posted on 2023-09-06, 02:39authored byBenjamin W. Partridge, Jr.
The law of nations is not an enactment of an international legislative body nor is it the autocratic pronouncement of an international supra-sovereign. It is, instead, the present mutually accepted body of rules which govern the conduct of and relations between the nations of the world. These rules have been established by long-accepted international practices; by unilateral actions without objections on the part of other nations, by treaties, agreements, and proclamations; by the rulings and findings of international tribunals and arbitral bodies; and, in recent years, by agreements within and the official utterances of supra-national organizations such as the United Nations.