The Oxford Handbook on the Sources of International Law

The question of the sources of international law inevitably raises some well-known scholarly controversies: where do the rules of international law come from? And more precisely: through which processes are they made, how are they ascertained, and where does the international legal order begin and end? These traditional questions bear on at least two different levels of understanding. First, how are international norms validated as rules of international "law", i.e. legally binding norms? This is the static question of the pedigree of international legal rules and the boundaries of the international legal order. Second, what are the processes through which these rules are made? This is the dynamic question of the making of these rules and of the exercise of public authority in international law.


The Oxford Handbook on the Sources of International Law is the very first comprehensive work of its kind devoted to the question of the sources of international law. It provides an accessible and systematic overview of the key issues and debates around the sources of international law. It also offers an authoritative theoretical guide for anyone studying or working within but also outside international law wishing to understand one of its most foundational questions. Thisandbook features original essays by leading international law scholars and theorists from a range of traditions, nationalities and perspectives, reflecting the richness and diversity of scholarship in this area.

Jean d'Aspremont, Professor of Public International Law at the University of Manchester, ,Samantha Besson, Professor of Public International Law and European Law at the University of Fribourg,

Professor Samantha Besson holds the Chair of Public International Law and European Law at the University of Fribourg. She studied in Fribourg, Oxford, Bern and New York. She has taught as a visiting professor at the Universities of Oxford, Geneva, Zurich, Duke, Lausanne, and Lisbon. She has also been working in different capacities for The Hague Academy of International Law, first as the Coordinator of the Annual Seminar for Practitioners between 2009 and 2013 and, most recently, as a Director of Studies in July 2013.

Professor Jean d'Aspremont is Chair of Public International Law at the University of Manchester. He also holds a Chair of International Legal Theory at the University of Amsterdam. He studied in Cambridge and Louvain. Before moving to Amsterdam and Manchester, he was Assistant Professor of International Law at the University of Leiden and Director of the LL.M. in Public International Law. He also used to be Guest Professor at the University of Louvain as well as at the University of Lille. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Leiden Journal of International Law.