Derogation is a legal term of art, which allows for part or all of a provision in a legal measure to be applied differently, or not at all, in certain cases. The term is also used in Catholic canon law, and in this context differs from dispensation in that it applies to the law, whereas dispensation applies to specific people affected by the law.
The European Economic Area (EEA) has 32 special territories of EU member states and EFTA member states which, for historical, geographical, or political reasons, enjoy special status within or outside the European Union and the European Free Trade Association.
The special territories of EU member states are categorised under three headings: nine Outermost Regions (OMR) that form part of the European Union, though they benefit from derogations from some EU laws due to their geographical remoteness from mainland Europe; thirteen Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) that do not form part of the European Union, though they cooperate with the EU via the Overseas Countries and Territories Association; and ten special cases that form part of the European Union (with the exception of the Faroe Islands), though EU laws make ad hoc provisions. The Outermost Regions were recognised at the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, and confirmed by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007.
A legal norm is a binding rule or principle, or norm, that organizations of sovereign power promulgate and enforce in order to regulate social relations. Legal norms determine the rights and duties of individuals who are the subjects of legal relations within the governing jurisdiction at a given point in time. Some theorists, such as Stephen Krasner, define norms as “standards of behavior defined in terms of rights and obligations.” Competent state authorities issue and publish basic aspects of legal norms through a collection of laws that individuals under that government must abide by, which is further guaranteed by state coercion. There are two categories of legal norms: normativity, which regulates the conduct of people, and generality, which is binding on an indefinite number of people and cases. Diplomatic and legislative immunity refers to instances where legal norms are constructed to be targeted towards a minority and are specifically only binding on them, such as soldiers and public officials.
In a legal sense, retroactivity refers to a law that impairs or invalidates the vested rights of an individual acquired under existing laws by creating new obligations to considerations that have been pre-established. Legal norms can either classify under true retroactivity, where norms influence the legal relations that have existed before its effect, or pseudo retroactivity, referring to how the validity of old legal relations can be influenced by derogated norms.
A peremptory norm (also called jus cogens) is a fundamental principle of international law that is accepted by the international community of states as a norm from which no derogation is permitted. Thought to be so fundamental that it even invalidates rules drawn from treaty or custom, “norms of this character, therefore, cannot be derogated from by the will of the contracting parties."
Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties defines jus cogens norms as those that are "accepted and recognized by the international community of states as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent international norm of the same character.” This means that even states objecting to the norm are bound by it, and any treaty or international agreement conflicting with a peremptory norm is void. Among the norms most often mentioned as jus cogens include the international prohibitions on slavery, genocide, piracy, and torture.
Non-refoulement (/rəˈfuːlmɒ̃/) is a fundamental principle of international law anchored in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees that forbids a country from deporting ("refoulement") any person to any country in which their "life or freedom would be threatened" on account of "race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion". The only exception to non-refoulement according to Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees are "reasonable grounds" of "danger to the security of the country" or "danger to the community of that country". Unlike political asylum, which applies only to those who can prove a well-grounded fear of political persecution, non-refoulement refers to the generic deportation of people, including refugees into war zones and other disaster locales.
Non-refoulement is generally seen as customary international law, where it applies even to states that are not parties to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. It is debatable whether non-refoulement is a peremptory norm (jus cogens) of international law, where non-refoulement must always be applied without any adjustment for any purpose or under any circumstances (derogation). The debate over jus cogens nature of non-refoulement was rekindled following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States as well as other terrorist attacks in Europe.