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.

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.