ABSTRACT
Fragmentation is a term used to describe a situation in which different branches of public international law exist as if they were self-contained regimes. They develop on the basis of their own assumptions without necessarily reflecting the fact that they are a part of the larger system of public international law. As a consequence of fragmentation, public international law, which was originally and at least in principle a unitary system of law, may consist of separate regimes. This raises the question of whether it would be possible or advisable to cross-fertilize among these self-contained regimes or even between regimes outside of the public international law. Could principles, values and mechanisms that have been developed under one regime be useful to another regime?
