As an advisory, political and representative body, the UN General Assembly is “empowered to make recommendations”; it cannot codify international law or adopt binding resolutions. [47] [48] Only internal decisions, such as budgetary issues, can be binding on the functioning of the General Assembly itself. Violations of the UN charter by UN members may be raised by the aggrieved state at the General Assembly. The first positivist school stressed the importance of customs and treaties as sources of international law. Alberico Gentili of the 16th century used historical examples to assert that the positive law (jus voluntarium) was determined by general approval. Cornelius van Bynkershoek asserted that the basis of international law was customs and treaties that were universally recognized by different states, while John Jacob Moser stressed the importance of state practice in international law. The school of positivism has limited the range of international practices that could be considered a law and has promoted rationality in relation to morality and ethics. The Vienna Congress of 1815 marked the formal recognition of the political and international legal system on the basis of the European situation. 37 The adoption and authentication of a text, whether by its inclusion in the last act of a conference or by any other means, may involve the signature or paragraph of one of the last acts or text (see art.
9, 10 VCLT). However, such a signature should not be confused with a possible second signing of the treaty, in order to motivate a state`s agreement to be bound by it, which is part of the second phase of the constitution of a contract which is dealt with in paragraphs 52 to 55 below (and which is governed by Article 12 of the VCLT). Such a signature for authentication does not constitute an expression of consent and bound consent and does not require a state to consider signing and/or ratifying the treaty. During the transitional period between the signing of an international treaty, a state is required not to miss the purpose and purpose of a contract it has signed (see below, paragraph 48). Developments in the 17th century worsened with the “peace of Westphalia” in 1648, considered a pioneering event in international law. The resulting “Westphalian sovereignty” founded the current international legal order, characterized by independent sovereign entities known as “nation states,” which, regardless of size and power, have regal equality, defined primarily by the inviolability of borders and non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. From that time on, the concept of a sovereign nation-state developed rapidly and with it the development of complex relationships that required predictable and widely accepted rules and guidelines. The idea of nationalism, in which people began to see themselves as citizens of a particular group with a strong national identity, further consolidated the concept and formation of nation states. 69 The VCLT default rule provides that a contract may be amended by agreement between the “parties.”