MUNICIPAL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

 Municipal or Domestic or National law is concerned with laws within a specific

country. It operates within the territory of that country.
 On the other hand, International Law or the Law of Nations as it is popularly
known as regulates the relationship between the various countries across the globe.
In other words, it consists of rules which civilized States consider as binding upon
them in their mutual relations.
 National law is concerned with the domestic affairs of the State. International Law is
concerned with the external relations of the State thereby concerning its foreign
affairs with other countries.
 Municipal law is hierarchical or vertical that is, the legislature is in a position of
supremacy and enacts binding legislation. International law is horizontal that is, all
states are sovereign and equal.
 Legislature and court systems are different on the international and municipal
levels. Municipal Law has a legislature at the central and the state level to make laws
for the entire country and States therein. The International system relies on a series
of treaties, international customs and conventions through which such law
develops.
 Enforcement is again a major point of distinction between municipal and
international law. Municipal Law has a definite enforcement mechanism through a
systematized hierarchy of courts. The international law has no clear enforcement
and has to rely on the cooperation of other countries for the same. Therefore, the
former requires that all under its jurisdiction must follow the law whereas there is
no way to force all countries of the world to recognize the international court
system. If a country does not agree with its system or decisions, that country is free
to ignore the rulings. To explain it further, the court system at the international level
is one that relies on the acquiescence of the countries to both its jurisdiction and to
carrying out the decisions of the court. The court system is well-established at the
international level and respected but it lacks the ability to compel a country to come
before it, unlike courts in a municipal system which can require a government,
company or individual to appear before it.
 Municipal Law is backed by sanction. However, in International Law, coercive force
may be used in the context of authorizing countries to use power to enforce such
law. However, use of force under international law is an exception and largely
dependent on political issues.
 Some earlier jurists like Austin and his supporters were of the view that
international law is not law as it lacked many of the elements which a law should
have. This was opposed by some other jurists like Kelson who was of the view that
 international law is a law and is superior to the municipal law. This controversy is
no more and it has been recognized on almost all heads that international law is law
and is a very important branch of law.
 International Law may further be divided into two categories:
 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW: It is the body of rules which govern the
conduct and relations of States with each other.
 PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW: Also known as Conflict of laws, it is a set of
procedural rules that determine which legal system and which jurisdiction
would apply to a given dispute having “foreign element”, such as a contract
agreed to by parties located in different countries