Allgemeine Rechtsgrundsätze und die Identität des Völkerrechts

ples of law, taken from the national law of the former colonial powers, form the basis of a new - transnational - contract law. Yet discussions have not abated as to from where and how general principles are derived. In this respect, the discussion in the ILC has remained stuck in the dualism of general principles of law derived from national legal systems versus the formation of general principles of law within the international legal system. Against the background of the role of general principles in the process of decolonization, it becomes clear that the real problem is the binary thinking in categories of national and international law. This division ignores that the postcolonial use of general principles of law has created a body of law that can only be described as transnational. The situation that has arisen since the end of decolonization is now characterized by the fact that economic relations with the states of the global South have become so independent of the explicit political rule of the former colonial powers that they no longer necessarily require formal colonial titles of rule. The central goal of a contemporary theory of legal sources must therefore be to develop perspectives for a more inclusive approach in the sense of a »decolonial repertoire« that can democratize and pluralize the sources that currently feed general legal principles and customary international law.