ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

Friday 23 December 2016

JOURNAL: Grotiana XXXVII (2016), No. 1

(image source: Brill)

Grotiana (Brill) published the first issue of its 37th volume.

Table of contents:
The Restless Mind and the Living Text (Douglas J. Osler)
Grotius and English Charters (James Muldoon)
Grotius, Informal Empire and the Conclusion of Unequal Treaties (Inge Van Hulle)
Hugo Grotius’s Hermeneutics of Natural and Divine Law (Stefanie Ertz)
Roman Law in the State of Nature (Jacob Giltaij)

More information on the publisher's website.

Thursday 15 December 2016

BOOK: Doglas HOWLAND, International Law and Japanese Sovereignty. The Emerging Global Order in the 19th Century. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, XI +232 p. ISBN 978-1-137-57108-3

(image source: palgrave)


Book abstract:
How does a nation become a great power? A global order was emerging in the nineteenth century, one in which all nations were included. This book explores the multiple legal grounds of Meiji Japan's assertion of sovereign statehood within that order: natural law, treaty law, international administrative law, and the laws of war. Contrary to arguments that Japan was victimized by 'unequal' treaties, or that Japan was required to meet a 'standard of civilization' before it could participate in international society, Howland argues that the Westernizing Japanese state was a player from the start. In the midst of contradictions between law and imperialism, Japan expressed state will and legal acumen as an equal of the Western powers – international incidents in Japanese waters, disputes with foreign powers on Japanese territory, and the prosecution of interstate war. As a member of international administrative unions, Japan worked with fellow members to manage technical systems such as the telegraph and the post. As a member of organizations such as the International Law Association and as a leader at the Hague Peace Conferences, Japan helped to expand international law. By 1907, Japan was the first non-western state to join the ranks of the great powers.
On the author:
Douglas Howland is the Buck Professor of Chinese History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA. He is the author of four books and co-editor (with Luise White) of The State of Sovereignty: Territories, Laws, Populations (2009).

Table of contents:
International Legal Grounds for State Sovereignty
The Family of Nations and Conflict of Laws
Territorial Sovereignty and Extraterritorial Privilege
The Alternative Order of International Administration
Mastering the International Laws of War
Japan Among the Great Powers

CONFERENCE: ‘A Violent World? Changes and Limits to Large-Scale Violence in Early Modernity’ (Oxford, 29 June-1 July 2017) DEADLINE 31 DEC 2016

(image source: Oxford University)


The University of Oxford's Centre for Global History organizes a conference on violence in early modernity.

Conference description:
This conference brings global approaches to the history of violence, reassessing the nature of violence during the early modern period. Using violence and the restraint of violence as a unifying theme, participants are encouraged to make trans-national comparisons and connections across the early modern world. 
An abstract of 400 words, accompanied by a short (two-page) CV, should be submitted to globalviolence@history.ox.ac.uk by 31 December 2016. 
The history of violence and its restraint has been crucial to definitions of ‘Western civilization’ and the modern world, often by contrasting them with barbaric predecessors and the cultures that they claim to have tamed. Yet, evidence for the restraint of violence varies according to one’s viewpoint: the sharp decline of homicide in seventeenth-century Europe, for example, diverges from the simultaneous rise in violence of Atlantic colonial societies. As histories of violence and restraint are usually written from national and nationalist perspectives, this conference brings global approaches to the study of violence in order to probe historical assumptions about the limits of violence and its decline during the early modern period. It thereby also questions narratives of the inexorable rise of the nation-state alongside historical periodization of the ‘early modern’ and ‘modern.’ 
Recent historical approaches to violence, shaped by the cultural turn, have tended to focus on inter-personal violence and its patterns in civil society. This conference will integrate warfare and other crucial forms of large-scale violence with recent scholarship on the history of collective and inter-individual violence. By examining large-scale, organized violence alongside broader social and cultural patterns, this conference will explore the boundaries between ‘war’ and ‘violence’, as well as how they relate to ideas of morality, social order, law, and political legitimacy in the early modern world. We encourage scholars to address contemporary perceptions of violence and its restraint, framing analysis through thematic, rather than geographic, approaches. 
Given that we are encouraging scholars to probe assumptions about historical periods, our definition of ‘early modern’ is purposefully flexible.
Confirmed speakers include: Wayne Lee, Alan McFarlane, Stuart Carroll, Pratyay Nath, Brian Sandberg, Cecile Vidal, Lauren Benton, Adam Clulow, Simon Layton, Richard Reid, and James Belich.
We welcome papers that address:
- Global comparisons and indicators of violence
- Definitions of organized violence and crime, such as banditry and piracy
- Linkages between organized, collective and interpersonal violence
- Law’s penetration into oceanic, battlefield, domestic, and/or other novel arenas
- The nature of extra-territorial violence
- Actual practices of violence
- Toleration and restraint of violence
- Methods of measurement, used by contemporaries and/or historians, in assessing what is or was appropriate
We particularly welcome papers on violence in regions not covered by confirmed speakers, such as China, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and Africa.
Organisation:
Peter H. Wilson, Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford
Marie Houllemare, Institut Universitaire de France, Université d’Amiens (CHSSC)
Erica Charters, Oxford Centre for Global History Centre, University of Oxford

Friday 18 November 2016

CONFERENCE: International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century (c. 1775-1920) (Leuven: KULeuven, 24-25 Nov 2016)

(Mgr Sencie Institute; image source: Screenflanders)


The University of Leuven (R. Lesaffer, I. Van Hulle) organizes a conference on International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century  on 24 and 25 November 2016.

On the conference:
Recent historiography on public international law of the long nineteenth century consists of several storylines. For a long time, there was a strong emphasis on the period after 1870, which was regarded as a precursor to the formation of a truly global international law. Thus the nineteenth century was presented as the era in which international law as a discipline finally came to fruition through the creation of specialized chairs, professional societies, modern journals and academic contributions. International jurists embraced new scientific theories such as economic liberalism and positivism and said goodbye to the natural law as an interpretative paradigm. In addition, significant progress was made in the area of human rights, international humanitarian law, arbitration and the conclusion of multilateral treaties. However, in contrast to these nobles aspirations, recent literature on international law has also indicated the strong ties to imperialism. Recent research has taken important steps towards investigating the development of international law in the period before 1870, for example, by highlighting its contribution to the abolition of the slave trade and slavery, the impact of political economy, the role of the Holy Alliance and the growth of international maritime law and warfare. 
This conference aims to encourage critical reflections on traditional historiographical themes, methods and sources used to study nineteenth-century international law. As such, they will provide new research topics such as, for example, the role of big versus small states in shaping international legal doctrine, the contributions of Western and non-Western jurists for the development of international law, the continuities and differences in relation to earlier and later periods, the legacy of the Napoleonic era, indigenous forms of international law, regional systems of international law, etc.
Day 1:
Day 1, 24 November 2016
12:30 Registration - coffee, tea
12:45 Welcome by the Dean B. Tilleman
12:55 Welcome by Randall Lesaffer
13:00-14:30 First panel: The Eighteenth-Century Fall-Out on Nineteenth-Century International Law13:00-13:20 James Crawford, Napoleon – A Small Issue of Status
13:20-13:40 Camilla Boisen, Subjecting International Relations to the Law of Nature: A Neglected Aspect of the Early Modern Jurists and Edmund Burke
13:40-14:00 Raymond Kubben, The Nineteenth-Century Origin of Conceptual Comfort on ‘Statehood
(30 minutes question time - followed by coffee break)
15:00-16:30 Second panel: Neutrality15:00-15:20 Frederik Dhondt, Permanent neutrality or permanent insecurity? Obligation and self-interest in the defense of Belgian neutrality
15:20-15:40 Shavana Musa, The Law of Neutrality in the Long Nineteenth Century
15:40-16:00 Viktorija Jakimovska: Uneasy Neutrality: Great Britain and the Greek War of Independence
(30 minutes question time followed by coffee break)
17:00-18:00 Third panel: Historiography of Nineteenth-Century International Law17:00-17:20 Miloš Vec, Which Narratives for Which Histories? The Contested Story of 19th Century International Law
17:20-17:40 Jan Lemnitzer, Economic globalisation and mid-19th Century expansion of International law 

