Lo sviluppo dei principi generali di diritto nel tempo

Drawing inspiration from a recent case, this paper aims at determining how international law produced by general principles of law common to national legal systems develops over time. In particular, the question arises as to whether the development of national laws entails, per se, a corresponding development of general principles in the international legal system, or whether these principles, once incorporated in that legal system, break the link with their original legal turf. A key role in this analysis is played by the legal nature of the referral contained in article 38, par. 1, (c), of the Statute of the International Court of Justice to the “principles of law recognized by civilized nations”. The analysis is concluded by a few remarks on some of the theoretical implications of this particular process of international law-making.