Abstract
The question of whether the international law has binding force or not is the basic theoretical question in the field of traditional international law. At the beginning of this question, there had been many disputes about this issue between domestic law and international law scholars. Then, there has resulted in the theory of negativism and legalism of international law. In the field of the international law, the research about the binding force of the international law is swing between“ought to be”and“is to be”. This article aims at introducing different answers about different theories. Through the analysis of the substantial and formal elements of the binding force of the international law, the author tends to reveal the different characteristics and then put forward some practical suggestions.