CHAPTER 1

THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

International Law Process

Continuing Process, Not Fixed Rules

- International law is the unique system of law that
continuously evolves from the process of identifying
normative conduct which primarily governs among
states, and secondarily governs other actors in the
international system, such as international
organizations and individuals acting as collectives.

- By contrast, a national legal system operates under a

highly developed institutional apparatus. It has a
codified or easily identified body of rules, all
promulgated under the theory that the state has a
monopoly of force to coerce its citizens to obey the law.
It is usually characterized by a tripartite system that
performs the 3 main functions of legislation, execution,
and adjudication.

- The international system does not recognize a

sovereign authority with power to impose its will on the
world. Even if the world is undergoing the process of
globalization, there is still, “Relative Anarchy”

- A major consequence of the horizontal structure of the

international community is that organizational rules are
at a very embryonic stage. There are no rules for
discharging the 3 functions referred above, nor for
entrusting them to any particular body or member of
the international community. All 3 functions are
decentralized for each state, acting together with other
states under the impulse of overriding economic,
political, or other factors to set new legal standards or
to change them