International law

International law is the system of norms regulating relations among states, peoples and international organisations; there is no “world government” above states, so states themselves create these norms by agreement. Its main sources are the international treaty (a written agreement) and international custom (long practice accepted as legally binding); documents of international organisations can be an additional source when they are set as binding for the participants. Its principles include non-use of force or threat of force, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference in internal affairs, equality and self-determination of peoples, good-faith performance of obligations, inviolability of borders, territorial integrity and respect for human rights. Public international law governs relations of states and international organisations, while private international law governs civil relations between citizens and companies of different countries (for example a sale contract with a foreign firm). Under Uzbekistan’s Constitution, foreign policy rests on generally recognised principles such as sovereign equality, non-use of force, inviolability of borders, peaceful settlement of disputes and non-interference; these principles are also set out in documents such as the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Helsinki Final Act. National legal systems differ: in the continental (Romano-Germanic) family the main source is statute, in the common-law (Anglo-American) family court precedent matters greatly, and in some systems religious or customary norms play a large role; in practice systems borrow much from each other.