ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

ESIL Interest Group History of International Law

Thursday 19 May 2022

BOOK: Sean MORRIS (ed.), Intellectual Property and the Law of Nations, 1860-1920 (Brill, Studies in the History of International Law, 2022)

 

Image Source: Brill



Description:

What was the state of the law and how states managed to fulfil their international legal obligations under the law of nations with respect to intellectual property protection? 13 contributors show how the transition of intellectual property from private rights holders and their non-state patrons evolves into state lawmaking. The book presents these transitions through international legal perspectives and the history of intellectual property rights in late modern societies in Europe, the United States, Asia and Colonial States in Africa.

Table of Contents:
Pages: 1–12

Part 1 Industrial Innovation in History and Conflicts

Pages: 15–54


From the Norm Development Process of the Paris Convention to Global Patent Justice
Pages: 55–98


International Exhibitions and the Rise of Innovation in the Law of Nations
Pages: 99–149

Industrial Property and the Breakdown of the International Order during World War I
Pages: 150–179


Part 2 Film and Regal Approaches to Copyright


The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Its Imperial Approach to the Berne Convention
Pages: 183–206


Developing Film’s Double Exposure of Intellectual Property
Pages: 207–241


Exploring the 1910 Copyright Code of the Great Qing Dynasty
Authors: Jyh-An Lee and Yangzi Li
Pages: 242–265


Part 3 Trademarks, Terroir and the Colonies


A Case Study on Diffusion of Trademark Norms in Early-20th Century China
Author: Ainee Adam
Pages: 269–290


Pages: 291–331


Author: Zvi S. Rosen
Pages: 332–374


Unde Venis Geographical Indications?
Pages: 375–420

More information can be found on the publisher's website (Brill).

Tuesday 17 May 2022

CALL FOR PAPERS: History, Politics, Law: In Conversation—Doctoral workshop (UCL/Online, 16 July 2022, DEADLINE: 23 May 2022)

Image Source: National Archives (Ratification of Treaty of Amiens)


 History, Politics, Law: In Conversation—Doctoral workshop 

Bentham House, UCL / online 

16 July 2022 

To mark the publication of History, Politics, Law: Thinking through the International (CUP 2021) the editors are convening a forum for reflection on the interdisciplinary conversations reflected in this volume and other recent works, including Martti Koskenniemi’s To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth: Legal Imagination and International Power, 1300–1870 (CUP, 2021).  

The event will have two components: a day of panel conversations and a book event on 15 July, open to all; and a smaller by-application doctoral workshop on 16 July, c. 9am–4.30pm not open to the public. 

The doctoral workshop will, like the panels of the previous day, pursue a methodological conversation through questions emerging in concrete projects. However, the doctoral workshop will allow for more in-depth engagement with written work, circulated in advance. This work need not be polished papers; indeed it would preferably be work-in-progress, with which participants are still grappling. We are open to work on all periods, and from diverse disciplines, engaged in some way with histories of law.  

The workshop will have c. 12 participants. We are able to fund travel from within the UK and potentially further afield, depending on the mix of those requiring travel funding; and a dinner and one night’s accommodation in London (possibly two, for those whose travel would otherwise complicate online attendance at the previous day’s workshops). For those from outside the UK, or for whom in-person travel is not feasible, we are happy to facilitate remote participation (and please note that one of the editors will also be remote, so you will be in good company!).  

Format of workshop 

In the workshop itself, we aim to have at least 30 minutes focused on the work of each participant, with the sequence arranged in such a way as to draw together participants who might be working on common periods or themes, or whose work might raise similar questions. Starting from the assumption that we have all read the work, we will ask participants to present each others’ projects very briefly (c. 5 mins), offer participants an opportunity to make any corrections or further observations which might inform discussion, and then have c. 25 mins of commentary from readers including Annabel Brett and Martti Koskenniemi, and Q&A with other participants.  

Indicative schedule 

Evening of 15 July: dinner for in-person participants 

9–11am: discussion of projects (participants 1–4) 

Coffee 

11.30–1pm: discussion of projects (participants 5–7) 

Lunch (at UCL) 

2–4.30pm: discussion of projects (participants 8–12) 

To express interest in participating … 

Please send a 500–1000-word expression of interest by 23 May 2022 to megan.donaldson@ucl.ac.uk, sketching the project in which you are engaged, and specific aspect(s) on which you would like to focus. We will confirm invitations by c. 27 May (taking into account not only the interest of individual projects but also complementarity between possible participants). We ask that participants then send up to 10,000 words of writing for discussion by 24 June (a hard deadline), to be shared with all participants in the doctoral workshop. Participants can send significantly less than this, if they prefer: the idea is to send draft text which will allow others to grasp the rough direction of the project, and the way in which you are working with materials, as well as specific ‘methodological’ problematiques of interest.      

