Introduction to Transnational Legal System in Public International Law

Abstract

In 1648 The Treaty of Westphalia ended the thirty years War in Europe by acknowledging the sovereign authority of independent states. This event marked a new step in international law (IL). It means the treaty gave the birth for nation-states identifying national security as a primary interest. After the Cold War transnational actors were gradually emerged in the international system and with the emergence of these actors IL was transformed in to a Transnational Legal System. (TLP). For an instance before the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War, Tom Franck who a Professor of Law at New York University observed that no one seemed to be asking fundamental questions about the legitimacy of IL.1 The legitimacy takes serious commitments underlying the practices of IL. But the legitimacy of IL was replaced in to richer idea due to the emergence of transnational actors such as international and non-governmental organizations. According to Philip Jessup TLP includes all law which regulates actions in transcended national frontiers. Therefore the term "transnational" involves a larger universe of activates than the term international which refers something involving more than a single country