Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T23:51:31.112Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Emergence of the International Law Societies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Irwin Abrams
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The history of world politics of the half century before 1914 is full of nationalist wars, imperialist conflicts, and the diplomacy of the armed peace. To the less spectacular developments of internationalism so little attention is usually paid that the League of Nations almost seems to emerge full-grown from the head of Woodrow Wilson. It is true that the dominant trend in the relations between the sovereign states was anything but pacific, and the peoples were increasingly swayed by the emotion of aggressive nationalism. At the same time the world was becoming more interdependent economically and culturally, and there was a quiet but clearly perceptible growth of international-mindedness. A significant expression of this development was the movement of ideas in the eighteen-seventies which led to the establishment of two important law societies, the Institute of International Law and the International Law Association. The story of their origins is an interesting chapter in the history of international law and throws light as well upon its relationships with the organized peace movement.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , July 1957 , pp. 361 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1957

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Institute of International Law, Annuaire (1878), II, 344–356.Google Scholar

2 Rolin-Jaequemyns, G., “De l'étude de la legislation comparée et du droit international,” in Revue de Droit International, I (1869), 1–17, 225–243, especially 231–233.Google Scholar

3 SirMaine, Henry, International Law (N.Y., 1888), p. 1Google Scholar. See the article on the donor who established the chair, Whewell, William, in Dictionary of National Biography.Google Scholar

4 Quoted in Herald of Peace (09, 1886), p. 107.Google Scholar

5 Hansard, 's Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, 07 25, 1887, 3rd series (1887), CCCXVII, 1832–1834Google Scholar, quoted in London Times, 07 26, 1887.Google Scholar

6 Walker, Thomas Alfred, The Science of International Law (London, 1893), p. 4Google Scholar. Austin, 's The Province of Jurisprudence Determined was first published in 1832Google Scholar, but its main influence stemmed from the second edition, published in 1861. See the introduction and bibliographical note by Hart, H. L. A. in the most recent edition (London, 1954).Google Scholar

7 For examples see Rolin-Jaequemyns, , op. cit., pp. 231–233Google Scholar; Walker, , op. cit., p. 4Google Scholar; The Collected Papers of John Westlake on Public International Law, ed. by Oppenheim, L. (Cambridge, 1914), p. xxiGoogle Scholar (first published in 1894). By the early twentieth century Austinianism was generally rejected. See Hershey, Amos, The Essentials of International Public Law (N. Y., 1914), p. 5Google Scholar, and his valuable bibliography on Austin, pro and con.Google Scholar

8 Rolin-Jaequemyns, G., “De la necessité d'organiser une institution scientifique permanente pour favoriser l'Étude et le progrès international,” Revue de Droit International (1873), V, 463–491, esp. 478, 474.Google Scholar

9 Bara's brilliant essay was not published until after his death: Bara, Louis, La Science de la Paix (Brussels, 1872)Google Scholar. On the attitude of the earlier peace movement toward international law, see Phelps, Christina, The Anglo-American Peace Movement in the Mid-Nineteenth Century (N. Y., 1930), pp. 124ff.Google Scholar

10 Anon., “The German Empire,” Edinburgh Review, CXXXIII (04, 1871), 459–484.Google Scholar

11 Meulen, Jakob ter, Der Gedanke der Internationalen Organization in seiner Entwicklung (2 vols., The Hague, 1917–1940), II, part two, pp. 127–147Google Scholar. The many peace projects published at this time are listed in Ibid., Bibliographie du Mouvement de la Paix. Listes Provisoires (The Hague, 1934), pp. 47–52. In contrast to the congress of nations earlier proposed by the peace societies, most of these designs recognized the need for sanctions of force.

12 Advocate of Peace (04, 1871), p. 40, (11, 1872), pp. 228–229Google Scholar; Miles, James B., The Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations. A brief Sketch of its Formation (Paris, 1875)Google Scholar; Curti, Merle, The Learned Blacksmith. The Letters and Journals of Elihu Burritt (N.Y., 1937), pp. 204–209.Google Scholar

13 Advocate of Peace (03, 1873), pp. 20–22; (05, 1873), pp. 39–40; (06, 1873), pp. 44–45; (07, 1873), p. 55Google Scholar. Bulletin de la Société de la Paix (02, 1873) pp. 1–14)Google Scholar. For Richard's attitude; Letter, Fredéric Passy to Miles, Feb. 13, 1873. American Peace Society MSS. Letters, Special Foreign. The file includes many letters to Miles relating to his activities in behalf of an international code.

