Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

de lege ferenda

[Latin "from law to be passed"] Int'l law. A principle created to apply to a given situation, rather than from existing precedents; law created for changing circumstances. Cf. DE LEGE LATH. "It is not sufficient for the codifiers of international law to study the subject matter solely from the juridical aspect, or to rely only on the 'state practice, precedent and doctrine. [T]he systematic development of sociological inquiries concerning international law is indispensable for the human future, at any rate, insofar as the human future is deemed to depend on the role of international law. It seems indispensable, moreover, not only for the development of international law de lege ferenda, but also for the clarification of its present content de lege lata." R.P. Dhokaha, The Codification of Public International Law 334-35 (1970).