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The Principle Pacta Sunt Servanda and the Nature of Obligation Under International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

I. I. Lukashuk*
Affiliation:
Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR

Extract

The principle that treaty obligations must be fulfilled in good faith is one aspect of the fundamental rule that requires all subjects of international law to exercise in good faith their rights and duties under that law.

In the sociopolitical sphere, this fundamental principle may be seen as manifesting the need perceived by states for an international legal system that can ensure international order and prevent arbitrary behavior and chaos. In the legal sphere, the principle is confirmation of the character of international law as law. Subjects of international law are legally bound under the principle to implement what the law prescribes.

Type
Agora: New Thinking by Soviet Scholars
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1989

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References

1 See The S.S. “Lotus,” 1927 PCIJ (ser. A) No. 10, at 18 (Judgment of Sept. 7); comments by the Government of Great Britain on the draft articles on the law of treaties between states and international organizations or between international organizations, UN Doc. A/CN.4/339/Add.8, at 4 (1981).

2 GA Res. 2625 (Oct. 24, 1970).

3 Aug. 1, 1975, 73 Dep’t St. Bull. 323 (1975), reprinted in 14 ILM 1292 (1975).

4 See Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), Merits, 1986 ICJ Rep. 14, 135, para. 270 (Judgment of June 27).

5 See 1 Voelkerrecht. Lehrbuch 129 (1981).

6 See, e.g., GA Res. 37/119 (Dec. 16, 1982).

7 Opened for signature May 23, 1969, 1155 UNTS 331.