14 Hansard, 's Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 07 8, 1873, 3rd series (1873), CCXVII, 51–90Google Scholar. London Times, 07 9, 10, 09 12, 1873Google Scholar. The Times, always hostile to the peace party, was bitter about the absenteeism in the House of Commons which gave Richard his triumph and did not take the resolution seriously. A similar sentiment was expressed in Punch, LXV (07 19, 1873), 22.Google Scholar

15 Advocate of Peace (11, 1873), p. 84.Google Scholar

16 Bulletin de la Paix (07–08, 1873), pp. 8–14, (05–06–07, 1873), p. 68Google Scholar; letter, Sclopis, to Passy, , 06 30, 1872Google Scholar, in Passy, Fredéric, Pour le Paix (Paris, 1909), pp. 210–211.Google Scholar

17 Bulletin de la Paix (02 1, 1873), pp. 1–14, (03–04, 1873), pp. 17–30, (05–06–07, 1873), p. 68, (06, 1874), p. 186Google Scholar; Advocate of Peace (05, 1873), pp. 28–29, 36–37Google Scholar; Journal des Economistes, XXIX (03, 1873), 497–503Google Scholar. The proposal of Lucas is in his “Examen critique du congrès international pénitentiare de Londres,” in L'Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques: Séances et Traveaux, XCIX (01, 1873), 131–158Google Scholar. The letters from Passy to Miles in the files of the American Peace Society show the former busily active in Miles' behalf.

18 Advocate of Pence (05, 1873), pp. 36–37.Google Scholar

19 Rolin-Jaequemyns, , “Institution Scientifique,” pp. 480–481Google Scholar. It has been claimed that the idea first came to Rolin-Jaequemyns by Lemonnier and his Ligue de la Paix et de la Liberté, but there is no evidence to support this. Montluc, Leon de, “Charles Lemonnier,” États Unis d'Europe (07, 1924), supplement, p. 15.Google Scholar

20 The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, ed. by Perry, T. (Boston, 1882), pp. 323–325Google Scholar. Freidel, Frank, Francis Lieber Nineteenth-Century Liberal (Baton Rouge, La., 1947), pp. 315–316.Google Scholar

21 Bluntschli, Johann Kaspar, Das moderne Volkerrecht der civilisirten Staaten als Rechtsbuch dargestellt (Nordlingen, 1868), pp. v–viGoogle Scholar. See his essay in Miscellaneous Writings of Francis Lieber (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1881), II, 7–14.Google Scholar

22 Lieber, to PresidentWhite, Andrew D., 12 15, 1866Google Scholar. Letters of Lieber, p. 367.Google Scholar

23 Field, David Dudley, An International Code. An Address … Oct. 5, 1866 (N.Y., 1867)Google Scholar, and Draft Outlines of an International Code (N.Y., 1872), pp. i–iiGoogle Scholar. Field's papers and addresses on codification of international law are assembled in his Speeches, Arguments, and Miscellaneous Papers (3 vols., 1884–1890), I, edited by Sprague, A. P., pp. 384–483Google Scholar. Also see Field, Henry M., The Life of David Dudley Field (N.Y., 1898), pp. 219–242.Google Scholar

24 Lieber, to Thayer, Judge, 05 7, 1869Google Scholar. Letters of Lieber, p. 391Google Scholar. Field's endeavors were reported in the American Law Review for April, 1869, in the course of a friendly review of Bluntschli's code: Anon., “Bluntschli and International Law,” ibid., II, 396–409. The writer endorsed the idea of a congress of jurists, but he felt Field's committee was inadequate, since prominent names like Lieber and Heffter were missing. Earlier attempts at codification by the Spaniard de Ferrater, the Italian Parodo and the Austrian Domin-Petrushevecz went practically unnoticed at this time. On codification see Visscher, Charles de, “La Codification du Droit International,” in Académie de Droit International. Recueil des Cours 1925 (Paris, 1926), pp. 325–455Google Scholar, especially chapter vii; Scott, James Brown, “The Gradual and Progressive Codification of International Law,” in American Journal of International Law, XXI (1927), 417–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

25 Freidel, , Lieber, p. 403.Google Scholar

26 Rolin-Jaequemyns, , “Institution scientifique,” pp. 480–482Google Scholar. Katchenovsky died soon after Lieber.

27 Visschers, to Miles, , 06 16, 1873Google Scholar. Translated copy in American Peace Society MSS.

28 Rolin-Jaequemyns, , “Institution scientifique,” pp. 482–483, 667–669.Google Scholar

29 Rolin-Jaequemyns, to Miles, , 06 7, 1873Google Scholar. American Peace Society MSS.

30 Rolin-Jaequemyns, to Miles, , 06 7, 1873Google Scholar. American Peace Society MSS.

31 Burritt, to Miles, , 09 23, 1873, 06 27, 1874, 05 27, 1875Google Scholar. Letters from Elihu Burritt. American Peace Society MSS. These letters have been printed in Curti, , Burritt, pp. 216–217, 224–225, 232–233Google Scholar. In the printing the “r” was left off of “schemer,” which tends to misrepresent the extent of Burritt's distrust of Rolin-Jaequemyns.