Day 2:
09:00-09:30 Registration - coffee, tea
09:30-11:00 First panel: Professionalization and International Law 09:30-09:50 Stephen Neff, The Science of Man: Anthropology and International Law in the Nineteenth Century
09:50-10:10 Vincent Genin, Institut de droit International’s Crisis (1873-1899)
10:10-10 30 Ana Delic, Formative Interactions of Comparative Law and Private International Law (1820s to 1900s)
(30 minutes question time - followed by coffee break)
11:30-13:00 Second Panel: Empire and the Periphery in the Nineteenth Century 11:30-11:50 Andrew Fitzmaurice, ‘Equality in the Law of Nations
11:50-12:10 Stefan Kroll, Public-Private Colonialism: Political Authority and Judicial Decision-Making in the Shanghai International Settlement
12:10-12:30 Luigi Nuzzo, An Italian History of International Law (30 minutes question time - followed by lunch)
14:00-15:30 Third Panel: Individuals and International Law
14:00-14:20 Gabriela Frei, A Nation should be judged by its Laws” – Sir William Jones and the Translation of Hindu and Islamic Laws in Bengal (1788-1794)
14:20-14:40 Raphael Cahen, The Mahmoud ben Ayed case and the transformation of international law
14:40-15:00 Inge Van Hulle, British Imperial International Law in Africa and its Agents
(30 minutes question time and concluding remarks)
15:45 Closing Reception

Venue: Mgr. Sencie Instituut, Erasmusplein 2, 3000 Leuven (room MSI 1 03.12)

More information and registration
here.

Tuesday 15 November 2016

BOOK: Eric SCHNAKENBOURG & Nicolas DROCOURT (eds.), Thémis en diplomatie. Droit et arguments juridiques dans les relations internationales de l'Antiquité tardive à la fin du XVIIIe siècle [Histoire]. Rennes: PU Rennes, 2016, 331 p. ISBN 9782753551237, € 23

(image source: PUR)

The Presses Universitaires de Rennes published the volume Thémis en diplomatie. Droit et arguments juridiques dans les relations internationales de l'antiquité tardive au XVIIIe siècle, under the direction of Eric Schnakenbourg and Nicolas Drocourt (Nantes).

Book abstract:
L’étude des relations internationales et des contacts diplomatiques au travers des âges ne saurait faire l’économie d’une réflexion sur le rôle et l’importance du recours au droit et aux arguments juridiques. C’est autour de ce postulat que sont réunies les diverses contributions du présent ouvrage qui s’inscrivent dans un espace allant des marges orientales de Byzance à l’Europe occidentale et dans un large champ chronologique, de l’Antiquité tardive à la fin du XVIIIe siècle.

Table of contents: here.

On the editors:
Nicolas Drocourt est maître de conférences en histoire médiévale à l’université de Nantes et membre du centre de recherche en Histoire internationale et atlantique (CRHIA) ; ses travaux portent sur la diplomatie médio-byzantine. Il a notamment dirigé La figure de l’ambassadeur entre mondes éloignés. Ambassadeurs, envoyés officiels et représentations diplomatiques entre Orient islamique, Occident latin et Orient chrétien (XIe-XVIe siècle), PUR, 2015. 
Éric Schnakenbourg est professeur d’histoire moderne à l’université de Nantes et directeur du centre de recherche en Histoire internationale et atlantique (CRHIA). Il est spécialiste de l’histoire des relations internationales en Europe et dans l’espace atlantique aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Il a notamment publié Entre la guerre et la paix : Neutralité et relations internationales, XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles, PUR, 2013.
Notes on other contributors here.

More information on the publisher's website.

Update: this book is now also available as an e-book on the openedition.org-website (DOI 10.4000/books.pur.47665). A free google preview can be found here..

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: ESIL RESEARCH FORUM, Granada: Workshop "Neutrality in the History of International Law - Myths and Evolving Realities"; DEADLINE 15 DEC 2016


(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

No law is neutral. Law is always a mirror of the value-system and the power structure  underlying  any  given  society  at  any  point  in  time and international law has never been an exception to this rule. A different, and yet related matter, is the extent to which the law applies equally (or not) to all members of any given society, the extent to which these members participate as equals (or not) in the formation of international law and the extent to which the law is effectively (or not) applied in an objective and un-biased manner (what is, commonly known, as 'neutrally') by international bodies and adjudicators charged with applying it to international situations or with settling disputes between any given parties. The aspiration towards 'neutrality'  (as  such  conceived)  of  international  law  in  its  quest  for  an ever-greater  legitimacy,  has, undoubtedly, evolved  throughout  different historical  periods.  

Neutrality  in  the  history  of  international  law can,  on the other hand, also be understood as a legal institution. Neutrality as a legal  institution  was  born  as a  synonym  for  emancipation  from  a  rigorous moral  top-down  juridical-moral  framework  inherited  from  theology. Its theoretical  blossoming  went  in  parallel  with  the  consolidation  of  the principle  of  sovereign  equality  of  nations  and  the  principle  of  non-intervention in domestic affairs during the transition of the classical law of nations to modern international law. Since the establishment of the first international  institutions  with  universal  and  permanent  character, neutrality  as  a  legal  institution  has  continued  to  evolve  against  the background  provided  by  the  ever-shifting  chessboard  of  international relations  and  proliferating  international  institutions. 

Finally,  the relationship of neutrality and the history of international law can be also examined  through  the  lenses  of  the  neutrality  (or  lack  of)  of  history writing itself. If all history is, as B. Croce noted, contemporary history (by which it is generally meant that all history writing is, in one degree or other, done from the perspective of the present and also that all history writing  constitutes  an  intervention  in  the  present)  could  any  historical account  possibly  aspire  to  be  considered  a  'neutral'  history  of international law? And, if so, under what criteria? 
    
The  Interest  Group  of  the  History  of  International  Law  welcomes  abstracts that  engage  critically  with  any  of  these  dimensions  of  neutrality  in  the history  of  international  law  or  a  combination  thereof  in  historical perspective  by  reference  to  relevant  episodes  in  the  history  of international law and/or different historiographical schools.   
  
Each submission should include: 
– An abstract of no more than 400 words, the intended language of presentation, 
– A short curriculum vitae containing the author’s  name,  institutional  affiliation,  contact  information  and  e-mail address. 
Applications should be submitted to both Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral (ignacio.delarasillaydelmoral@graduateinstitute.ch);  and Frederik  Dhondt (frederik.dhondt@vub.ac.be)   by  15th December  2016.  All  applicants  will  be notified of the outcome of the selection process by 15th January 2017.  
Selection will be based on scholarly merit and with regard to producing an engaging  workshop,  without  prejudice  to  gender,  seniority,  language  or geographical  location.  Please  note  that  the  ESIL  Interest  Group  on  the History  of  International  Law  is  unable  to  provide  funds  to  cover  the conference registration fee or related transport and accommodation costs.  

More information on the Research Forum (30-31 March 2017) can be found on the website of the European Society of International Law or on the Granada Law School website.

