Law Commons^™

Separation Anxiety? Rethinking The Role Of Morality In International Human Rights Lawmaking, Vijay M. Padmanabhan

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The conventional accounts of international law do a poor job accounting for human rights. International legal positivists generally argue that there is a strict separation of law and morality, with no role for moral obligation in the validation of law. But human rights practice reveals many situations in which it appears that morality is validating legal obligation. Process theorists recognize an intrinsic role for the values underlying international law in understanding its commands. But they embrace a vision of law as dialogue that fails to protect the right to self-determination that is a core value of human rights.

This Article …