Key Terms and Concepts
| civil law | the legal system in most European and South American countries which is based on doctrines and rules developed by legal scholars |
|---|---|
| common law | the legal system used in England and most of the United States which relies on prior case law to resolve disputes rather than written codes |
| compromis | more completely, a compromis d'arbitrage is the agreement governing the terms of arbitration reached by the parties in a dispute who have voluntarily agreed to submit their differences to arbitration |
| customary international law | aspects of international law derived from custom - consistent and repetitive action by nation states over time |
| estoppel | a legal doctrine that prevents a person or agency denying or asserting something that contradicts a matter of fact already established under the law |
| international law | laws that govern the conduct of independent nations in their relationships with one another |
| jurisprudence | the theory and philosophy of law |
| municipal law | the national, domestic, or internal law of a nation state as opposed to international law |
|
non liquet |
a situation where there is no applicable law, or the law is unclear |
|
opinio juris |
the second element of customary international law that is necessary to establish a legally binding custom. Opinio juris is an obligation that subjectively binds a state to the law in question. (ICJ Statute, Article 38(1)(b)). The subjective aspect of opinio juris means it is an unsettled and debated notion in international law |