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17 Brit. Y.B. Int'l L. 66 (1936)
Monism and Dualism in the Theory of International Law

handle is hein.journals/byrint17 and id is 70 raw text is: MONISM AND DUALISM IN THE THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW By J. G. STARKE, B.C.L., Vinerian Law Scholar, Oxford; formerly Exhibitioner of the University of Western Australia A STRICTLY theoretical treatment of the relation between international law and municipal law' is to-day of the utmost practical importance. While international law is developing at a pace without precedent in past centuries, there is some danger that the technique of its growth may be impaired by not giving a certain weight to theoretical considerations. The purpose of this article is to deal with the problem from an analytical, posi- tivist point of view, and to some extent therefore it follows the principles of the Austrian school, Kelsen, Kunz, and Verdross.2 This is not to say that the conclusions of that school are accepted without question; only their method is followed, and that method, it is submitted, represents their most decisive contribution to juris- prudence. The Austrian school constantly employ the concept of the norm ,3 and it would be well to clarify its meaning as we shall be employing it throughout the article. A norm shortly is a pre- scription enjoining a defined mode of action. A norm may be moral or it may be legal, but the legal norm differs from the moral by reason of its particular logical structure and its power validly to direct the human will. It is obvious that such a general concept is essential for an analytical treatment of law, and indeed it helps to simplify and purify theoretical method. Municipal law thus becomes a normative order or particular system of norms having validity over certain persons within a certain defined territorial area, while international law is a normative order of wider validity and operation. The problem of the relation of these two normative orders is 1 The terms municipal law and state law are used interchangeably through- out the article to denote the internal law of a self-governing state, and are intended as a translation of the more exact French expression, droit interne. The literature on the subject is formidable in quantity. A bibliography is given in Anzilotti, Corso di Diritto internazionale, 1928 edition, at pp. 45-6. ' See for account of these principles: Modern Theories of Law, paper on Kelsen by Dr. Lauterpacht; The Theoretical Basis of the Law of Nations, Dr. Kunz in Trans. actions of the Grotius Society (1924), p. 115; also Revue de Droit International et de Ligis- lation Comparde (1925), Dr. Kunz, especially pp. 558-60. I See Morgenthau, La Rdalitd des Normes, for a critical account.

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