiden-Boston, 2016.

S. Talmon, “Determining Customary International Law: The ICJ’s Methodology between Induction, Deduction and Assertion”, European Journal of International Law, vol. 26 (2), 2015, pp. 417-443.

H. Thirlway, The Sources of International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019.

C. Tomuschat, “Unilateral Acts under International Law”, in: K. Meziou and others (eds.), Droits et cultures: Mélanges en l’honneur du Doyen Yadh Ben Achour, Centre de publication universitaire, Tunis, 2008.

J. E. Viñuales (ed.), The UN Friendly Relations Declaration at 50: An Assessment of the Fundamental Principles of International Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2020.

A. C. Voigt, “The Role of General Principles in International Law and their Relationship to Treaty Law”, Retfærd Årgang, vol. 31(2), 2008, pp. 3-25.

K. Wolfke, Custom in the Present International Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht-Boston-London, 1993.

E. Other Documents

The Principle of pacta sunt servanda in International Law
A. Legal Instruments

London Protocol 1871, a treaty between Germany, Austro-Hungary, Great Britain, Italy, Russia and Turkey, London, 17 January 1871.

Covenant of the League of Nations, League of Nations, Paris, 28 April 1919, Official Journal, 1st year, No. 1, February 1920, p. 3.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331.

Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties, Vienna, 23 August 1978, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1946, p. 3.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Montego Bay, 10 December 1982, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1833, p. 3.

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, New York, 10 December 1984, United Nations, reaty Series, vol. 1465, p. 85.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations (A/CONF.129/15), Vienna, 21 March 1986.

Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization, Marrakesh, 15 April 1994, annex 2, United Nations, Treaty Series, vols. 1867, 1868, 1869.

Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, New York, 21 May 1997, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2999.

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, Paris, 20 October 2005, United Nations, Treaty Seriesvol. 2440, p. 311.

European Social Charter (revised) (ETS No. 163), Strasbourg, 3 May 1996.

International Law Commission, Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, 2001.

International Law Commission, Guidelines on the Provisional Application of Treaties, 2017.

International Law Commission, Conclusions on Identification of Customary International Law, 2018.

B. Jurisprudence

Van Bokkelen (U.S.) v. Haiti, May 24, 1888, in Moore John Bassett, History and Digest of the International Arbitrations to which the United States has been a Party, together with Appendices containing the Treaties, relating to such Arbitrations, and Historical and Legal Notes on other International Arbitrations ancient and modern, and on the Domestic.

Commissions of the United States for the Adjustment of International Claims, Washington:  Government Printing Office, 1898, pp. 1807, 1822.

Permanent Court of Arbitration, The North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Case (Great Britain / United States of America), Award,  Case No. 1909-01, September 7, 1910.

Affaire entre l’Allemagne et la Lithuanie concernant la nationalité de diverses personnes (Allemagne contre Lithuanie), 10 août 1937, Report of International Arbitral Awards, vol. III, pp. 1719-1764.

International Court of Justice, North Sea Continental Shelf, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Nuclear Tests (New Zealand v. France), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1974, p. 457.

International Court of Justice, Nuclear Tests (Australia v. France), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1974, p. 253.

International Court of Justice, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Judgment, I.C. J. Reports 1986, p. 14.

International Court of Justice, Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungaryl v. Slovakia), Judgment, I.C. J. Reports 1997, p. 7.

European Court of Human Rights, Janowski v. Poland (NO. 2), Application no. 25716/94, (Grand Chamber, 21 January 1999).

World Trade Organization, DS34: Turkey — Restrictions on Imports of Textile and Clothing Products, WT/DS34/14, 19 July 2001.

World Trade Organization, DS46: Brazil — Export Financing Programme for Aircraft, Panel Report pursuant to Article 21.5 of the DSU, WT/DS46/29, 28 August 2001.

European Court of Human Rights, Janowski v. Poland, Application no. 49033/99, (Fourth Section, 23 September 2003).

Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Rhine Chlorides Arbitration concerning the Auditing of Accounts (The Netherlands/France), Award, Case No. 2000-02, 12 March 2004.

International Court of Justice, Certain Questions of Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Djibouti v. France), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2008, p. 177.

International Court of Justice, Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2010, p. 14.

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Responsibilities and obligations of States with respect to activities in the Area, Advisory Opinion, ITLOS Reports 2011, p. 10.

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Delimitation of the maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal (Bangladesh/Myanmar), Judgment, ITLOS Reports 2012, p. 4.

International Court of Justice, Questions relating to the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite (Belgium v. Senegal), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2012, p. 422.

European Court of Human Rights, Al Nashiri v. Poland, Application no. 28761/11 (Fourth Section, 24 July 2014).

Permanent Court of Arbitration, Arbitration Between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia, Partial Award, Case No. 2012-04, 30 June 2016.

Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Arctic Sunrise Arbitration (Netherlands v. Russia), Award on Compensation, Case No. 2014-02, 10 July 2017.

International Court of Justice, Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya), Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2017, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia), Judgment, 21 April 2022.

C. Documents

Harvard Draft Convention on the Law of Treaties, Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1950, vol. II, appendix A.

International Law Commission, Draft conclusions on identification and legal consequences of peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens), in Report on the work of the seventy-third session, 18 April–3 June and 4 July–5 August 2022, A/77/10, para. 43.

D. Doctrine

A. Aust, “Pacta Sunt Servanda”, in: R. Wolfrum (ed.), The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, vol. VIII, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012.

C. H. Alexandrowicz, The Law of Nations in Global History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017.

P. d’Argent, «Les obligations internationales», Recueil des Cours de l'Académie de Droit International de La Haye (RCADI), vol. 417, 2021.

J. d’Asprement, S. Singh, Concepts for International Law. Contributions to Disciplinary Thought, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham-Northampton, 2019.

D. J. Bederman, International Law in Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007.

E. Bjorge, The Evolutionary Interpretation of Treaties, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014.

E. Cannizarro (ed.), The Law of Treaties Beyond the Vienna Convention, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011.

B. Cheng, General Principles of Law as Applied by International Courts and Tribunals, Grotius Publications Ltd, Cambridge, 1987.

J. F. O’Connor, Good Faith in International Law, Dartmouth, Aldershot, 1991.

J. P. Cot, «La Bonne Foi et la Conclusion des Traités», Revue Belge de Droit International, vol. 4, 1968, p. 140.

O. Corten, P. Klein (eds.), The Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties, vol. I and II, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011.

J. Crawford, “Chance, Order, Change: The Course of International Law”, RCADI, vol. 365, 2013.

J. Crawford, “Multilateral Rights and Obligations in International Law”, RCADI, vol. 319, 2006.

G. Distefano, «Le Protocole de Londres du 17 janvier 1871: miroir du droit international», Journal of the History of International Law, vol. 6 (1), 2004, pp. 79-142.

O. Dörr, K. Schmalenbach (eds.), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, 2018.

T. O. Elias, The Modern Law of Treaties, Oceana-Sijthoff, New York-Leiden, 1974.

M. Fitzmaurice, “The Identification and Character of Treaties and Treaty Obligation Between States in International Law”, British Year Book of International Law, vol. 73, 2002.

M. Fitzmaurice, “Third Parties and the Law of Treaties”, Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, vol. 6, 2002.

M. Fitzmaurice, O. Elias, Contemporary Issues in the Law of Treaties, Eleven International Publishing, Utrecht, 2005.

R. Gardiner, Treaty Interpretation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008.

D. B. Hollis (ed.), The Oxford Guide to Treaties, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020.

T. P. Ion, “Sanctity of Treaties”, Yale Law Journal, vol. 20, 1910, p. 268.

H. Kelsen, Principles of International Law, Reinhart and Company, New York, 1952.

R. Kolb, Esquisse d’un droit international public des anciennes cultures extra européennes, Éditions A. Pédone, Paris, 2010.

