The municipal codes of well over a dozen countries expressly provide for the application of the general principles of law in the absence of specific legal provisions or of custom, and the Statute of the International Court of Justice stipulates that 'the general principles of law recognised by civilised nations' constitute one of the sources of international law to be applied by the Court; but the exact meaning and scope of this section of the Statute have always been a subject of controversy amongst international lawyers. In this printing of his classic 1953 work, Professor Bin Cheng inquires into the practical application of these principles by international courts and tribunals since the beginning of modern international arbitration with the Jay Treaty of 1794, and presents them as a coherent body of fundamental principles that in fact furnish the international legal system with its juridical basis. Citations from nearly 600 international arbitral and judicial decisions amply
Hersch Lauterpacht (1897–1960) was one of the most prolific and influential international lawyers of the early twentieth century. His valuable work enhanced relations with the United States during the Second World War and he was active after the war in the prosecution of William Joyce and the major Nazi war criminals. In 1955 he was elected a judge of the International Court of Justice. This set includes two of his classic works, along with his biography, brought together in paperback for the first time: Recognition in International Law (1947), The Development of International Law by the International Court (1958) and The Life of Hersch Lauterpacht (2010). This collection will be of great interest to lawyers and historians alike.
