Deplano, Rossana --- "Conclusions" [2019] ELECD 2968; in Deplano, Rossana (ed), "Pluralising International Legal Scholarship" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 190

Book Title: Pluralising International Legal Scholarship

Editor(s): Deplano, Rossana

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Conclusions

Author(s): Deplano, Rossana

Number of pages: 6

Abstract/Description:

The contributions in this book have examined a range of international law issues utilizing non-doctrinal research methods, both quantitative and qualitative. Individual chapters have demonstrated how resort to non-doctrinal methods produces findings which are distinct from, but complementary to, those grounded on doctrinal analysis. Does this also demonstrate that the empirically grounded type of inquiry is ‘more scientific’ – hence, more precise – than the principled analysis of international law characterizing doctrinal research? Marija _or_eska explicitly calls for a more scientific approach to research with a view to proving or disproving axiomatic assumptions, such as the widely held view that the general principles of international law have domestic origins. Recourse to the inductive method of inquiry allowed her to single out and systematically classify general principles, eventually leading to the creation of the most comprehensive taxonomy of general principles of international law to date. She demonstrates that both the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have found evidence of general principles in both domestic and international law as well as judicial decisions. Hence, she argues that by methodically coding and classifying data, she arrived at a more scientific result. In this process, doctrinal analysis appears to have played no role, although the findings may well contribute to the development of the theory of the sources of international law.