controls the actions of states proceeds from the group of entities who are the law's primary subjects-that is, governments. Not only are the subjects of the law also the law makers; they are also the law enforcers. In the American system, in contrast, law proceeds either from specific basic documents(constitutions)or more commonly from the actions of relatively small groups of designated individuals, be they legislators, administrators, or judges, who have the legal capacity to constrain every one in society. Likewise, law enforcement is a specialized function carried out by a limited number of people A second difference between Cil and domestic law lies in the formality of the domestic law-making process. A legislature acts only when it is formally in session and according to the limitations of the relevant constitution and its own rules. Informal actions by legislators acting as individuals thus have no impact on the law -if, by coincidence, every member of a states legislature happened to be simultaneously exceeding the speed limit, no one would argue that the state's traffic laws had been altered CIL, however, is derived from the individual actions of governments, which actions may be undertaken in any type of setting and for reasons having little to do with the impact of those actions on international law. For example, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of sentencing a person to death for a crime committed prior to that persons seventeenth birthday, that action amounted to an instance of state practice which weakened any argument that Cil forbids governments to impose the death penalty for crimes committed when Standford v. Ky, 492 U.S. 361(19894 6 Standford v. Ky., 492 U.S. 361 (1989). controls the actions of states proceeds from the group of entities who are the law’s primary subjects - that is, governments. Not only are the subjects of the law also the law makers; they are also the law enforcers. In the American system, in contrast, law proceeds either from specific basic documents (constitutions) or more commonly from the actions of relatively small groups of designated individuals, be they legislators, administrators, or judges, who have the legal capacity to constrain every one in society. Likewise, law enforcement is a specialized function carried out by a limited number of people. A second difference between CIL and domestic law lies in the formality of the domestic law-making process. A legislature acts only when it is formally in session and according to the limitations of the relevant constitution and its own rules. Informal actions by legislators acting as individuals thus have no impact on the law - if, by coincidence, every member of a state’s legislature happened to be simultaneously exceeding the speed limit, no one would argue that the state’s traffic laws had been altered. CIL, however, is derived from the individual actions of governments, which actions may be undertaken in any type of setting and for reasons having little to do with the impact of those actions on international law. For example, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of sentencing a person to death for a crime committed prior to that person’s seventeenth birthday,6 that action amounted to an instance of state practice which weakened any argument that CIL forbids governments to impose the death penalty for crimes committed when