THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF THE THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

This introductory chapter briefly explores the practice of theorizing international law. Theorizing is an inherent part of the practice of international law. Theories of international law have attempted to demonstrate that laws governing the conduct of sovereigns exist at all, and have been concerned with the attempt to connect emerging forms of international legal practice to a philosophical or historical tradition from which international law is said to originate, or to develop a method for interpreting or systematizing international law.