Wednesday 2 November 2016

BOOK: Luis RIBOT & José María IÑURRITEGUI (eds.), Europa y los tratados de reparto de la Monarquía de España, 1668-1700. Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva [Historia, ed. Juan Pablo FUSI], 2016, 338 p. ISBN 9788416647583, € 25


Next week on Friday (11 November), the book Europa y los tratados de reparto de la Monarquía de España, 1668-1700 (ed. L. Ribot & J.M. Iñurritegui) will be presented in Madrid. This work in Spanish collects articles from several scholars on these epochal treaties.

Table of contents:

  • Introducción (José María Iñurritegui) (13-28)
  • Los tratados de reparto de la Monarquía de España. Entre los derechos hereditarios y el equilibrio europeo (Luis Ribot) (29-54)
  • Del Contrato al Tratado. La Transformación Legal de la Sucesión Española (1659-1713) (Frederik Dhondt) (54-78)
  • El reparto del imperio español: La imposible búsqueda del equilibrio europeo (Lucien Bély) (79-92)
  • Embajadores, negociaciones e "intereses de Estado": Teorías y prácticas (1668-1714) (Daniela Frigo) (93-124)
  • Las negociaciones anglo-francesas sobre los tratados de reparto de España (1698-1700): Una reevaluación (David Onnekink) (125-146)
  • Pérdida de España: Ciencia de reparticiones y crisis de soberanía (José María Iñurritegui) (147-172)
  • Leopoldo I: La Política imperial, los derechos dinásticos y la sucesión española (Christoph Kampmann) (173-194)
  • "Dentro de la misma España, en esta misma península". Discurso y auto-representación en Portugal a propósito de la sucesión de Carlos II (David Martín Marcos) (195-216)
  • Los tratados de reparto, la revolución de la política exterior inglesa y el caso de Saboya (Christopher Storrs) (217-246)
  • Guerra y alianzas en la lucha por la hegemonía europea durante la segunda mitad del siglo XVII. El papel de España (Antonio José Rodríguez Hernández) (247-276)
The volume also contains a publication of sources:
  • Estudio Introductorio de los tratados de reparto de la Monarquía de España (Julio Arroyo Vozmediano) (279-290)
  • Primer tratado de reparto, 19 de enero de 1668 (291-300)
  • Segundo tratado de reparto, 11 de octubre de 1698 (301-316)
  • Tercer tratado de reparto, 3 de marzo de 1700 (317-338)
The work is available for € 25. See publisher's website.

Tuesday 1 November 2016

TRAINING DAY: Socio-Legal Sources and Methods in International Law (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies/British Library/Socio-Legal Studies Association) (London, 25 Nov 2016)


(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (University of London/School of Advanced Study), the British Library and the Socio-Legal Studies Association co-organise a Training Day on "Socio-Legal Sources and Methods in International Law".

The training is amed at PhD/MPhil researchers, early career academics and policy researchers.

Programme:
Socio-Legal Methods in International Law  
- Luis Eslava, University of Kent Law School
-  Isobel Roele, Queen Mary University of London Law School
-  Emilie Cloatre, University of Kent Law School
Socio-Legal Sources of International Law
-  Hester Swift, Foreign and International Law Librarian, IALS
-  Yassin Brunger, Queen’s University Belfast School of Law
-  Lesley Dingle, Foreign and International Law Librarian,
University of Cambridge
Socio-Legal Histories of International Law -  Mira Siegelberg, Queen Mary University of London School
of History/School of Law
-  Jeroen Vervliet, Director of the Peace Palace Library, The
Hague
-  Ruth Frendo, IALS Archivist and Records Manager
Objects of International Law 
-  Jessie Hohmann, Queen Mary University of London Law
School
-  Jonathan Sims, Content specialist for humanities and
social sciences, British Library 
Online booking and payment here.

Fees: £ 80 (standard); SLSA members £ 70; students £ 55 (incl. lunch/refreshments)

Venue:
Institute of Advanced
Legal Studies
Charles Clore House
17 Russell Square
London  WC1B 5DR

Contact: Belinda.Crothers@sas.ac.uk

WORKSHOP: Girls Trade and International Law. Processes of Juridification from the 19th Century Onwards (Leipzig, 4-5 Nov 2016)

(image source: uni-leipzig)

Kathleen Zeidler (University of Leipzig) and Sonja Dolinsek (University of Erfurt) co-organise a workshop on Girls Trade and International Law. Processes of Juridification from the 19th Century onwards. The event takes place from 4 till 5 November 2016.

Summary:
Das Phänomen „Mädchenhandel“ hat Konjunktur. Es wurde am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts zum Gegenstand transnationaler Verhandlungen, internationaler Regelungen und überstaatlicher Vereinbarungen und stellt bis heute ein wichtiges Feld für grenzüberschreitende Rechtsan- gleichung und Vereinheitlichung rechtlicher Normen dar. Im Workshop wollen wir uns den internationalen Verrechtlichungsprozessen vom 19. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven annähern. Ausgehend von der Entdeckung des Mädchenhandels als internationales Phänomen diskutieren wir die Praktiken der Ermittlung, Politik und Recht im staatlichen Kontext bis hin zu den aktuellen Debatten und Problemen.
Programme:
 Freitag, 4. November
14:00-14:00
Begrüßung und Einführung Sonja Dolinsek (Universität Erfurt) und Kathleen Zeidler (GWZO)
14:00–15:30
Keynote: Die Stellung der Frauen im Völkerbund: Internationale Normierungs- und Standardisierungsprozesse in der Zwischenkriegszeit
Regula Ludi (Universität Bern)
Moderation: Dietlind Hüchtker (GWZO)
16:00–17:30
Panel I: Entdeckung – Mädchenhandel als internationales Phänomen
Moderation: Dietmar Müller (GWZO)
Historisierung der transnationalen Diskurse zu Mädchenhandel
Ruth Ennis (Universität Leipzig)
Der Völkerbund und die völkerrechtliche Regelung zur freien Bewegung von Frauen und Mädchen sowie der Versuch eines internationalen Verbotes des Prostitutionsgewerbes
Thomas S. Carhart (Universität Freiburg)
18:00–20:00
Filmsichtung mit Diskussion
Bibliothèque Pascal
Regie: Szabolcs Hajdu, Ungarn 2010 Ungarisch/Rumänisch mit deutschen Untertiteln Einführung: Kathleen Zeidler (GWZO) Moderation: Sonja Dolinsek (Universität Erfurt)

Samstag, 5. November 2016
9:30–11:00
Panel II: Ermittlung – Suche nach dem Mädchenhandel
Moderation: Katarina Ristić (Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg)

Marcus Braun – Ein US-special immigrant inspector auf den Spuren des Mädchenhandels in Europa (1908–1909)
Jakob Lanman Niese (Leipzig/Magdeburg)
„... unser Volk rekrutiert selten Ware für die Prostitution“: Mädchenschutz im Königreich SHS/ Jugoslawien der Zwischenkriegszeit
Svetlana Stefanović (Belgrad)
11:30–13:00
Panel III: Verrechtlichung – Mädchenhandel im staatlichen Kontext
Moderation: Kathleen Zeidler (GWZO)

Gouvernementalisierung und/oder Verrechtlichung? Überlegungen am Beispiel des Kampfes gegen Prostitution und Mädchenhandel in Luxemburg um 1900
Heike Mauer (Universität Duisburg-Essen)
Frauenhandel im 19. Jahrhundert in Deutschland und im deutschsprachigen Österreich
Jürgen Nautz (Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe / Universität Wien)
14:00–16:00
Panel IV: Fortsetzung – „Mädchenhandel“ zwischen internationalem Recht und internationaler Kritik
Moderation: Claudia Kraft (Universität Siegen)
Nach der „Abolition“: Wie der Frauen- und Mädchenhandel in Vergessenheit geriet (1949–1975)
Sonja Dolinsek (Universität Erfurt)
Investigating Human Trafficking: Troubles and Development of Law Enforcement in Hungary
Tamas Bezsenyi / Noémi Katona (Budapest)
Mädchenhandel, Menschenhandel, moderne Sklaverei: Liegt der Teufel im Begriff?
Janne Mende (Universität Kassel)
16:00–17:30
Resümee und Diskussion
Dietlind Hüchtker (GWZO) und Claudia Kraft (Universität Siegen)

More information on HSozKult.

