First Page
521
Abstract
International legal research operates in the contemporary reality of an increasingly interdependent, complex world in which constant change is the order of the day. Not only are the numbers of international actors on the world stage changing (from 51 original members of the United Nations in 1945 to 157 United Nations member-states in 1982), but also changing are the concepts and methods of international law-making, as well as perceptions of the nature and sources of international law. The tremendous growth in the number of new states and international organizations has been accompanied by a corresponding expansion in world trade, international travel, and technological development, causing an unprecedented mass of legal material to appear on national, regional, and international levels. Simultaneously, an accelerated interaction among and between national and international legal systems is occurring through the various processes of unification and harmonization of laws, bilateral and multilateral treaty-making, international organization activity, international court and arbitration decisions, and international business transactions.
Recommended Citation
Adolf Sprudzs,
International Legal Research: An Infinite Paper Chase,
16 Vanderbilt Law Review
521
(1983)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vjtl/vol16/iss3/2