ABSTRACT
The determination or location of the specific rule of international law that would apply to a given dispute between two countries forms a common difficulty experienced by students, lawyers and other practitioners, and judges. At the international level, the lack of a unified legal code, constitution, central legislative authority, and judicial structures with compulsory jurisdiction makes this a far more daunting excursion for international seekers of the relevant law than for their domestic counterparts. In an ideal world, we would have an international law code that would specify all existing rules (and exceptions) and various national interpretations. The mode of search and discovery would then move closely parallel to that of domestic lawyers and judges. Unfortunately, no such code exists as yet, despite numerous private attempts, often of great value, to compile codes for various subfields or on specific subjects, and despite the commendable efforts of the International Law Commission of the United Nations.
