Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond domestic legal interpretation and enforcement. Public international law has increased in use and importance vastly over the twentieth century, due to the increase in global trade, environmental deterioration on a worldwide scale, awareness of human rights violations rapid and vast increases in international transportation and a boom in global communications.
Public international law is usually distinguished from “private international law”, which concerns the resolution of conflict of laws.
Private International Law is the legal framework composed of conventions, protocols, model laws, legal guides, uniform documents, case law, practice and custom, as well as other documents and instruments, which regulate relationships between individuals in an international context.