soft law [English]
InterPARES Definition
No definition in earlier IP projects. ITrust definition not yet developed.
Other Definitions
- Black's 9th 2009 (†382 s.v. soft law): Collectively, rules that are neither strictly binding nor completely lacking in legal significance. International Law - Guidelines, policy declarations, or codes of conduct that set standards of conduct but are not legally binding.
- Wikipedia (†387 s.v. soft law): The quasi-legal instruments which do not have any legally binding force, or whose binding force is somewhat "weaker" than the binding force of traditional law, often contrasted with soft law by being referred to as "hard law". Traditionally, the term "soft law" is associated with international law, although more recently it has been transferred to other branches of domestic law as well.