Internal law is a term subject to different meanings, depending on the context in which it is used. It may refer to the rules, regulations and policies of an entity, as opposed to the laws of the state in which the entity operates. It may also refer to the laws of a member state that participates in an international organization or treaty. The body of law applied within a nation as its own internal law is also called domestic law.
The following is an example of the European Convention on Nationality's definition of internal law:
“Internal law” is defined as encompassing all the various types of provisions of the national legal system. The phrase “rules deriving from binding international instruments” refers either to rules deriving from directly applicable instruments or to those rules transposed from binding international instruments.
