With respect to the era in which Wheaton was active, however, it was a period in which the flow from natural law to positive law was accelerated, and in revising his work "Elements of International Law," he shifted his standpoint gradually toward positive law.
しかしホイートンが活躍した時代は自然法から実定法へという流れがさらに加速しつつある時期にあたり、自著『国際法原理』を改訂するにあたって実定法的立場へと徐々に重心を移した。