Nature and scope of international law

International law includes both the customary rules and usages to which states have given express or
tacit assent and the provisions of ratified treaties and conventions. International law is directly and
strongly influenced, although not made, by the writings of jurists and publicists, by instructions to
diplomatic agents, by important conventions even when they are not ratified, and by arbitral awards. The
decisions of the International Court of Justice and of certain national courts, such as prize courts, are
considered by some theorists to be a part of international law. In many modern states, international law is
by custom or statute regarded as part of national (or, as it is usually called, municipal) law. In addition,
municipal courts will, if possible, interpret municipal law so as to give effect to international law.
Because there is no sovereign supernational body to enforce international law, some older theorists,
including Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Pufendorf, and John Austin have denied that it is true law.
Nevertheless, international law is recognized as law in practice, and the sanctions for failing to comply,
although often less direct, are similar to those of municipal law; they include the force of public opinion,
self-help, intervention by third-party states, the sanctions of international organizations such as the United
Nations, and, in the last resort, war.
National states are fundamentally the entities with which international law is concerned, although in
certain cases municipal law may impose international duties upon private persons, e.g, the obligation to
desist from piracy. New rights and duties have been imposed on individuals within the framework of
international law by the decisions in the war crimes trials as well as the treaty establishing the
International Criminal Court (see war crimes), by the genocide convention, and by the Declaration of
Human Rights (see Economic and Social Council).