Sources of Public International Law

This source too only serves as evidence of international law and is persuasive in nature, but the writings of scholars are given more heft perhaps than you were taught in your U.S. 1L Legal Practice class.  At the international level we embrace scholarship, but there are two things we must evaluate when considering material to use: 1) the authority and credentials of the author, and 2) the rigor, objectivity, and accuracy of the writing itself.   Unfortunately, there is no list of eminent scholars, but certain names come up again and again offered as examples; names like Brierly, Brownlie, Crawford, Oppenheim, and Shaw; and institutions like the American Law Institute, Institute of International Law, International Law Association, and the United Nations International Law Commission.