STARE DECISIS OR SELECTIVE USE OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS?: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS AS SOURCES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to review some opinions of highly qualifiedpublicists and certain judicial decisions from international tribunals, withthe object to analyze which is the legal weight, in terms of sources of international law, of judicial decisions. The proposal of the article is to analyze, from the perspective of the school of legal realism, what is the international law in the books, what is in the international law in action, and what is the relation between them, with respect to the legal weight of judicial decisions. The conclusion of the article is that judicial decisions are a fundamental part of the development of International Law, and hence arbitrators and judges should be familiarized with them in order to fulfill their vital function in the process of adjudication: knowing and applying International Law.