Prosper Weil and the Mask of Classicism

Prosper Weil's scintillating intervention of 1983 warned against pathological doctrinal tendencies that threatened to "disable international law from fulfilling what have always been its proper functions." Weil concluded his sweeping critique of these supposed pathologies with an urgent call for remedial action: "[A]ll is not yet lost. There is still time for jurists to react." But, as José Alvarez points out in his contribution to this symposium, the manifestations of "relative normativity" that Weil decried-such as the doctrine of jus cogens and the transmutation of customary law into universal law-have only entrenched themselves more firmly in the decades since his famous article was published. So, what is the point of engaging with "Towards Relative Normativity in International Law?" today beyond its historical significance as a celebrated, but ultimately failed, rallying cry against the doctrinal revolution that has swept over international law in the period since decolonization?