Inter Se Doctrine

Inter se Doctrine

Embracing mainstream international law, this section on inter se doctrine explores the context, history and effect of the area of the law covered here.

“The inter se doctrine, which would appear to have been obsolete (or nearly so) for a considerable period of time in all the different fields to which it applied, asserted that relations between members of the British Commonwealth were in no circumstances international, and were incapable of giving rise to rights and duties under international law. These relations were treated as being of a sui generis character, being largely governed by conventions, and as being founded on the common allegiance owed by British subjects to the Crown, which was thought to be of unitary character. The inter se doctrine only applied to relations between self-governing members of the Commonwealth. The relations between the United Kingdom and its colonies prior to their acquisition of Dominion status have never been thought of as international. The doctrine manifested itself in a number of different forms. It was of special importance in relation to treaty practice. Furthermore, one of its consequences was the supposed impropriety of submitting inter-Commonwealth disputes to international tribunals.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

1. Linda J Pike, Encyclopedia of Disputes Installment, 1987

See Also

Further Reading

• The entry “inter se doctrine” in the Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (currently, the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law, 2009), Oxford University Press