Judith Gardam was born in Perth, Western Australia, growing up there with her parents and sister and brother. Then, as now, Perth was a relatively isolated city and perhaps because of this, one of Judith's enduring memories as a young woman was the first space flight and orbit of the Earth by Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin on 12 April 1961. Asked later about the flight and his view of the Earth, Gagarin recalled:

Gagarin had the rare privilege of being able to see further over the horizon than any other person ever had.

Gagarin's tiny Vostok spacecraft passed over Perth during the night of 12 April and this left an indelible impression on Judith. Though she relentlessly asked her father, an engineer, a flood of questions about the spaceflight, her focus was not just on the technical aspects of the event, but rather something more. The event captivated her, and she recalls that it ignited within her a deep sense of curiosity about the broader world and inspired her imagination about unlimited possibilities. For Gagarin, his view further over the horizon only came through riding that Vostok rocket into a low Earth orbit for an hour and 48 minutes on 12 April 1961. Judith, however, spent a lifetime endeavouring to see further over the horizon than anyone else through her chosen field of international law. And beyond the horizon that limits so many of us in what we can imagine for our global community, Judith saw unlimited possibilities. This volume not only tells her story, but it also tells us what she saw over the horizon.