Chapter 2 has several functions.

It sketches the doctrines and principles in an older international law that served as background to and precedents for the human rights regime that took root and developed immediately after the Second World War. They provide the background against which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted between 1946 and 1948 and adopted on 10 December 1948.

The chapter uses national and international decisions of courts and other tribunals not only to present basic doctrines and principles, but also to convey an understanding of international law: its so-called ‘sources’, its processes of growth, particularly with respect to customary and treaty law.

The two tasks are interrelated. By what means or methods have the international rules and standards of the human rights regime developed? By what processes are international legal rules made, elaborated, applied, and changed?