탈식민주의적 관점에서의 국제영토법리의 비판 ― 카메룬-나이지리아 간 영토분쟁사건(2002)을 중심으로 ―

In this article, the author conducts a critical analysis of the Case concerning the Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v. Nigeria) from a post-colonial perspective. It is submitted that the International Court of Justice decided the case in a manner that gave overwhelming weight to the documents and practice of the colonial powers concerned, ie, Great Britain, France and Germany. The uncritical and mechanical application of the ‘principle of inter-temporal law’ in effect endorsed “a behaviour that is incompatible with modern rules of international law and morally unacceptable by modern values underlying those rules” (Judge Al-Khasawneh). In so doing, the principle judicial organ of the United Nations disregarded the normative conceptions and practices of ‘pre-modern’ and non-European peoples. It is suggested that a new methodology (trans-temporal instead of inter-temporal) should be devised that can do justice both to the colonial past and the post-colonial present.