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A number of other nineteenth-century developments contributed to the transmutation of the law of nations into international law ; ;

that is, from aspects of a universal system of Justice into particular rules governing the relations of sovereign states.

The difference is important, for although the older law of nations did cover relationships among sovereigns, this was by no means its exclusive domain.

The law of nature governed sovereigns in their relationship to their own citizens, to foreigners, and to each other in a conceptually unified system.

The theory of international law, which in the nineteenth century became common to virtually all writers in Europe and America, broke this unity and this universality.

It lost sight of the individual almost entirely and confined itself to rules limiting the exercise of state power for reasons essentially unconnected with justice or morality save as these values might affect international relations.

No longer did the sovereign look to the law of nations to determine what he ought to do ; ;

his search was merely for rules that might limit his freedom of action.