Whereas civil law conceives the principles of ordre public as forming the pillars of legal and social order, forming a long-term constant, public policy according to the common-law understanding of the term belongs to a markedly broader legislative category. In this respect public interest and public policy, as categories, are much closer to one another than is the case in civil law systems. Even so, they remain separate categories. However, the increasing tendency to make one’s case by taking recourse in public interest and by conflating public interest with public policy (ordre public) (often owed to terminological inaccuracies) is alarming, as it leads to a broadening of the public policy defence, and increased application of the public policy objection, which is at odds with the interests of the international community. Public interest is not an indeterminate legal term. It represents an abstract term that can only be identified against the backdrop of specific legal rules (laws, standards). Its subject are persons who form a loosely defined, but essentially identifiable circle, and it is usually expressed in [absolute] mandatory rules (which in private international law customarily take the character of what is known as overriding mandatory rules). In contrast to the negative operation of public policy, mandatory rules operate as positive rules. However, it is only in exceptional cases that the concern for the public interest is thought to be so pervasive as to be qualified as public policy and to be protected by qualified legal means. In contrast to the [absolute] overriding mandatory rules, public policy does not require identification of the public interest and its specific subject, or vehicle.