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The Debate about a European Institutional Order among International Legal Scholars in the 1920s and its Legacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2012

JEAN-MICHEL GUIEU
JEAN-MICHEL GUIEU*
Affiliation:
University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – UMR ‘IRICE’, 1 rue Victor Cousin – 75005 Paris, France; [email protected]
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Abstract

The inter-war period is a forgotten moment in the debate about a European institutional order amongst legal scholars. Although the European Communities established in the 1950s did not derive directly from the institutional schemes of the 1920s, the earlier period played an important role in the building of a specifically European legal doctrine. The failure of the universalist League of Nations led a certain number of international jurists, particularly French ones, to support regional solutions as an alternative. A European legal framework was thus seen as a possible way of adapting international law to meet the goals of peace and stability.

La question d'un ordre institutionnel européen: le débat international parmi les juristes pendant les années 1920 et ses suites

La période de l'entre-deux-guerres représente un moment crucial (quoique plutôt oublié) du débat entre juristes sur la question d'un ordre institutionnel européen. Même si les Communautés européennes établies dans les années 1950 ne tirent pas directement leur origine des schémas institutionnels des années 1920, cette période peut être considérée comme ayant joué un rôle important dans la construction d'une doctrine juridique européenne. L'échec des ambitions universalistes de la Société des Nations conduisit en effet un certain nombre de professeurs de droit international, particulièrement français, à soutenir des solutions régionales et européennes. L'organisation juridique de l'Europe fut alors envisagée comme une réponse possible en vue d'adapter le droit international aux nécessités du temps présent.

Internationale rechtswissenschaftler und die frage einer europäischen institutionenordnung in den 1920er jahren

Die Zwischenkriegszeit ist ein vergessener Moment in der Diskussion um eine europäische Institutionenordnung unter Rechtswissenschaftlern. Wenngleich die in den 1950er Jahren gegründeten Europäischen Gemeinschaften nicht direkt von den Institutionensystemen der 1920er Jahre abgeleitet waren, spielte der frühere Zeitabschnitt eine wichtige Rolle beim Aufbau einer speziell europäischen Rechtsdogmatik. Das Scheitern des universalistischen Völkerbunds führte dazu, dass eine Reihe internationaler, vor allem französischer Juristen stattdessen regionale Lösungen befürworteten. Ein europäischer Rechtsrahmen wurde daher als eine Möglichkeit zum Anpassen des internationalen Rechts betrachtet, um die Ziele Frieden und Stabilität zu erreichen.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 21 , Issue 3: Towards a New History of European Law , August 2012 , pp. 319 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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