Abstract: The principle of prohibiting the abuse of rights, as a fundamental principle of domestic law in various countries, aims to prevent formally legitimate rights from being exercised in a substantially inappropriate manner. There has long been controversy over whether this principle can be elevated to a general legal principle of international law due to its recognition by various countries. The Second Report of the United Nations General Assembly on General Principles of Law proposes a two-step approach to identifying whether domestic legal principles can be transformed into general legal principles of international law. According to this method of examination, it can be concluded that the principle of prohibiting the abuse of rights has been widely present in major legal systems around the world and has the feasibility and necessity to be applied within the framework of international law. Therefore, it is sufficient to establish it as a general legal principle of international law. The international judicial practice generally recognizes the status of this principle in international law, but there are still controversies in its specific application, including whether the state has the intention to harm the interests of other countries, whether the purpose of exercising the rights is legitimate, whether the way of exercising the rights is reasonable, and the standards for proving the abuse of rights. Given the unique function of this principle in international dispute resolution, it is necessary to promote it in a coordinated manner from three levels: theoretical construction, institutional improvement, and judicial application, so as to overcome the difficulties it faces in practice.

Key words: principle of prohibition of abuse of rights, general principles of law, judicial application