ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

Wednesday 26 January 2022

JOURNAL: The American Journal of Legal History LXI (2021), nr. 2

 

(image source: OUP)

The second issue (2021) of the American Journal of Legal History has two contributions relevant to the history of international law.

José María Torres Caicedo and the Politics of International Law in Nineteenth-Century Latin America (Sebastián Mantilla Blanco, LL.M, (Dr. iur.))
DOI 10.1093/ajlh/njab005
Abstract:

The mid-nineteenth century was the formative period of doctrines that dominated international law debates in Latin America until well into the twentieth century. José María Torres Caicedo (1830–89) is one of the least-known international law scholars from those years. Torres Caicedo’s vast experience as a diplomat provided him with a sharp political instinct, which nurtured his academic work about international legal affairs. A look into his writings exposes the politics behind present-day principles, such as sovereign equality and non-intervention. It also reveals the stance of Latin American intellectuals with regard to the Eurocentric notion of the ‘civilized State’. In the field of the law of aliens, Torres was a major influence in the development of the Calvo Doctrine. His contributions to international law are all the more relevant, as historians place Torres as one of the first authors designating Central and South America as ‘Latin America’. This term was closely intertwined with Torres Caicedo’s views on foreign policy and international law. 

Internment of Enemy Aliens during the World Wars (Manuel Galvis Martínez)
DOI 10.1093/ajlh/njab006
Abstract:

The article offers a historical approach to one of the most understudied areas of international humanitarian law by focusing on the successes and shortfalls of the two international armed conflicts with the highest numbers of civilians interned in global history. Through the study of State practice during Word War I and Word War II, the author addresses the causes and justifications that led to massive internment of enemy aliens, the practical determination of the need of those measures, and the role of ethnicity for internment. Lessons drawn from those experiences not only clarify and humanize abstract legal provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions but also warn about harmful deviations from the intended purpose of those norms for future cases.

More information can be found on the website of the AJLH

(Source: OUP