Wednesday 4 May 2022

ARTICLE: G. SANDERS, "The Historical Roots of International Financial Institutions and their Impact on the Purposes and Governance of these Organizations", Manchester Journal of International Economic Law (2022), Vol. 19, Issue 1, 2-36


Abstract:


Although international financial institutions (IFIs), including multilateral development banks, were first established in the mid-twentieth century, their historical roots can be traced to the previous century when international organizations first emerged. The charter-prescribed mandates of all inter-governmental bodies concerned with development can be understood, when viewed holistically and in historical context, as sharing a common purpose, namely sustaining peace and improving lives. In organizing their governance arrangements to support financing this view of development, IFIs have emulated some of the approaches of earlier international organizations, while also adopting novel governance features that respond to their special needs as inter-governmental financiers of development.

Download the article on the publisher's website.

Tuesday 3 May 2022

CONFERENCE: ESIL Annual Conference, Interest Group History of International Law Pre-conference Hybrid Workshop 'Histories of Inclusion / Exclusion in International Law' (Utrecht/Zoom, 31 August - 1 September 2022)

 

2022 ESIL Annual Conference, Utrecht

Pre-Conference Workshop ESIL Interest Group on the History of International Law

Histories of Inclusion / Exclusion in International Law

Today’s international lawyers and historians of international law have become acutely aware that the legacy of modern international law is ambivalent. International law is claimed to be a normative project evolving towards universal scope. Yet, the idea of it has also been (ab)used for purposes of domination that has excluded non-European territories, peoples, and substantive issues from the scope of protection offered by the allegedly universalist law. Most notably, exclusion has been implemented through the so-called standard of civilization. Yet, international law has experienced many defining moments - the establishment of the League of Nations and the United Nations, proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, the establishment of international courts and tribunals beginning with the institution of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Permanent Court of International Justice, the Nuremberg and Tokyo Military Tribunals, the International Criminal Court, the Bretton-Woods system and the transition from the diplomacy of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to the World Trade Organisation’s Appellate Body, to name but a few. Altogether, international regimes have included as they have equally excluded many peoples, territories, subject matters, techniques, and methodologies throughout history. How much could international law possibly include – states, individuals, communities, non-state actors, which topics? Everything? Or would it be enough, for peremptory norms and cognate principles to be inclusive? Is there any substance beyond procedural matters of standing to the much vaunted erga omnes? Which methodologies and subject matters have been dominant in the history of international law, and which has international law missed? What, who, when, where, how, and why has been excluded?

Program – 31st of August 2022, 2 pm – 5 pm (CET)

Word of welcome from the organizers – Florenz Volkaert

Panel 1: In / Exclusion in international law through the lens of literature and gender

-        Histories of Inclusion/Exclusion in International (Criminal) Law

Teodora Schrotter, Cambridge University - University of London

-        Wartime Sexual Violence in 19th Century International Law

Anastasia Hammerschmied, Universität Wien

-        On Magic and Mandates: Decolonising Witchcraft and Sorcery in the History of International Human Rights

Aditi Patil, Human Rights Measurement Initiative

Rashmi Dharia, Sciences Po Law School

Concluding remarks – Jaanika Erne

Program – 1st of September 2022, 9 am – 12 am (CET)

Word of welcome from the organizers – Markus Beham

Panel 2: In / Exclusion in the history of international law and capitalism

-        Law, ideology and capitalist reason: the violence of abstraction as a mechanism of exclusion/inclusion in international law

Matheus Gobbato Leichtweis, Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

-        Treaties of commerce and the most-favored-nation clause in late 19th- and early 20th-century legal doctrine: a tool for economic and/or civilizational in / exclusion?

Florenz Volkaert, Ghent University

Panel 3: In / Exclusion of culture and minorities in the history of international law

-        Historicizing the Politics of Interpretation: The Exclusion/Inclusion of Cultural Context through Legal Interpretation

Dr. Ríán Derrig, World Maritime University

-        Who are minority rights for? The Role of Petitions and the League of Nations minority rights regime

Dr. Elizabeth Craig, University of Sussex

Panel 4: In / Exclusion in the history of international investment law

-        Deconstructing the exclusion of corporations from international legal personality

Christopher Yaw Nyinevi, Monash University

-        Equitable Representation on International Benches and the Appointment of Investor-State Dispute Settlement Tribunal Members: A Historical Perspective

Yanweng Zhang, University College London

Concluding remarks – Jaanika Erne

For more information, consult the ESIL website and ESIL Annual Conference website.

