• • • • • • • 3. Judicial decisions of State courts, official State documents such as military, naval and air-force manuals. Acts or declarations by representatives of States, opinions of legal advisers. Bilateral and regional treaties. Decisions of international arbitral tribunals. Decisions of other international courts such as the International Tribunal for Law of the Sea, the World Trade Organization’s dispute body. The findings and resolutions of mixed claims commissions. Juristic works as a subsidiary means for determining the rules of law. General principles of law International courts and tribunals have traditionally considered general principles as a source of international law, relying upon judicial reason and logic to ‘discover’ the normative rule. Examples are to be found in the jurisprudence of the Permanent Court of International Justice that recognised the obligation of States to make reparations on breach of the law in the Chorzow Factory (Indemnity) case (1928) PCIJ, Series A, No 17, page 29. In the Mavrommatis Palestine Concessions case, the Court adopted the general principle of subrogation (1924) PCIJ, Series A, No 2, page 28 and in the Diversion of Water from the Mews case, Judge Hudson considered that Anglo-American equitable doctrines could be applied as general principles. A private law doctrine of trusts was, for example, employed to develop the concept of mandates and trusteeship in the Advisory Opinion on the Status of South West Africa case (ICJ 1950, 146-150). General principles of international law might also include procedural and evidentiary issues where they are of a general character and not confined to a particular legal system. International arbitrators in disputes such as the Texaco Case have adopted general obligations of international commercial law. Here the arbitrator recognised the concept of an “internationalised contract”, applying general principles of contract law to substantiate his legal conclusions. 4. Judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists A subsidiary means of determining the rules of law are to be found in the decisions of international courts and tribunals and in the analysis of international law in the writings of jurists. While international decisions have greater weight, the writings of jurists are important in describing and analysing evolving norms and can be particularly important in identifying principles of international human rights law. In reaching a view on issues referred to it the ACJ is thus able to consult eminent jurists to clarify their understanding of the law. 35