International Organizations and Customary International Law

Abstract

It is a privilege to be invited to deliver this lecture in honor of Jonathan Charney. Professor Charney was, of course, one of this country's most respected public international lawyers, both at home and abroad. Described as "one of the leading international legal scholars of his generation," 1 he was also an inspiring teacher. 2 Particularly relevant to my subject today, Charney had a special interest in the sources of international law, including customary international law and the role of international organizations. He was famously a persistent objector to the "persistent objector rule." He devised and coedited the invaluable International Maritime Boundaries series. This publication, now in its seventh volume and stretching over some 5,000 pages, is an essential resource for anyone dealing with maritime delimitation. He has written on Kosovo and on Antarctica. These are all matters that I have followed closely myself, and so I have a particular interest in his work. My subject today is "International Organizations and Customary International Law" - that is, the role of international organizations in relation to the formation and determination of rules of customary international law. Charney devoted a good part of his well-known article on "Universal International Law" to what he termed "contemporary international law-making." By that, he meant chiefly law-making within "international forums" - that is, within organs of international organizations and at international conferences. He starts the discussion from the somewhat heretical position that while customary law is still created ...