INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ITS HISTORY: THE STORY OF AN UNREQUITED LOVE

Developments in International Law

Volumn 58, Issue , 2007, Pages 27-41

  Lesaffer, Randall ^a,b  

^a TILBURG UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 85202662380     PISSN: None     EISSN: 09245332     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: None     Document Type: Chapter

References (86)

1. 1 Published in the Academy’s Mededelingen, Letterkunde, NS 16-2 (1953).
2. 2 Verzijl, ‘Research into the History of the Law of Nations’, in J.H.W. Verzijl, International Law in Historical Perspective, vol. I (1968) 400.
3. 3 W. Preiser, Die Völkerrechtsgeschichte. Ihre Aufgaben und Methoden (1964) 5.
4. 4 W. Grewe, The Epochs of International Law (trans. Michael Byers, 2000) 1, translated from the German Epochen der Völkerrechtsgeschichte (1984) 19. The book was first published in 1944.
5. 5 R. Ward, An Enquiry into the Foundation and the History of the Law of Nations of Europe (1795).
6. 6 For a survey of recent developments: Hueck, ‘The Discipline of the History of International Law’, 3 Journal of the History of International Law (2001) 194.
7. 7 Today, courses in the History (and Theory) of International Law are taught, among others at the law faculties of New York University, Cambridge, Helsinki, Leyden, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Tilburg Universities. Most international legal historians are to be found in the United States, Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan.
8. 8 The individual books resulting from this project are published by Nomos Verlag in the series ‘Studien zur Geschichte des Völkerrechts’.
9. 9 By Autumn 2005 there were nine researchers working in this field. The research is done in the context of a subprogram of the Faculty’s Centre for Transboundary Legal Developments, entitled ‘The Westphalian Myth Revisited: State Sovereignty and the Process of International Law-Making and Law-Enforcement from the 16th Century to the Present’.
10. 10 First published by Kluwer Law International, and from 2003 (2nd issue) onwards by Brill/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
11. 11 E.g. Cambridge University Press: A. Anghie, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (2005)
12. D. Bederman, International Law in Antiquity (2001)
13. R. Lesaffer (ed.), Peace Treaties and International Law in European History: From the Late Middle Ages to World War One (2004)
14. M. Koskenniemi, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870–1960 (2001)
15. G. Simpson, Great Powers and Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns in the International Law (2004).
16. Oxford University Press: H. Bull, B. Kingsbury & A. Roberts (eds.), Hugo Grotius and International Relations (1990)
17. Y. Onuma (ed.), A Normative Approach to War: Peace, War, and Justice in Hugo Grotius (1993)
18. R. Tuck, The Rights of War and Peace: Political Thought and the International Order from Grotius to Kant (1999).
19. Martinus Nijhoff: S. Beaulac, The Power of Language in the Making of International Law: The Word Sovereignty in Bodin and Vattel and the Myth of Westphalia (2004).
20. 12 In addition to the conference ‘Time, History and International Law’ the papers of which are published in this volume, there were, e.g., the conference ‘Peace Treaties and International Law in European History’ at Tilburg University in March 2001 and the conference ‘Sovereignty and the Law of Nations (16th–18th centuries) organised by the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Brussels, April 2002. The Deutsche Rechtshistoriker Tag of 2004, organised by Mathias Schmoeckel in Bonn, included a session on ‘Völkerrechtsgeschichte’ convened by Karl-Heinz Ziegler, which was a first at such a national legal history conference. In September 2005 Heinhard Steiger hosted an important conference on the history of international law in Gieβen.
21. 13 Apart from these two categories, diplomatic historians and International Relations theorists have also made important contributions to the history of international law.
22. 14 By ‘modern law of nations’, I mean the law of nations that started to emerge in the 16th century, was elaborated in the decades after 1648 and endured until the end of the First World War. On this terminological confusion, see Grewe, ‘Was ist klassisches, was ist modernes Völkerrecht?’, in A. Böhm, K. Ludersen & K.-H. Ziegler (eds.), Idee und Realität des Rechts in der Entwicklung der internationaler Beziehungen. Festschrift für Wolfgang Preiser (1983) 111.
