The Concept of International Law

Abstract

The social function of international law is the same as that of other forms of law. It is a mode of the self-constituting of a society, namely the international society of the whole human race, the society of all societies. Law is a system of legal relations which condition social action to serve the common interest. Law is a product of social processes which determine society’s common interest and which organize the making and application of law. The international legal system integrates all subordinate legal systems (international consti- tutional law) and regulates the international public realm and the interaction of subordinate public realms (international public law). National legal systems (including private international law) are part of the international legal system. International law takes a customary form, in which society orders itself through its experience of self-ordering, and a legislative form (treaties). The state of international law at any time reflects the degree of development of international society. Recent developments in international society have made necessary and inevitable the coming-to-consciousness of international law as the fully effective law of a fully functioning international society, but that development faces a number of problems and impediments which must be overcome