A Codification Like No Other

The article examines the Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (DARS) through an analysis of their development within the International Law Commission (ILC). Drawing on descriptive statistics, it situates the DARS in the broader institutional context of the Commission’s work and compares their duration, drafting trajectory, and outcome form with all completed ILC topics since 1947. The study demonstrates that, while the DARS are typical in their formal classification as draft articles, they are distinctly atypical in the scale of time, human resources, and institutional change that shaped them. This unique trajectory generated a layered, palimpsest-like text that remains open to multiple interpretations. The resulting flexibility helps explain its continued influence in international practice despite the absence of a treaty, allowing them to operate as an authoritative reference point in the field

Commission · International law · Public international law · State responsibility · International Arbitration and Investment Law · International Law and Human Rights · World Trade Organization Law