State Courts, Federal Courts, and International Cases

The world is growing more interdependent, with individual nations unable and indeed generally unwilling to avoid extensive contact with one another. America\u27s expanding international contacts necessarily affect many social institutions, including the law. To meet the demands of this increased globalization, the American legal system requires a coherent analytical system for addressing cases with international elements. The current system, however, meets this demand only in part. While cases involving international treaties are not especially troublesome, American courts encounter analytical problems in cases involving customary international law. American courts have also experienced some confusion in addressing cases that, while they involve neither treaties nor customary international law, have significant international elements