Saturday 15 October 2016

CONFERENCE: International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century (c. 1775-1920) (Leuven: KULeuven, 24-25 Nov 2016)

(Mgr Sencie Institute; image source: Screenflanders)

The University of Leuven (R. Lesaffer, I. Van Hulle) organizes a conference on International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century  on 24 and 25 November 2016.

On the conference:
Recent historiography on public international law of the long nineteenth century consists of several storylines. For a long time, there was a strong emphasis on the period after 1870, which was regarded as a precursor to the formation of a truly global international law. Thus the nineteenth century was presented as the era in which international law as a discipline finally came to fruition through the creation of specialized chairs, professional societies, modern journals and academic contributions. International jurists embraced new scientific theories such as economic liberalism and positivism and said goodbye to the natural law as an interpretative paradigm. In addition, significant progress was made in the area of human rights, international humanitarian law, arbitration and the conclusion of multilateral treaties. However, in contrast to these nobles aspirations, recent literature on international law has also indicated the strong ties to imperialism. Recent research has taken important steps towards investigating the development of international law in the period before 1870, for example, by highlighting its contribution to the abolition of the slave trade and slavery, the impact of political economy, the role of the Holy Alliance and the growth of international maritime law and warfare. 
This conference aims to encourage critical reflections on traditional historiographical themes, methods and sources used to study nineteenth-century international law. As such, they will provide new research topics such as, for example, the role of big versus small states in shaping international legal doctrine, the contributions of Western and non-Western jurists for the development of international law, the continuities and differences in relation to earlier and later periods, the legacy of the Napoleonic era, indigenous forms of international law, regional systems of international law, etc.
Day 1:
Day 1, 24 November 2016
12:30 Registration - coffee, tea
12:45 Welcome by the Dean B. Tilleman
12:55 Welcome by Randall Lesaffer
13:00-14:30 First panel: The Eighteenth-Century Fall-Out on Nineteenth-Century International Law
13:00-13:20 James Crawford, Napoleon – A Small Issue of Status
13:20-13:40 Camilla Boisen, Subjecting International Relations to the Law of Nature: A Neglected Aspect of the Early Modern Jurists and Edmund Burke
13:40-14:00 Raymond Kubben, The Nineteenth-Century Origin of Conceptual Comfort on ‘Statehood
(30 minutes question time - followed by coffee break)
15:00-16:30 Second panel: Neutrality
15:00-15:20 Frederik Dhondt, Permanent neutrality or permanent insecurity? Obligation and self-interest in the defense of Belgian neutrality
15:20-15:40 Shavana Musa, The Law of Neutrality in the Long Nineteenth Century
15:40-16:00 Viktorija Jakimovska: Uneasy Neutrality: Great Britain and the Greek War of Independence
(30 minutes question time followed by coffee break)
17:00-18:00 Third panel: Historiography of Nineteenth-Century International Law
17:00-17:20 Miloš Vec, Which Narratives for Which Histories? The Contested Story of 19th Century International Law
17:20-17:40 Jan Lemnitzer, Economic globalisation and mid-19th Century expansion of International law 

Day 2:
09:00-09:30 Registration - coffee, tea
09:30-11:00 First panel: Professionalization and International Law 09:30-09:50 Stephen Neff, The Science of Man: Anthropology and International Law in the Nineteenth Century
09:50-10:10 Vincent Genin, Institut de droit International’s Crisis (1873-1899)
10:10-10 30 Ana Delic, Formative Interactions of Comparative Law and Private International Law (1820s to 1900s)
(30 minutes question time - followed by coffee break)
11:30-13:00 Second Panel: Empire and the Periphery in the Nineteenth Century 11:30-11:50 Andrew Fitzmaurice, ‘Equality in the Law of Nations
11:50-12:10 Stefan Kroll, Public-Private Colonialism: Political Authority and Judicial Decision-Making in the Shanghai International Settlement
12:10-12:30 Anne-Charlotte Martineau, Revisiting the Abolition of Slavery in the Long 19th Century (30 minutes question time - followed by lunch)
14:00-15:30 Third Panel: Individuals and International Law
14:00-14:20 Gabriela Frei, A Nation should be judged by its Laws” – Sir William Jones and the Translation of Hindu and Islamic Laws in Bengal (1788-1794)
14:20-14:40 Raphael Cahen, The Mahmoud ben Ayed case and the transformation of international law
14:40-15:00 Inge Van Hulle, British Imperial International Law in Africa and its Agents
(30 minutes question time and concluding remarks)
15:45 Closing Reception

Venue: Mgr. Sencie Instituut, Erasmusplein 2, 3000 Leuven (room MSI 1 03.12)

More information and registration here.

Monday 10 October 2016

BOOK: Mieke VAN DER LINDEN, The Acquisition of Africa (1870-1914). The Nature of International Law [Studies in the History of International Law, 8, ed. Randall LESAFFER; Legal History Library, 20]. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2016, ISBN 9789004321199, € 129.

(image source: Brill)

Mieke Van der Linden (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg) published an updated version of her doctoral dissertation (defended at Tilburg University, under the direction of R. Lesaffer, 2014) under the title The Acquisition of Africa (1870-1914). The Nature of International Law.

Book description:
Over recent decades, the responsibility for the past actions of the European colonial powers in relation to their former colonies has been subject to a lively debate. In this book, the question of the responsibility under international law of former colonial States is addressed. Such a legal responsibility would presuppose the violation of the international law that was applicable at the time of colonization. In the ‘Scramble for Africa’ during the Age of New Imperialism (1870-1914), European States and non-State actors mainly used cession and protectorate treaties to acquire territorial sovereignty (imperium) and property rights over land (dominium). The question is raised whether Europeans did or did not on a systematic scale breach these treaties in the context of the acquisition of territory and the expansion of empire, mainly through extending sovereignty rights and, subsequently, intervening in the internal affairs of African political entities.
 On the author:
Mieke van der Linden, Ph.D (2014), is senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. She has published a dissertation, book chapters and articles on the legacy of Africa’s colonization in international law, including ‘The Inextricable Connection between Historical Consciousness and International Law: New Imperialism, the International Court of Justice and its Interpretation of the Inter-temporal Rule’ (in: C. Binder et al., 2014 ESIL Conference Proceedings, vol. 5. Oxford: forthcoming) and ‘The Euro-Centric Nature of International Law, A Legacy from New Imperialism’ (in: D. De ruysscher et al (eds.), Legal History, Moving in New Directions. Antwerp: 2015, pp. 413-427).
Table of contents:
Preface
 1. New Imperialism: Imperium, Dominium and Responsibility under International Law
 2. Dominium
 3. Imperium
 4. Territorium et Titulus
 5. British Nigeria
 6. French Equatorial Africa
 7. German Cameroon
 8. Ex facto ius oritur?
 9. A Reflection on the Nature of International Law: Redressing the Illegality of Africa’s Colonization
 10. Evaluative summary and conclusion
 Chronological list of treaties and other agreements
 Bibliography 
More information on Brill's website.

