THE ROLE OF EQUITY IN SETTLEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES

International law, either conventional or customary, appears to be fair and just according to international jurisprudence. Nevertheless, it is impossible to find invariably fair solutions in all international cases merely based on positive laws due to exceeding intricacy of international disputes, variety of circumstances, etc. Consequently, flexibility of equity, consisting of “equity as a restricted concept” and “ex aequo et bono”, is absolutely necessary to solve the mentioned problem. Equity plays three different roles: Infra legem, Praeter legem, Contra legem. The first one conforms to the restricted equity whereas the latter ones correspond to “ex aequo et bono”. The present article intends to clarify these roles through giving an account of the concepts.