23. 15 See for examples: Lesaffer, ‘The Grotian Tradition Revisited: Change and Continuity in the History of International Law’, 73 British Yearbook of International Law (2002) 104, footnote 3.
24. 16 Bourquin, ‘Grotius est-il le père du droit des gens’, in Grandes figures et grandes œuvres juridiques (1948) 77–99,
25. Ziegler, ‘Hugo Grotius als Vater des Völkerrechts’, in P. Selmer and I. von Münch (eds.), Gedächtniβschrift für Wolfgang Martens (1987) 851
26. Ziegler, ‘Die Bedeutung von Hugo Grotius als Vater des Völkerrechts – Versuch einer Bilanz am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts’, 13 Zeitschrift für historische Forschung (1996) 354. Grotius’ title as the father of international law has been disputed by e.g. Grewe, ‘Hugo Grotius – Vater des Völkerrechts’, 23 Der Staat (1984) 161
27. P. Haggenmacher, Grotius et la doctrine de la guerre juste (1983) 622.
28. Ziegler, ‘Grotius and Gentili: A Reassessment of Thomas E. Holland’s Inaugural Lecture’, in H. Bull, B. Kingsbury & A. Roberts (eds.), Hugo Grotius and International Relations (1992) 133.
29. 17 Kohler, ‘Die spanische Naturrechtslehrer des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts’, 10 Archiv für Rechts-und Wirschaftsphilosophie, (1916/1917) 235
30. E. Nys, Le droit de la guerre et les précurseurs de Grotius (1882)
31. J. Brown Scott, The Spanish Origin of International Law: Francisco de Vitoria and his Law of Nations (1934)
32. C. von Kaltenborn, Die Vorläufer des Hugo Grotius auf dem Gebiete des Jus Naturae et Gentium (1848)
33. T.A. Walker, A History of the Law of Nations vol. 1 (1899). On Scott’s role in the ‘rediscovery’ of Vitoria and Suarez see C. R. Rossi, Broken Chain of Being James Brown Scott and the Origins of Modern International Law (1998).
34. 18 C.H. Haskins, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (1927).
35. 19 Preiser, ‘Über die Ursprunge des modernen Völkerrechts’, in E. Bruel (ed.), Internationalrechtliche und staatsrechtliche Abhandlungen. Festschrift für Walter Schatzel zum 70. Geburtstag (1960) 373. For more references,
36. see Lesaffer, ‘Grotian Tradition’, Internationalrechtliche und staatsrechtliche Abhandlungen. Festschrift für Walter Schatzel zum 70. Geburtstag (1960) note 15, footnote 105, note 6.
37. 20 Preiser, Internationalrechtliche und staatsrechtliche Abhandlungen. Festschrift für Walter Schatzel zum 70. Geburtstag (1960)
38. K.-H. Zeigler, Völkerrechtsgeschichte. Ein Studienbuch (1994) 1–2.
39. 21 D. Bederman, International Law in Antiquity (2001) 6
40. A. Watson, International Law in Archaic Rome: War and Religion (1993).
41. 22 Steiger, ‘From the International Law of Christianity to the International Law of the World Citizen – Reflections on the Formation of the Epochs of the History of International Law’, 3 Journal of the History of International Law (2001) 181.
42. 23 Verzijl, 3 Journal of the History of International Law (2001) note 2, 407–16.
43. 24 W. Grewe, Epochs of International Law, supra note 4
44. A. Nussbaum, A Concise History of the Law of Nations (1954)
45. K.-H. Ziegler, Völkerrechtsgeschichte, supra note 20.
46. 25 Osiander, ‘Talking Peace: Social Science, Peace Negotiations and the Structure of Politics’, in R Lesaffer (ed), Peace Treaties and International Law in European History: From the Late Middle Ages to World War One (2004) 290–300.
47. 26 G. Schwarzenberger, International Law, vol. 2, (1968).
48. 27 Verzijl, supra note 2, 415. If one makes the claim about Von Hagenbach, one might as well refer to the role of heralds in upholding the code of chivalry in the Middle Ages. M.H. Keen, The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages (1965) 23–44
49. T. Meron, Henry’s War and Shakespeare’s Laws: Perspectives on the Law of War in the Later Middle Ages (1993) 172–90.
50. 28 W. Preiser, Völkerrechtsgeschichte, supra note 3, 16–7.
51. Steiger, ‘Probleme der Völkerrechtsgeschichte’, 26 Der Staat (1987) 103.
52. 29 Lesaffer, ‘Grotian Tradition’, 26 Der Staat (1987) note 15, 103–10.
53. 30 K. Akashi, Cornelius van Bynkershoek: His Role in the History of International Law (1998)
54. E. Jouannet, Emer de Vattel et l’émergence doctrine du droit internationale classique (1998).
55. 31 In this system the ‘state’ was not the sole subject or author of the law of nations. Individuals or non-state entities held and created rights. Natural law and natural rights played a significant role. A. Anghie, Emer de Vattel et l’émergence doctrine du droit internationale classique (1998) note 11
