In the traditional system of administrative law (Verwaltungsrecht, droit administratif, derecho administrativo, diritto amministrativo), only national administrative authorities did possessed powers to establish right and obligation in the sphere of public law in the territory of the state. This was the reason, why the issues of territoriality and transterritorial administrative actions had remained to be on periphery of interest of the mainstream scholarship for particular time.
In spite of this, the topics of transterritorial administrative actions became to attract attention of particular group of scholars, describing the subject of theirs interest as "international administrative law" (diritto amministrativo internazionale, droit administratif international, international administrative law, Internationales Verwaltungsrecht).