International law has remained imprecise with respect to the scope and consequences of serious, systemic illegality, but there have been developments that have made collective action under law possible. The chapter reviews the objective consequences of illegal acts, covering peremptory norms (ius cogens), the obligation not to recognize a situation as lawful, and the obligation of putting an end to an unlawful situation.
Chapter
27. Multilateral public order and issues of responsibility
Chapter
3. Hierarchy of norms in international law
This chapter examines the hierarchy of norms and sources in international law. Establishing a hierarchy of norms and sources allows for a community to elevate certain fundamental principles over ordinary norms, and to establish order and clarity in the relations between norms, authoritative institutions, and legal subjects. In the last half-century, a special class of general rules endowed with peremptory legal force has emerged. Known interchangeably as ‘peremptory norms’ or ‘norms of jus cogens’, these are regarded as possessing a higher status than ordinary rules of international law, and would prevail over the latter in cases of conflict. As such, whether an ordinary rule exists in treaty or customary law, or is a general principle, it is null and void if in conflict with a rule of jus cogens. The chapter also studies a related category known as rights or, more commonly, obligations erga omnes (‘owed to all’).
Chapter
26. Consequences of an internationally wrongful act
In the event of an internationally wrongful act by a state or other subject of international law, other states or subjects may be entitled to respond. This may be done by invoking the responsibility of the wrongdoer, seeking cessation and/or reparation, or (if no other remedy is available) possibly by taking countermeasures. This chapter discusses international law governing cessation, reparation, invocation.