This book addresses conflicts involving different normative orders: What happens
when international law prohibits behavior, but the same behavior is nonetheless
morally justified or warranted? Can the actor concerned ignore international law
under appeal to morality? Can soldiers escape legal liability by pointing to honor?
Can accountants do so under reference to professional standards? How, in other
words, does law relate to other normative orders? The assumption behind this
book is that law no longer automatically claims supremacy, but that actors can
pick and choose which code to follow. The novelty resides not so much in identifying
conflicts, but in exploring whether, when, and how different orders can
be used intentionally. In doing so, the book covers conflicts between legal orders
and conflicts involving law and honor, self-regulation, lex mercatoria, local social
practices, bureaucracy, religion, professional standards, and morality.
Jan Klabbers has taught international law at the University of Helsinki since 1996
and has held visiting professorships in New York, Geneva, and Paris. He was director
of the Centre of Excellence in Global Governance Research from 2006 to
2011 and has won a number of awards for excellence in teaching. He received
his doctorate from the University of Amsterdam (with distinction), and his main
publications include The Concept of Treaty in International Law (1996), An
Introduction to International Institutional Law (2nd ed. 2009), Treaty Conflict
and the European Union (2008), and, as coauthor, The Constitutionalization of
International Law (2009).