‘What's a guideline anyway?', Or rather: the function of 'form' in the work of the International Law Commission

The form (draft guidelines, conclusions, articles, principles) in which the International Law Commission (‘ILC’) concludes its output is repeatedly discussed both in- and outside the halls of the United Nations. This article moves beyond the codification/progressive development and binding/non-binding dichotomies and asks instead what form does for the work of the ILC. By closely reading ILC debates on the question of form from as early as 1950 up until the present day, this article illustrates that questions about form essentially mirror and replace a more fundamental question about the role of the Commission and the purpose that its output serves. Rather than answering these questions, the Commission relies on the instrument of form, which functions as a message and a label that can be understood in different ways by different actors.