Thursday 29 September 2016

AJIL Unbound Symposium: The Many Lives of the Sykes-Picot Treaty

 
(image source: AJIL Unbound)


The blog of the American Journal of International Law hosts an online-symposium on the Sykes-Picot Treaty, a landmark in the history of the Middle East with far-reaching consequences.

The introduction by Prof. Anthonie Anghie can be found here. Two contributions have already been published: "Palestine and the Secret Treaties" by dr. Victor Kattan (here) and "Textual Settlements: The Sykes–Picot Agreement and Secret Treaty-Making" by Megan Donaldson (here).

Sunday 25 September 2016

BOOK: Lauren BENTON & Lisa FORD, Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800-1850. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard UP, 2016, 288 p., ISBN 9780674737464, € 36

  (image source: Harvard UP)

The Legal History Blog announced a forthcoming book by Lauren Benton & Lisa Ford, RAge for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800-1850, at Harvard University Press. The book is available at a democratic price (€ 36).

Book description:
International law burst on the scene as a new field in the late nineteenth century. Where did it come from? Rage for Order finds the origins of international law in empires—especially in the British Empire’s sprawling efforts to refashion the imperial constitution and use it to order the world in the early part of that century.
Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford uncover the lost history of Britain’s global empire of law in colonial conflicts and bureaucratic dispatches rather than legal treatises and case law. Tracing constitutional politics around the world, Rage for Order shows that attempts to refashion the British imperial constitution touched on all the controversial issues of the day, from slavery to revolution. Scandals in turbulent colonies targeted petty despots and augmented the power of the Crown to intervene in the administration of justice. Campaigns to police piracy and slave trading linked British interests to the stability of politically fragmented regions. Dull bureaucrats dominated legal reform, but they did not act in isolation. Indigenous peoples, slaves, convicts, merchants, and sailors all scrambled to play a part in reordering the empire and the world beyond it. Yet, through it all, legal reform focused on promoting order, not advancing human rights or charting liberalism.
Rage for Order maps a formative phase in world history when imperial, not international, law anchored visions of global order. This sweeping story changes the way we think about the legacy of the British Empire and the meaning of international law today.

 On the authors:
Lauren Benton is Nelson O. Tyrone, Jr., Professor of History and Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University.
Lisa Ford is Associate Professor in History at the University of New South Wales.
Reviews:
This book is a major achievement. Benton and Ford provide a powerful new way of understanding the global reach and effects of modern British imperialism. By connecting projects of colonial governance with new visions of global legal ordering, they offer a bold rethinking of the imperial context for the emergence of modern international law.—Robert Travers, Cornell University
The authors go deep into the archives to reveal the crucial interactions of countless colonial governors, crusading ship captains, misguided magistrates, inquisitive imperial commissioners, and frustrated Westminster bureaucrats whose words and deeds collectively constituted a nascent global legal order. By telling the often marvelous stories of law’s minions rather than its mandarins, Benton and Ford have done nothing less than help us understand the shambling character of our own international legal order as it arose out of empire two centuries ago.—Paul D. Halliday, University of Virginia
Benton and Ford marshal a vast array of archival evidence to shed new light on the development of law within and at the edges of the British Empire. They show that political and military activities were saturated with legal claims and that many and often competing actors—merchants and missionaries, sailors and convicts, middling officials and local elites—contributed to a ‘new vernacular imperial constitutionalism,’ with profound and unexpected consequences for international law.—Jennifer Pitts, University of Chicago

Table of contents:
1. A Global Empire of Law
2. Controlling Despotic Dominions
3. The Commissioner’s World
4. The Promise of Protection
5. Ordering the Oceans
6. An Empire of States
7. A Great Disorder
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

Friday 16 September 2016

BOOK: Martti KOSKENNIEMI, Walter RECH & Manuel JIMÉNEZ FONSECA (eds.), International Law and Empire: Historical Explorations [The History and Theory of International Law]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Dec 2016, 416p. ISBN 978-0198795575, £ 80.


(image source: amazon)


Oxford University Press will publish a volume on 1 December 2016 on the theme International Law and Empire: Historical Explorations. This is a product of the project "International Law, Religion and Empire" under the direction of Martti Koskenniemi at the Eric Castrén Institute (Helsinki).

Book description:
In times in which global governance in its various forms, such as human rights, international trade law, and development projects, is increasingly promoted by transnational economic actors and international institutions that seem to be detached from democratic processes of legitimation, the question of the relationship between international law and empire is as topical as ever. By examining this relationship in historical contexts from early modernity to the present, this volume aims to deepen current understandings of the way international legal institutions, practices, and narratives have shaped specifically imperial ideas about and structures of world governance. As it explores fundamental ways in which international legal discourses have operated in colonial as well as European contexts, the book enters a heated debate on the involvement of the modern law of nations in imperial projects. Each of the chapters contributes to this emerging body of scholarship by drawing out the complexity and ambivalence of the relationship between international law and empire. They expand on the critique of western imperialism while acknowledging the nuances and ambiguities of international legal discourse and, in some cases, the possibility of counter-hegemonic claims being articulated through the language of international law. Importantly, as the book suggests that international legal argument may sometimes be used to counter imperial enterprises, it maintains that international law can barely escape the Eurocentric framework within which the progressive aspirations of internationalism were conceived.

Table of contents:
Introduction, Martti Koskenniemi
Part I: Epistemologies of Empire and International Law 1: Provincializing Grotius: International Law and Empire in a Seventeenth-Century Malay Mirror, Arthur Weststeijn
2: Indirect Hegemonies in International Legal Relations: The Debate of Religious Tolerance in Early Republican China, Stefan Kroll
3: International Law, Empire, and the Relative Indeterminacy of Narrative, Walter Rech
Part II: Legal Discourses of Empire 4: The Concepts of Universal Monarchy and Balance of Power in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century-a Case Study, Peter Schröder
5: Between Faith and Empire: The Justification of the Spanish Intervention in the French Wars of Religion in the 1590s, Randall Lesaffer
6: Jus gentium and the Transformation of Latin American Nature: One More Reading of Vitoria?, Manuel Jiménez Fonseca
7: Cerberus: The State, the Empire, and the Company as Subjects of International Law in Grotius and the Peace of Westphalia, José-Manuel Barreto
8: Revolution, Empire, and Utopia: Tocqueville and the Intellectual Background of International Law, Julie Saada
Part III: Managing Empire: Imperial Administration and Diplomacy 9: Towards the Empire of a 'Civilizing Nation': The French Revolution and its Impact on Relations with the Ottoman Regencies in the Maghreb, Christian Windler
10: A Comporting Sovereign, Tribes, and the Ordering of Imperial Authority in Colonial Upper Canada of the 1830s, PG McHugh
11: Territory, Sovereignty, and the Construction of the Colonial Space, Luigi Nuzzo
Part IV: A Legal Critique of Empire? 12: An Anti-Imperialist Universalism? Jus Cogens and the Politics of International Law, Umut Özsu
13: Drift towards an Empire? The Trajectory of American Reformers in the Cold War, Hatsue Shinohara
14: Imperium sine fine: Carneades, the Splendid Vice of Glory, and the Justice of Empire, Benjamin Straumann
15: Scepticism of the Civilizing Mission in International Law, Andrew Fitzmaurice 

On the editors:
Martti Koskenniemi is Academy Professor and Director of the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights at the University of Helsinki, a Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School, and Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has held visiting professorships at New York University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Utrecht, Columbia University, the University of São Paulo, the University of Toronto, and the Universities of Paris I, II, X and XVI. He was a member of the Finnish diplomatic service from 1978 to 1994 and of the International Law Commission (UN) from 2002 to 2006. His publications include From Apology to Utopia: The Structure of International Legal Argument (1989), The GentleCivilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870-1960 (2001), The Politics of International Law (2011), and The Cambridge Companion to International Law (2012, co-edited with Professor James Crawford). 
Walter Rech is a postdoctoral researcher at the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki. His research interests are located in the history and theory of international law and international politics. His publications include Enemies of Mankind: Vattel's Theory of Collective Security ( 2013). 
Manuel Jiménez Fonseca is a doctoral researcher at the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki. His research interests include the historical relationship between international law and nature, development, and social movements. His publications include 'The Colonization of American Nature and the Early Developments of International Law' 12 Journal of the History of International Law (2010) 189. 

