10 The Empire of Rules

This chapter considers the constant deference to the idea of rule as the most ordinary discursive performance witnessed in the discourse on customary international law. It examines how the idea of rule dominates most arguments about customary international law, be them pertaining to the identification of customary international law or to the law that has been identified as having a customary status. It also cites the custom-formative process and the product of that process that are understood in terms of rules in international legal thought and practice. The chapter describes customary international law as a rule-governed rule-making process wherein there are rules on the identification of customary international law as well as rules of customary international law. It formulates some observations on the pull of the ruleness witnessed in the discourse on customary international law.