Abstract
The wide dissemination of sustainable development in international law has
generated considerable academic interest. However, because of its evasive and
flexible content academic commentary has often been at pains to ascertain
sustainable development’s legal nature, which has proved a notion rebellious to
legal classification. It is thus often seen as a political rather than a legal norm,
or as a new branch of international law. On yet another analysis, sustainable
development is to be understood as an “interstitial norm” capable of influencing
the content of primary norms, thus exerting its normative influence as an
interpretative tool in the hands of judges. Its interpretative function is certainly
very significant. Judicial bodies have used it to legitimize recourse to evolutive
treaty interpretation, as a rule of conflict resolution, or even to redefine
conventional obligations. However, beyond this convenient hermeneutical
function, by laying down an objective to strive for in hundreds of treaties,
sustainable development primarily purports to regulate state conduct. As an
objective, it lays down not an absolute but a relative obligation to achieve
sustainable development. Such obligations are known as obligations of means or
of best efforts. In other words, legal subjects are under an obligation to promote
sustainable development
generated considerable academic interest. However, because of its evasive and
flexible content academic commentary has often been at pains to ascertain
sustainable development’s legal nature, which has proved a notion rebellious to
legal classification. It is thus often seen as a political rather than a legal norm,
or as a new branch of international law. On yet another analysis, sustainable
development is to be understood as an “interstitial norm” capable of influencing
the content of primary norms, thus exerting its normative influence as an
interpretative tool in the hands of judges. Its interpretative function is certainly
very significant. Judicial bodies have used it to legitimize recourse to evolutive
treaty interpretation, as a rule of conflict resolution, or even to redefine
conventional obligations. However, beyond this convenient hermeneutical
function, by laying down an objective to strive for in hundreds of treaties,
sustainable development primarily purports to regulate state conduct. As an
objective, it lays down not an absolute but a relative obligation to achieve
sustainable development. Such obligations are known as obligations of means or
of best efforts. In other words, legal subjects are under an obligation to promote
sustainable development
| Translated title of the contribution | Revisiting the hermeneutical function of sustainable development in international law: from an hermeneutical tool to an obligation to strive for sustainable development: from an hermeneutical tool to an obligation to strive for sustainable development |
|---|---|
| Original language | French |
| Title of host publication | Droit international et développement |
| Editors | SFDI Colloque de Lyon |
| Place of Publication | Paris |
| Publisher | Pedone |
| Pages | 411-426 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-2-233-00746-9 |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2015 |
Keywords
- sustainable development