Wheaton, Henry. Elements of International Law: with a Sketch of the History of the Science. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1836. xiv, 375 pp. Reprinted 2002 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 00-066335. ISBN 1-58477-170-4. Hardcover. * Reprint of the first edition of this important treatise on international law by the distinguished lawyer and diplomat. The work enjoyed numerous later editions and translations. "Mr. Wheaton's early familiarity with the jurisprudence and foreign relations of the United States, his long experience in diplomacy, his intimate acquaintance with European languages and foreign diplomatic writers, entitles his writings upon International Law to more than ordinary consideration. His works enjoy the highest reputation for the soundness of their views, and the learning and research displayed in illustrating the various topics discussed." Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 728, citing third edition. "On his own merits Wheaton is clearly entitled to rank among the classics. Like Grotius, he embodied a happy combination of profound scholarship with a wide experience of diplomatic and public life, and his work further resembles that of Grotius in that it cannot be classified under the conventional labels of any doctrinal system. His insistence upon the fundamental principles of natural law is balanced by his analysis of practice as an immediate source of positive law." H.A. Smith, Law Quarterly Review 307-308. Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 584, citing 8th ed. Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America 103156. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 7200. Sweet and Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations II:377. Catalogue of the Library of the Law School of Harvard University (1909) II:905.

Offers a new perspective on international law and international legal argumentation: to what event is international law a belief system?