The book can be pre-ordered with amazon.

Sunday 11 September 2016

ESIL IG History of International Law Workshop "Writing Crisis in the History of International Law" (Riga, 7 September 2016)

 (Prof. Peters starting her response to the papers presented)

The Interest Group invited its members (latest ESIL secretariat count: 377) for an engaging and stimulating workshop on the theme "Writing Crisis in the History of International Law" within the Annual ESIL conference, organised in Riga (Latvia). 

Four papers were presented by Monica García Salmones (Helsinki, "Universal Solutions for Exceptional Times: Vitoria and Grotius"), Eric Loefflad (Kent, "‘The Stunted ‘Science’ of Statehood as a Technology of Crisis Disavowal: Three ‘Gentle Civilizers’, The Blindspots of International Institutionalism, and Explanations of the Third Reich’"), Paolo Amarosa (Helsinki; "Diverging Reconstructions: the American international law of Alejandro Álvarez and James Brown Scott during World War I") and Ingo Venzke (Amsterdam; "The Economic Crisis in the 1970s: Possibilities for Change in the Past to Feed the Future"). Prof. Anne Peters (MPI Heidelberg) responded to the proposed texts.

The Interest Groups thanks all participants for a stimulating exchange on topics of doctrine, theory and the life of the law, ranging from 16th century theology to 21st century critical legal studies.


(view from the Latvian National Library, main site of the conference)

We point to the open call for abstracts for the workshop at the upcoming ESIL Research Forum in Granada (30-31 March 2017), which can be found here. We hope to welcome you again in Spain !

Thursday 25 August 2016

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: ESIL RESEARCH FORUM, Granada: Workshop "Neutrality in the History of International Law - Myths and Evolving Realities"; DEADLINE 15 DEC 2016


(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

No law is neutral. Law is always a mirror of the value-system and the power structure  underlying  any  given  society  at  any  point  in  time and international law has never been an exception to this rule. A different, and yet related matter, is the extent to which the law applies equally (or not) to all members of any given society, the extent to which these members participate as equals (or not) in the formation of international law and the extent to which the law is effectively (or not) applied in an objective and un-biased manner (what is, commonly known, as 'neutrally') by international bodies and adjudicators charged with applying it to international situations or with settling disputes between any given parties. The aspiration towards 'neutrality'  (as  such  conceived)  of  international  law  in  its  quest  for  an ever-greater  legitimacy,  has, undoubtedly, evolved  throughout  different historical  periods.  

Neutrality  in  the  history  of  international  law can,  on the other hand, also be understood as a legal institution. Neutrality as a legal  institution  was  born  as a  synonym  for  emancipation  from  a  rigorous moral  top-down  juridical-moral  framework  inherited  from  theology. Its theoretical  blossoming  went  in  parallel  with  the  consolidation  of  the principle  of  sovereign  equality  of  nations  and  the  principle  of  non-intervention in domestic affairs during the transition of the classical law of nations to modern international law. Since the establishment of the first international  institutions  with  universal  and  permanent  character, neutrality  as  a  legal  institution  has  continued  to  evolve  against  the background  provided  by  the  ever-shifting  chessboard  of  international relations  and  proliferating  international  institutions. 

Finally,  the relationship of neutrality and the history of international law can be also examined  through  the  lenses  of  the  neutrality  (or  lack  of)  of  history writing itself. If all history is, as B. Croce noted, contemporary history (by which it is generally meant that all history writing is, in one degree or other, done from the perspective of the present and also that all history writing  constitutes  an  intervention  in  the  present)  could  any  historical account  possibly  aspire  to  be  considered  a  'neutral'  history  of international law? And, if so, under what criteria?
   
The  Interest  Group  of  the  History  of  International  Law  welcomes  abstracts that  engage  critically  with  any  of  these  dimensions  of  neutrality  in  the history  of  international  law  or  a  combination  thereof  in  historical perspective  by  reference  to  relevant  episodes  in  the  history  of international law and/or different historiographical schools.   
 
Each submission should include:
– An abstract of no more than 400 words, the intended language of presentation,
– A short curriculum vitae containing the author’s  name,  institutional  affiliation,  contact  information  and  e-mail address.
Applications should be submitted to both Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral (ignacio.delarasillaydelmoral@graduateinstitute.ch);  and Frederik  Dhondt (frederik.dhondt@vub.ac.be)   by  15th December  2016.  All  applicants  will  be notified of the outcome of the selection process by 15th January 2017
Selection will be based on scholarly merit and with regard to producing an engaging  workshop,  without  prejudice  to  gender,  seniority,  language  or geographical  location.  Please  note  that  the  ESIL  Interest  Group  on  the History  of  International  Law  is  unable  to  provide  funds  to  cover  the conference registration fee or related transport and accommodation costs.  

More information on the Research Forum (30-31 March 2017) can be found on the website of the European Society of International Law or on the Granada Law School website.

CHAPTER: Anne ORFORD, 'International Law and the Limits of History', in: Wouter WERNER, Alexis GALÁN & Marieke DE HOON (eds.), The Law of International Lawyers: Reading Martti Koskenniemi. Cambridge: CUP, Aug 2015

(image source: SSRN)

Prof. Anne Orford (Melbourne) posted 'International Law and the Limits of History', a forthcoming chapter in The Law of International Lawyers: Reading Martti Koskenniemi (eds. Wouter Werner, Alexis Galán and Marieke De Hoon, CUP).

Abstract:
This chapter explores the effect that the turn to history has had on the field of international law. The publication of Martti Koskenniemi’s history of the international legal profession, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations, is often presented as representing a moment at which the field of international law took a ‘turn to history’, or more precisely, a turn in its mode of writing history. Of course, international law has always had a deep engagement with the past. Past texts and concepts are constantly retrieved and taken up as a resource in international legal argumentation and scholarship. Thus the ‘turn to history’ trope marks a turn to history as a critical method, rather than a turn to history as a substantive engagement with the past. Koskenniemi himself introduced The Gentle Civilizer as a ‘move from structure to history in the analysis of international law’ and ‘a kind of experimentation in the writing about the disciplinary past’. In later work, however, he became much conventional in his exposition of history as method, arguing against the ‘sin of anachronism’ and urging critical scholars to focus on the meaning of texts for their authors’ ‘contemporaries’. A similar turn to history as method more broadly begin to shape new writing about international law over the decade following The Gentle Civilizer’s publication. This chapter suggests that the turn to history as method that followed in the wake of The Gentle Civilizer was an abandonment of the critical potential of that initial work. What marked out The Gentle Civilizer as a singular achievement was Koskenniemi’s attempt to hold together the history of international law, the sociology of international law, and the practice of international law. If the attempt to hold together those genres is abandoned, the critical potential of historical work in international law is lost. The chapter concludes by exploring what the historicizing of international law as a critical gesture might mean for the field going forward.
More information on SSRN.
(source: Legal History Blog)

