Transformations- und Vollzugslehre: Eine Scheindebatte

This article examines how rules of international law (including rules of interpretation) apply within the German legal system. It focuses on the criticism leveled by the enforcement theory - which is increasingly prevalent in German legal literature - against the older transformation theory. This article shows that usual objections to transformation theory either hold not true, apply equally to the enforcement theory, cause methodological inconsistencies within the enforcement theory, or depend on monistic evaluations. The act of transformation and the enforcement order are two legal techniques. Both can achieve the identical goal of applying rules of international law within the domestic legal system. Depending on whether this is done through a copy with identical content or a reference to the original, the approaches may have potential inefficiencies or risks of error. However, neither approach has inherent weaknesses that would prevent a methodologically sound path to the goal. At least within the German legal system and based on a dualistic approach, the distinction between the transformation theory and the enforcement theory is practically meaningless.