Private international law, conflict-of-law rules and their individual structural elements are not stationary. They are exposed to the effects of the processes that control the world. Some of the effects impact directly the international element and may change the way it is viewed in a specific case. Others – namely the legal and philosophical approach to the aspect of autonomy of will of the parties – have an effect on its emergence. Conserving the characteristics of the international element is not appropriate. It is a phenomenon which develops under the influence of external circumstances and must be assessed ad hoc.