ABSTRACT
The law governing international economic relations is one of the most important areas in which international legal rules and principles and international institutions operate in practice. This reflects the remarkable growth of the economic interdependence of the world since the end of the Second World War and it is challenging traditional perceptions of inter national law.1 The concept of ‘international economic law’ which has come into use over several decades2 covers a vast terrain which is far beyond the scope of this book. But to leave it aside completely would indeed convey a rather misleading impression of the nature of modern international law as it stands today.3