Wednesday 24 August 2016

BOOK: Robert MCQUORDALE & Jean-Pierre GAUCI (eds.), British Influences on International Law, 1915-2015. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2016, XVIII + 524 p. ISBN 9789004284166, €225

 (image source Brill)

Book abstract:
This book considers British influences on the development of international law over 100 years from 1915. This century has been marked by unprecedented developments in international law, not least the setting up of an array of international organisations, including the United Nations and the League of Nations, and international courts and tribunals (including the International Court of Justice and its predecessor the Permanent Court of International Justice, as well as the International Criminal Court). Two world wars, complex transboundary issues and increased globalisation have shown the importance of international law. This volume addresses these developments – domestic, regional and international - and looks at how Britain and British people (broadly defined) have influenced these changes.
The contributors to the book have examined an array of different issues. These include British influences on treaty-making, recognition and immunity, as well as on specific fields of international law, such as armed conflict, criminal law, environment and human rights. It has commentary on the British influence on the sources of international law, including by its courts and Foreign Office, in the development of the European Union and in the idea of a professional international lawyer. There are also reflections on many of the key people over the century.
The book provides a novel perspective, which surveys and appraises the contributions of British people and institutions in domestic and international legal forums and their key role in the development, interpretation and application of international law.
 Table of contents:

  • Robert McCorquodale & Jean-Pierre Gauci, From Grotius to Higgins: British Influences on International Law from 1915–2015
  • Antonios Tzanakapoulos, The Influence of English Courts on the Development of International Law
  • Kate Jones, Marking Foreign Policy by Justice: The Legal Advisers to the Foreign Office, 1876–1953
  • Philip Allott, Britain and Europe: Managing Revolution
  • Stephen Samuel, British Influences on the Ideals of International Lawyers
  • Kasey McCall-Smith, British influence on the law of treaties
  • Martin Clark, British Contributions to the concept of recognition during the inter-war period: Williams, Baty and Lauterpacht
  • Philippa Webb, British Contribution to the Law of State Immunity
  • David H. Anderson, British Influence on the Law of the Sea 1915–2015
  • Mario Prost & Yoriko Otomo, British influences on international environmental law: the case of wildlife conservation
  • Merris Amos, The Influence of British Courts on the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights
  • Nigel S. Rodley, The Contribution of British NGOs to the Development of International Law
  • Amina Higgins & Noelle Adanan, Britain’s Influence on the Regulation of the Slave Trade in the Twentieth Century
  • Nicholas Tsagourias, Contribution of British International Lawyers to the Law on the Use of Force
  • Matthew Garrod, The British Influence on the development of the laws of war and the punishment of war criminals: from the Grotius Society to the United Nations War Crimes Commission
  • Shavana Musa, The British and the Nuremburg Trials
  • James Upcher, Neutral and Beligerent Rights: the development of a British Position?
  • Anne Marie Brennan, Historical Reflections on the Criminalisation of Terrorism under International Law from the League of Nations to R v. Mohammed Gul: How Britain has Swollen the Tide of Obscurity
  • Richard Collins, The Progressive Conception of International Law: Brierly and Lauterpacht in the Interbellum Period
  • Robert Cryer, International Law and the Illusion of Novelty: Georg Schwarzenberger
  • Gerry Simpson, Juridical Intervention: Martin Wight as International Lawyer
  • Philippe Sands & Arman Sarvarian, The Contribution of the UK Bar to International Courts
More information on the Brill website.
Source: International Law Reporter.

Tuesday 23 August 2016

BOOK: Emmanuelle TOURME JOUANNET, Horatia MUIR WATT, Olivier DE FROUVILLE & Jean MATRINGE (eds.), Droit international et reconnaissance (Paris: Pedone, 2016), 370 p. ISBN 978-2-233-00801-5, € 38

(image source: LGDJ)

Book abstract:
Cet ouvrage est le résultat d'une journée d'étude organisée le 26 janvier 2013 à la suite de la sortie du livre d'Emmanuelle Tourme Jouannet, Qu'est-ce qu'une société internationale juste ? Le droit international entre développement et reconnaissance (Paris, Pedone, 2013). Il s'agissait de soumettre à la discussion l'idée formulée par Emmanuelle Tourme Jouannet dans son dernier livre, selon laquelle une nouvelle branche du droit international serait en voie d'émergence : un droit de la « reconnaissance » qui viserait à répondre à un certain nombre de revendications formulées dans le cadre d'une « société post-coloniale et post-guerre froide ».

Un grand nombre de dimensions du droit de la reconnaissance sont abordées, qu'il s'agisse de la problématique des droits sociaux ou des droits culturels, de la réparation des crimes du passé, ou encore des demandes de reconnaissance des afro-descendants, des peuples autochtones et des « révoltes arabes ».

Toutes les contributions sont écrites par des juristes qui, tous, ont opté pour l'interdisciplinarité, mélangeant les perspectives du droit, de la philosophie, de l'histoire ou des relations internationales. 

Table of contents:


  • Emmanuelle Tourme Jouannet, Le droit international de la reconnaissance
  • Jean d’Aspremont, De la reconnaissance à l’anthropomorphisme en droit international
  • Robert Howse, “Kojevian” Recognition and Contemporary International Law
  • Charalambos Apostolidis, Le droit international de la reconnaissance comme champ de recherche. Réflexions autour de l’ouvrage d’Emmanuelle Tourme Jouannet « Qu’est-ce qu’une société internationale juste ? »
  • Olivier de Frouville, La lutte pour la reconnaissance : une nouvelle théorie explicative de l’évolution du droit international ? A propos de « Pour une société internationale juste. Entre droit du développement et reconnaissance », d’Emmanuelle Tourme Jouannet
  • Albane Geslin, De l’entre-soi à l’entre-autre(s). Enjeux et ambiguités de la reconnaissance internationale des droits des peuples autochtones
  • Carlos-Miguel Herrera, La reconnaissance par les droits (en partant des droits sociaux)
  • Emmanuel Decaux, La reconnaissance des droits culturels
  • Livia Kummer, Legal Recognition of Historic Crimes in the Present Day: Case Study of the Katyń Massacre
  • Jose Manuel Coelho, Réflexion(s) sur les crimes de l’histoire et le droit international de la reconnaissance
  • Cécile de Caunes & Juan Branco, Les reconnaissances juridiques des afro-descendants
  • Noura Kridis, Droit de la reconnaissance dans le cadre des révoltes arabes
  • Horatia Muir Watt, La reconnaissance entre philosophie politique et droit international privé : un rendez-vous manqué ?
  • Paul Lagarde, Introduction au thème de la reconnaissance des situations : rappel des points les plus discutés
  • Ivana Isailovic, La reconnaissance politique en droit transnational : les identités, les marginalisations et le droit international privé
  • Dominique Gaurier, La vision de l’autre, étranger ou non européen à travers le regard des auteurs classiques du droit international

Thursday 18 August 2016

BOOK: Jakob ZOLLMANN, Naulila 1914. World War I in Angola and International Law: A Study in (Post-)Colonial Border Regimes and Interstate Arbitration [Studien zur Geschichte des Völkerrechts; 35]. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2016, 516 p. ISBN 978-3-8487-2547-2, € 98.

(image source: blogger)

 Jakob Zollmann published Naulila 1914. World War I in Angola and International Law: A Study in (Post-)Colonial Border Regimes and Interstate Arbitration in Nomos' collection Studien zur Geschichte des Völkerrechts.