JOURNAL: JUS GENTIUM: Journal of International Legal History, Volume 7, Issue 1 (January 2022)

Source: Jus Gentium


Description:

ARTICLES

On the Ratification of Treaties in Prerevolutionary Russia
W. E. Butler

The Remarkable Civil Law Library of Judge John Purviance
M. Hoeflich

Classifications of the Baltic Annexation on the Basis of De Facto and De Jure Recognition
E. Tikhonravov

Vladimír Mandl: The Founding Father of Space Law
D. Dolan

International Law and Historic Rights in the South China Sea
K. Wiehn

DOCUMENTS AND OTHER EVIDENCE OF STATE PRACTICE

A Brief Calendar of State Practice for Shandong: 1897-1924. Part Five (1915-1916): Twenty-One Demands
P. Macalister-Smith
J. Schweitzke

REVIEW

Giancarlo Guarino, Per una definizione della struttura normativa del diritto internazionale contemporaneo (2021)
J. Schweitzke

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography of Russian Magister and Doctoral Dissertations on Public and Private International Law: 1802-1917

W. E. Butler
 

Monday 2 May 2022

CALL FOR PAPERS: The 30th Anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty: The Past, Present, and Future of European Integration (Studio Europa Maastricht, 27-29 September, DEADLINE: 1 June 2022)

Description:

Signed by twelve countries in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, the Treaty on European Union reshaped Europe’s socioeconomic landscape on a continental scale. This seminal agreement laid the foundations for the continuation of historically unprecedented peace and was built on the idea that fostering economic and monetary cooperation would translate into welfare and shared prosperity among the citizens of Europe. In this context, the Maastricht Treaty should be regarded as a revolutionary instrument; one to end the European divide by integrating countries in order to secure stability and balance in social, economic and monetary spheres. European unification, while maintaining diversity, took place through cross-border consensus on shared values and unique market and economic freedoms.

Three decades later and 15 member states larger, present-day circumstances mandate the revision of the 1992 European social contract. Unprecedented existential uncertainties coupled with economic downturn have led to the urgent need to evaluate whether the existing institutional design still fits its purpose. The latter is most apparent in the recent example of nation-centred coronavirus pandemic solutions which were placed ahead of, currently suspended, aspirations towards European convergence. Numerous challenges must be overcome to ensure that national tensions do not overwhelm supranational prospects. From the rise of divisive populism, unequal living standards and benefits utilisation, unbalanced growth and stratification of the European social fabric; the current challenges demonstrate that activating the escape clause is not an optimal way of addressing a crisis. Therefore, the reconstruction of the European backbone based on solidarity, inclusivity and synergic cross-border collaboration is a necessary precondition for safeguarding the sustainability of this most admirable European social project.

Due to long-term disagreements being overlooked, the Maastricht Treaty currently represents an ambitious scheme that remains largely unfulfilled. This has rendered the EU unable to cope with ongoing calamities. However, regardless of its challenges, shortcomings and imperfect design, the Maastricht Treaty is an unrivalled multilateral blueprint for global governance. Hence, the reform of the Maastricht Treaty can help preserve a European way of life and chart a unique pathway of how countries can create a global sustainable framework of governance.

For this reason, Maastricht University and Studio Europa Maastricht are organising an interdisciplinary academic conference to discuss the Maastricht Treaty through a European socioeconomic perspective. The conference will be held 27-29 September, directly following the EMU public symposium marking the 30th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty, also being held in Maastricht, 26-27 September.

The aim of the conference is to facilitate critical, but constructive, academic dialogue on the Maastricht Treaty’s legacy. In line with the spirit of unity in diversity, forward-looking scholars from all backgrounds are welcome; the only requirement is a willingness to work with others to reach a consensus on making Europe a better place through the commemoration of this paramount milestone of European collaboration.

Particularly welcome are contributions from the fields of economics, history, legal studies and political science focused in the following areas:
  • Institutional evolution and the future of the European integration
  • Social market economy and socioeconomic justice
  • Policies for economic convergence, risk sharing and solidarity
  • Democratic legitimacy and the rule of law
  • Fiscal federalism, democratic backsliding and the rise of populism
  • European inequality and social divide
  • Labour migration and economic union
  • The digital age and energy transition
  • The global impact of the euro
  • Common foreign security policy and geopolitical challenges
  • European health union and coronavirus pandemics
Academic board

Mathieu Segers
Professor of Contemporary European History and European Integration and holder of the EuropaChair of Maastricht University

Clemens Kool
Professor of Macroeconomics and International Monetary Economics,
Maastricht University
Application process coordinator

Ivan Rubinic
Postdoctoral Researcher at Studio Europa Maastricht, Maastricht University

Application process

This call is open to all, however, the selection process will be competitive due to limited places. Abstracts may be submitted until 1 June 2022. Applicants should send their abstract (maximum of 300 words) to Ivan Rubinić (i.rubinic@maastrichtuniversity.nl).

Candidates will be notified regarding the status of their application by the end of June 2022.

Participation in the conference is free of charge.

For all further inquiries, please contact the application process coordinator.