R. Kolb, Good Faith in International Law, Hart Publishing, Oxford-London-New York-New Dehli-Sydney, 2017.

R. Kolb, Theory of International Law, Hart Publishing, Oxford-Portland, 2016.

E. Kontorovich, F. Parisi (eds.), Economic Analysis of International Law, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham-Northampton, 2018.

P. Kovács, “Relativities in Unilateralism and Bilateralism of the International Law of Antiquity”, Journal of the History of International Law, vol. 6(2), 2004.

J. L. Kunz, “The Meaning and the Range of the Norm Pacta Sunt Servanda”, American Journal of International Law, vol. 39(2), 1945, pp. 180-197.

M. Lachs, “Pacta Sunt Servanda”, in: R. Bernhardt (ed.), Encyclopedia of Public International Law, vol. 7, North Holland, Amsterdam-New York-London, 1984.

R. Lesaffer, “The Medieval Canon Law of Contract and Early Modern Treaty Law”, Journal of the History of International Law, vol. 2(2), 2000.

I. I. Lukashuk, “The Principle Pacta Sunt Servanda and the Nature of Obligation Under International Law”, American Journal of International Law, vol. 83(3), 1989, pp. 513-518.

P. S. de Leon, Les présomptions judiciaires en droit international public, Éditions A. Pédone, Paris, 2015.

D. Magnetti, “Function of the Oath in the Ancient Near Eastern International Treaty”, The American Journal of International Law, vol. 72(4), 1978.

C. Mik, “Pactum de negotiando and pactum de contrahendo as international obligations in the present international law”, Polish Yearbook of International Law 2020, vol. 40.

C. Mik, “Provisional Application of Treaties: From the Vienna Convention to the UN ILC Guide and Beyond”, Polish Review of International and European Law, vol. 11(1), 2022.

A. D. Mitchell, M. Sornarajah, T. Voon (eds.), Good Faith and International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015.

Lord McNair, The Law of Treaties, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1961.

A. Orakhelashvili, S. Williams (eds.), 40 Years of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London, 2010.

M. Panizzon, Good Faith in the Jurisprudence of the WTO: The Protection of Legitimate Expectations, Good Faith Interpretation and Fair Dispute Settlement, Hart Publishing, Oxford and Portland, 2006.

A. Quast Mertsch, Provisionally Applied Treaties: Their Binding Force and Legal Nature, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden-Boston, 2012.

K. Raustiala, “Form and Substance in International Agreements”, American Journal of International Law, vol. 99(3), 2005.

S. Reinhold, “Good Faith in International Law”, UCL Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, vol. 2, 2013.

P. Reuter, Introduction to the Law of Treaties, Kegal Paul International, London-New York, 1995.

H. Thirlway, The Sources of International Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019.

C. Tomuschat, “Pacta sunt servanda”, in: A. Fischer-Lescano, H.-P. Gasser, Th. Marauhn, N. Ronzotti (Hrsg.), Frieden in Freiheit. Peace in liberty. Paix en liberté, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 2008.

J. P. Trachtman, The Economic Structure of International Law, Harvard University Press, Cambridge-London, 2008.

M. E. Villiger, Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden-Boston, 2009.

H. Wehberg, “Pacta sunt servanda”, American Journal of International Law, vol. 53(4), 1959, pp. 775-786.

J. B. Whitton, «La règle ‘pacta sunt servanda’», RCADI, vol. 49, 1934.

A. R Ziegler, J. Baumgartner, “Good Faith as a General Principle of (International) Law”, in: A. D. Mitchell, M. Sornarajah, T. Voon (eds.), Good Faith and International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015.

E. Zoller, La Bonne Foi en Droit International Public, Éditions A. Pédone, Paris, 1977.

E. Other Documents

International Committee of the Red Cross, The Geneva Conventions and their Commentaries.