32 Rolin-Jaequemyns, , “Institution scientifique,” pp. 480, 487Google Scholar. When the project was already under way, Moynier had also sent him a reference to a similar proposal for an international academy of scholars made by the German writer Konstantin Frantz in 1867. This plan is discussed in Meulen, ter, Her Gedanke der Internationalen Organisation, II, part two, p. 16.Google Scholar

33 The opinions of the jurists were printed in the Bulletin de la Paix (03–04, 1873), pp. 31–46Google Scholar; also in Advocate of Peace (08, 1873), pp. 57–59.Google Scholar

34 Rolin-Jaequemyns, , “De la manière d'apprécier … les faits de la dernière guerre, “Revue de Droit International, IV (1872), pp. 481–525.Google Scholar

35 Advocate of Peace (07, 1873), p. 51Google Scholar; Miles, , SketchGoogle Scholar; Field, , Dudley Field, pp. 245–246Google Scholar; International Law Association, Reports of the First and Second Conferences (London, 1903), pp. 2–6.Google Scholar

36 Rolin, Albéric, Les Origines de l'Institut de Droit International (Ghent 1923), p. 32Google Scholar; Lorimer, James, Studies National and International (Edinburgh, 1890), pp. 77–87Google Scholar. Lorimer–s account of the meeting was given as his introductory lecture to his students two months later. A weak lecturer, he had solved for himself the perennial problem of wandering attention at the first lecture by opening his course with some subject of contemporary interest. The three young men at the Ghent meeting represented a disproportionate accent on youth. By 1880, according to statistics collected by Moynier, only three of the forty-eight members were under forty years, while twenty were over sixty. Institute, Annuaire, II (1878), 84–88.Google Scholar

37 By 1880 all parts of Europe were represented by members except for Portugal, Turkey, and the Balkans. Ibid.

38 Laveleye, Emile de, “On the Causes of War and the Means of Reducing their Number,” in Cobden Club Essays, 2nd ser., 1871–1872 (London, 1872), pp. 1–52Google Scholar. This was, to be sure, a learned essay. Gladstone spoke favorably of it in the debate on Henry Richard's motion.

39 Biographical material on the members of the Institute is to be found in Institute, Annuaire, I (1877), pp. 143–186.Google Scholar

40 Revue de Droit International, V (1873), 674–676, 705–712Google Scholar; Lorimer, , Studies, pp. 77–87Google Scholar; Rolin, , OriginesGoogle Scholar; London Times, Sept. 11, 13, 1873.Google Scholar

41 American Law Review, VII (01, 1873), 323–327.Google Scholar

42 Revue de Droit, V (1873), 674.Google Scholar

43 International Law Association, Reports of the First and Second Conferences, pp. 17–24, 47–49Google Scholar; London Times, 10 18, 1873Google Scholar. The criticism of Rolin-Jaequemyns of the proposal for a general code is expressed in his review of Field's Draft Outlines in Revue de Droit International V (1873), 502–503Google Scholar. On Bernard, see the article in the Dictionary of National Biography.

44 International Law Association, Reports of the First and Second Conferences, pp. 25–44Google Scholar; London Times, 10 15, 16, 18, 1873Google Scholar. The proceedings, insofar as they related to the Institute were also reported in the Revue de Droit International, V (1873), 695–702Google Scholar. Lorimer, although not present at Brussels to take part in the debate, entirely agreed with Bernard. Lorimer, , Studies, pp. 86, 97–101.Google Scholar

45 London Times, 10 16, 1873.Google Scholar

46 Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, Report of the Fifth Conference, 1877, pp. 16–17.Google Scholar

47 Report of the Seventh Conference, 1879, pp. 248–251Google Scholar; Report of the Thirteenth Conference, 1887, p. 101.Google Scholar

48 Report of the Fourteenth Conference, 1890, p. 277.Google Scholar

49 Reports of the First and Second Conferences, p. ixGoogle Scholar. For an analysis of the subjects discussed and the resolutions passed, see Transactions of the International Law Association 1873–1924, compiled by Bewes, Wyndham A. (London, 1925).Google Scholar

50 Herald of Peace (10, 1883), p. 285.Google Scholar

51 See the plea of Nicholas Politis for the peace societies to pay some attention to the Institute. Revue de la Paix (1908), p. 280.Google Scholar

52 Institute, Annuaire, V, p. 17Google Scholar. The aim was now declared to be to try to formulate the general principles of the science of international law “de manière à répondre à la conscience juridique du monde civilisé.”

53 L'Institut de Droit International, Tableau General des Travaux (1873–1913), edited by Scott, James Brown (N.Y., 1920)Google Scholar; Schou, August, “The Peace Prize,” in Nobel Foundation, Nobel The Man and His Prizes (Norman, Oklahoma, 1951), pp. 475–573, esp. pp. 498–500Google Scholar; deVisscher, Charles, “La Codification de Droit International,” pp. 413–414Google Scholar. Arthur Nussbaum, on the other hand, does not rate the Institute's achievements as very impressive. Nussbaum, Arthur, Concise History of the Law of Nations (rev. ed., N.Y., 1954), p. 249.Google Scholar