... show that the statement above is indeed correct and that international law does not exist because, as the statement proposes, international law is not imposed on states. However, it is feasible to show that the statement is flawed when we consider the number of sources available from which the rules of international law can be extracted and analysed. The ICJ's statue refers to international custom as 'evidence of a general practice accepted as law' (Article 38); this source of international law evolves when states follow certain practices generally and consistently out of a sense of legal obligation. In domestic society custom is a rather primitive source, hence, the unimportance of it; however, due to the lack of a centralised government it is paramount in international law. There are contrasting views on the value of customary law with some writers arguing that custom cannot be significant in a modern legal system ...

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