he article deals with the issue of French doctrine of International Law in the historical perspective. Today the issue of French doctrine of International Law is of particular significance because of the important status of France in the international arena as well as historically pivotal role of this country in the formation of international law doctrine. Since French is one of the most spoken languages in the world and is official in 29 countries, it is one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations. The analysis of the sources on the problem under research proves that nowadays there is no comprehensive study of the French doctrine of international law in historical retrospective which has been carried out by Ukrainian scholars. Thereafter, we attempted to determine the significance of the ideas of the French doctrine in the historical retrospective for modern international law. Based on the analysis of scientific findings of foreign scientists, mostly French scholars, the concepts “international law” and “doctrine” have been formulated and theoretical approaches to their definition have been substantiated. The analysis of the ideas, concepts and approaches of foreign scholars in historical retrospective has been carried out, the evolution of the modern doctrine of international law from the perspective of the French doctrine of law has been presented. It has been proved that the dynamic development of international law started in the twentieth century and for a long time international law has been evolving under the influence of philosophical theories which generalized practice and tendencies of relations between states. The statements of the French doctrine of law, which have been included in the doctrine of modern international law, have been highlighted. Prospects for further research of the French doctrine of international law lie in detailed analysis of the ideas of the French doctrine of international law in its main branches.