56. E. Keene, Beyond the Anarchical Society: Grotius, Colonialism and Order in World Politics (2002)
57. R. Tuck, Beyond the Anarchical Society: Grotius, Colonialism and Order in World Politics (2002) note 11.
58. 32 S. Beaulac, Beyond the Anarchical Society: Grotius, Colonialism and Order in World Politics (2002) note 11
59. R. Lesaffer, ‘Grotian Tradition’, Beyond the Anarchical Society: Grotius, Colonialism and Order in World Politics (2002) note 15
60. B. Simpson, Beyond the Anarchical Society: Grotius, Colonialism and Order in World Politics (2002) note 11.
61. 33 This claim has recently also been made to some extent for some of the great ‘positivists’ of the eighteenth century like Bynkershoek and Vattel, see Beyond the Anarchical Society: Grotius, Colonialism and Order in World Politics (2002) note 30.
62. A. Perreau-Saussine’s chapter on Oppenheim in this volume.
63. 34 Lesaffer, ‘Argument from Roman Law in Current International Law: Occupation and Acquisitive Prescription’, 16 European Journal of International Law (2005) 34–8.
64. 35 Steiger, ‘Quellenkunde und Quellenedition für die Völkerrechtsgeschichte’, 28 Der Staat (1989) 576–91
65. Steiger, ‘Entwicklung des Völkerrechts von 1815 bis 1945 im Spiegel seiner Quellen’, 34 Der Staat (1995) 130–9.
66. 36 One must do with either the uncritical publication of C. Parry (ed.), The Consolidated Treaty Series (1969–1981)
67. as regards treaties since 1648 or with much older collections such as most famously Jean Du Mont, Corps universel diplomatique du droit des gens (Amsterdam, 1726). Currently, the Institute for European History, department of Universal History in Mainz is publishing early-modern peace treaties on the web. These editions are not critical: www.ieg-friedensvertraege.de.
68. 37 As one by Tuck, Corps universel diplomatique du droit des gens (Amsterdam, 1726). note 11, 78–108.
69. 38 As done by P. Haggenmacher, Grotius et la doctrine de la guerre juste (1983).
70. 39 See Grotius et la doctrine de la guerre juste (1983) note 15.
71. 40 On the Westphalian myth and the challenge thereof: Beaulac, ‘The Westphalian Legal Orthodoxy – Myth or Reality?’, 2 Journal of the History of International Law (2000) 148
72. Beaulac, 2 Journal of the History of International Law (2000) note 11, 71–97
73. Croxton, ‘The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 and the Origins of Sovereignty’, 21 International History Review (1999) 569
74. Eyffinger, ‘Europe in the Balance: An Appraisal of the Westphalian System’, 45 Netherlands International Law Review (1998) 161
75. Haggenmacher, ‘La paix dans le pensée de Grotius’, in L. Bély (ed.), L’Europe des traités de Westphalie. Esprit de diplomatie et diplomatie de l’esprit (2000) esp. 68–9
76. Lesaffer, ‘The Westphalian Peace Treaties and the Development of the Tradition of Great European Peace Settlements prior to 1648’, 18 Grotiana (1997) 71
77. Osiander, ‘Sovereignty, International Relations and the Westphalian Myth’, 55 International Organization, (2001) 251
78. Schröder, ‘Der Westfälische Friede – eine Epochengrenze in der Völkerrechtsentwicklung?’, in M. Schröder (ed.), 350 Jahre Westfälischer Friede. Verfassungsgeschichte Staatskirchenrecht,Völkerrechtsgeschichte, Schriften zur europäischen Rechts-und Verfassungsgeschichte (1999) vol. 30, 119
79. Steiger, ‘Der Westfälischen Frieden – Grundgesetz für Europa?’, in H. Duchhardt (ed), Der Westfälische Friede. Diplomatie, politische Zäsur, kulturelles Umfeld, Rezeptionsgeschichte (1998) 33
80. K.-H. Ziegler, ‘Die Bedeutung des Westfälischen Friedens von 1648 für das europäische Völkerrecht’, 37 Archiv des Völkerrechts (1999) 129
81. K.-H. Ziegler, ‘Der Westfälischen Frieden von 1648 in der Geschichte des Völkerrechts’, in M. Schröder (ed.), 350 Jahre Westfälischer Friede, 99.
82. 41 See, however, the chapters by K.-H. Ziegler, A. Wijffels, D. Bauer & L. Winkel in R. Lesaffer (ed.), Peace Treaties and International Law in European History: From the Late Middle Ages to World War One (2004).
83. Muldoon, ‘The Contribution of the Medieval Canon Lawyers to the Formation of International Law’, 28 Traditio (1972) 483
84. Muldoon, ‘Medieval Canon Law and the Formation of International Law’, 81 Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, kanonistische Abteilung (1995) 64.
85. 42 Muldoon 81 Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, kanonistische Abteilung (1995) note 31.
86. 43 H. Lauterpacht, Private Sources and Analogies of International Law (1927).