The article discusses the normative integration of the world society by the case of international legal discourses on intervention in the late 19 th and early 20 th century. Within the framework of a non--interventionist international legal structure, international rights and obligations to intervene form an unlikely case which helps to reveal unexpected degrees of normative integration on the international level. The article combines sociological world society research with insights from

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... ational relations theory and comparative constitutionalism. The article discusses three interconnected steps of integration: the emergence of semantics of international community, its legal enforcement and justification. The analysis shows a legalization of international politics with constitutional characteristics. In addition to that, the results contribute to the growing literature on the history of international (humanitarian) intervention and have the potential of diachronic comparison with current intervention situations.