Handbook of International Law

t the body of generally accepted principles governing relations among states.' International law is a growth and is growing. It early became evident that if states were to exist in proximity there must be some standards which should regulate their conduct toward one another. The Egyptian states recognized this in ancient times and made treaties with their neighbors. Practice and theory contributed to the establishment of principles. These principles were from time to time added to, expanded, and otherwise modified. Writers attempted to find a basis for certain rules of state action in the laws of nature, in divine law, in Roman law, and elsewhere. Each additional sanction made international law more potent. As Professor Moore 1 Other definitions are as follows: International law, as understood among civilized nations, may be defined as consisting of those rules of conduct which reason deduces, as consonant to justice, from the nature of the society existing WlLS.lNT.L. (3) chapter{Section 4well says: "It is thus apparent that from the beginning the /'styence in question denoted something' more than the positive .'VOegislation of independent states, and the term 'international X. ' ' law,' which has in recent times so generally superseded the . '.' ' earlier titles, serves to emphasize this fact. It denotes a body of obligations which is, in a sense, independent of and superior to such legislation." A recognition of the pri...