Nearly always, the first question asked about international law is, how can it be law if it cannot be enforced? One of effective the enforcement mechanism of international law is the supervision over application of international obligations. In the side of international supervision by international organizations, national supervision, specially, the role of national courts in the application of international law carries great promise for the enforcement of international norms.
Although the initiative taken by the Institut de Droit International to address the role of national courts, and to outline principles that would enhance judges willingness to apply international law is a very welcome one. Yet even the optimists would conced that there are several legal and political obstacles to reach that goal.
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