1. A principle widely recognized by peoples whose legal order has attained a certain level of sophistication.
2. Int’l law. A principle that gives rise to international legal obligations.
“[T]he adjective ‘general’ does not refer to several or many orders [i.e., legal systems] as do the general principles of national law, but indicates principles which are applied generally in all cases of the same kind which arise in international law (e.g. the principle of nonintervention).” Hermann Mosler, “General Principles of Law,” in 2 Encyclopedia of Public International Law 512, 512 (1995).
3. A principle recognized in all kinds of legal relations, regardless of the legal system to which it belongs (state law, federal law, international law, etc.).
— Also termed general legal principle.
