GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW IN STATUTES OF INTERNATIONAL COURTS AND EUROPEAN COMMUNITY LAW. SOME REMARKS UPON ARTICLE 21 OF ROME STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Article 21 of Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court specifies two groups of fundamental sources of law which are applicable by the Court: (1) the same Statute, Elements of Crime and its Rules of procedure; (2) applicable treaties and the principles and rules of international law including the established principles of international law of armed conflict. In the absence of applicable norms provided by former points1-2 of Article 21, the Court shall apply general principles of law derived by the Court from national laws of legal system of the world including, as appropriate, the national laws of States that would normally exercise jurisdiction over the crime, provided that those principles are not inconsistent with the Statute and with international law and intentionally recognised norms and standards. Considering problems with application of general principles of law on the ground of Article 38 of Statute of the International Court of Justice, striking is which meaning of general principles of law shall be worked our by the International Criminal Court's practice. Author of the present text tried to find similarities between general principles of law derived from statuses of international courts and European Community Law as well as to reveal possible effects of general principles of law in the meaning of Article 21 of Rome Statutes of the International Criminal Court on development of general international law