THE DYNAMICS OF THE JURISPRUDENCE OF CONSUETUDINARY LAW AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

Abstract

There has been an increased jurisprudential discussion on the nexus and disjunction between consuetudinary law and international law. This discourse is heightened by the complicity that exists based on their varied legal status, uncertain behavior, indeterminate structure and convoluted understanding of these concepts by scholars. One key problem is the right understanding of consuetudinary law which is linked to the uncertainty of its character unlike the composition and structural form of a statute. Another problem is the creation of consuetudinary law which is fundamentally formed by long usage and that makes its legal validity murky and nebulous. Related to the foregoing is the difficulty in the identification of the intrinsic rules of consuetudinary law as regards to how these rules manage and control the behavior of citizens and their States and whether States are legally bound by the rules of consuetudinary international law. This paper seeks to offer jurisprudential analysis of the dynamics of consuetudinary law and international law. This paper submits that jurisprudential postulations about the legal character, standards, and rationality of consuetudinary law and international law sometimes lead to only murky and obscure understanding of these laws.