Abstract:
In 1885, Germany and Portugal became neighbours in Africa. The newly founded colony of German Southwest Africa prevented the southwards expansion of the ancient colony of Angola. The border along the Cunene and Kavango Rivers remained under dispute. After the outbreak of World War I in Europe, Portugal’s neutrality was questioned in German Southwest Africa, and when a group of German officials waiting near the border of Angola for food transports were shot in the Angolan fortress Naulila, a state of war between both colonies seemed inevitable. German troops launched several military reprisals against fortresses in southern Angola, most significantly against Naulila in December 1914. After their victory at Naulila, the Germans retreated to GSWA. However, African powers, most notably Kwanyama forces led by King Mandume, used the weakness of the defeated Portuguese army to expel the colonial troops from southern Angola. In 1915, a counter-offensive was launched with troops from Portugal that ended with the complete occupation of Kwanyama territories. After the war, a Luso-German arbitration procedure according to the Treaty of Versailles (1919) assessed the damages in Angola and Germany’s responsibility to pay reparations. The arbitration award of 1928 that established Germany’s responsibility for the violation of international law when attacking Naulila became a landmark case. It still holds relevance for modern international law. The final part of this book analyses the memorial culture that developed in Angola, Namibia, Germany and Portugal around the war in 1914/15.
More information here.
Source: International Law Reporter.

Wednesday 27 July 2016

SYMPOSIUM on James Lorimer in EJIL XXVII (2016), No. 2

(image source: Oxford Journals)

The European Journal of International Law, organ of the European Society of International Law, published its most recent issue, containing a symposium on Scottish international lawyer James Lorimer (1818-1890).

Articles:
Stephen Tierney & Neil Walker, "Through a Glass, Darkly: Reflections on James Lorimer’s International Law" (409-413) (PDF)
Martti Koskenniemi, "Race, Hierarchy and International Law: Lorimer’s Legal Science" (415-429)  (PDF)
Gerry Simpson, "James Lorimer and the Character of Sovereigns: The Institutes as 21st Century Treatise" (431-446) (PDF)
Karen Knop, "Lorimer’s Private Citizens of the World" (447-475) (PDF)
Stephen C. Neff, "Heresy in Action: James Lorimer's Dissident Views on War and Neutrality" (PDF)

More information at Oxford Journals.

Thursday 7 July 2016

BOOK: Yasuaki ONUMA, Le droit international et le Japon : une vision trans-civilisationnelle du monde [Doctrines: Ecole de Droit Sciences Po Paris] (Paris: Pedone, 2016), 398 p. ISBN 978-2-233-00798-8, € 44


(image source: LGDJ)

Book presentation:
Selon Yasuaki Onuma, grand théoricien et historien japonais du droit international, si le droit international est généralement considéré comme un droit commun à toute l'humanité, ce constat doit être examiné de façon critique pour être dépassé. Un droit international plus légitime d'un point de vue global, représentant le monde non occidental, doit être écrit et mis en oeuvre. Les contributions présentées dans cet ouvrage reflètent plus précisément deux préoccupations fondamentales qui ont accompagné l'auteur toute sa vie. Dans les textes rassemblés dans la première partie, il a cherché à clarifier les limites du droit international actuel, tourné vers l'Occident, cherchant à surmonter celles-ci en proposant une approche « trans-civilisationnelle » ou « inter-civilisationnelle » qui permettrait à la fois de s'engager en faveur d'un système global plus légitime et de comprendre de manière plus pertinente les questions associées à l'international, à l'universel et au global. Dans les textes de la deuxième partie, il a tenté d'élucider les liens entre le Japon moderne et l'ordre juridique international. Ces liens sont fondamentalement ambivalents, le Japon étant un État non occidental et pourtant occidentalisé. Ainsi a-t-il lutté contre l'hégémonie occidentale mais en a-t-il reproduit certains des pires traits (colonialisme, guerre d'agression, sentiments racistes et discriminatoires, basés sur la nationalité, à l'encontre des peuples « non-blancs »). Fort d'une formation qui emprunte à différentes cultures et de sa qualité de Japonais, fondamentalement asiatique mais également occidentalisé, Yasuaki ONUMA est particulièrement autorisé à proposer sa thèse majeure en faveur d'un déplacement du droit international « occidentalo-centré » au profit d'une approche de celui-ci qui se nourrit de l'apport mutuel des civilisations.
On the author:
Yasuaki Onuma, est professeur distingué de l'Université Meiji et professeur émérite de droit international de l'Université de Tokyo. Ses principales publications sont A Transcivilizational Perspective on International Law (Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston, 2010) ; (en tant qu'éditeur) A Normative Approach to War: Peace, War, and Justice in Hugo Grotius (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1993) et, en japonais, Senso sekinin ron Josetsu (Prolegoma to the Responsibility for War) (Tokyo University Press, 1975). 
 More information with LGDJ.

PAPER ON SSRN: Samuel MOYN (Harvard), "From Aggression to Atrocity: Rethinking the History of International Criminal Law"


(image source: SSRN)


Prof. Samuel Moyn (Harvard) posted "From Aggression to Atrocity: Rethinking the History of International Criminal Law" on SSRN.

Abstract:
Explaining the shift from the priority of the charge of "aggression" in the beginning of the field of international criminal law to its exclusion in the age of the its reinvention around a suite of atrocity charges is the central task for historians in understanding this domain — and it also should matter for observers of the world today. Yet routinely, international criminal law is presented as running through a smooth trajectory, rather than a stark reversal or at least massive shift. For this reason, this essay gathers together elements for a case for the transformation in the first place, and floats some hypotheses about its timing and causes.
 (Source: International Law Reporter)

Thursday 9 June 2016

BOOK: Benjamin Allen COATES, Legalist Empire: International Law and American Foreign Relations in the Early Twentieth Century. Oxford, OUP, 2016, 296 p. ISBN 9780190495954, $ 35

(image source: OUP)

The Legal History Blog signalled the publication of Legalist Empire: International Law and American Foreign Relations in the Early Twentieth Century by Benjamin Allen Coates (Wake Forest University).

Abstract:
America's empire expanded dramatically following the Spanish-American War of 1898. The United States quickly annexed the Philippines and Puerto Rico, seized control over Cuba and the Panama Canal Zone, and extended political and financial power throughout Latin America. This age of empire, Benjamin Allen Coates argues, was also an age of international law. Justifying America's empire with the language of law and civilization, international lawyers-serving simultaneously as academics, leaders of the legal profession, corporate attorneys, and high-ranking government officials-became central to the conceptualization, conduct, and rationalization of US foreign policy.

Just as international law shaped empire, so too did empire shape international law. Legalist Empire shows how the American Society of International Law was animated by the same notions of "civilization" that justified the expansion of empire overseas. Using the private papers and published writings of such figures as Elihu Root, John Bassett Moore, and James Brown Scott, Coates shows how the newly-created international law profession merged European influences with trends in American jurisprudence, while appealing to elite notions of order, reform, and American identity. By projecting an image of the United States as a unique force for law and civilization, legalists reconciled American exceptionalism, empire, and an international rule of law. Under their influence the nation became the world's leading advocate for the creation of an international court.
Although the legalist vision of world peace through voluntary adjudication foundered in the interwar period, international lawyers-through their ideas and their presence in halls of power-continue to infuse vital debates about America's global role.

 Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: International Law in Europe and America to 1898
Chapter 2: Selling Empire, 1898-1904
Chapter 3: Legalism at Home: Professionalizing International Law, 1900-1913
Chapter 4: Legalism in the World, 1907-1913
Chapter 5: International Law and Empire in Latin America, 1904-1917
Chapter 6: Legalism, Neutrality, and the Great War, 1914-1918
Chapter 7: World War, Collective Security, and International Law, 1914-1941
Conclusion
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
More information at OUP.