General Principles of Law

General principles of law in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of general principles of law.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Police Work
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• general principles of law in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• general principles of law in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

Definition of General Principles of Law

In the context of international law, the legal resource A Dictionary of Law, provides a definition of General Principles of Law : According to the Statute of the *International Court of Justice, the source for rules of international law can be found in what it terms “General Principles of Law”. The majority of Western jurists consider that these principles should be based on those underlying the municipal legal systems of civilized states, especially those of Europe and the USA. These jurists also consider the general principles to be a law-creating source that is independent of either treaties or custom. Due to their possible bias towards certain Western capitalist countries, these propositions have proved highly contentious in the Third World and Socialist countries, which have endeavoured to limit the scope of the principles.