No other scholar has so deeply influenced the development of international law or shaped the doctrinal debates as Vattel. More than 250 years after its publication, his Law of Nations has remained the most frequently quoted treatise of international law. Vattel's International Law from a XXIst Century Perspective explores the reasons behind the extraordinary authority of Vattel and analyses its continuing relevance for thinking and understanding contemporary international law. It gathers the contributions from well-known experts of international law and history for the purpose of evaluating the Law of Nations from a XXIst century perspective. The multiple facets of Vattel’s thinking are apprehended through a wide-ranging and comprehensive analysis respectively devoted to the international system, the sources of international law, the subjects of international law, the law of peace, and the law of war.

No other scholar has so deeply influenced the development of international law or shaped the doctrinal debates as Vattel. More than 250 years after its publication, his Law of Nations has remained the most frequently quoted treatise of international law. This volume explores the reasons behind the extraordinary authority of Vattel and analyses its continuing relevance for thinking and understanding contemporary international law.

Criticism of colonial justifications has been familiar since the age of Sepúlveda and Las Casas. Yet today it is said that international law is, and always was, an instrument of colonialism. It is true that the ius gentium and the Law of Nations failed to prevent colonialism and were used in fact to justify colonialism. Still, such failures which occurred over the successive periods of European colonization of non-European peoples did not implicate the whole of international law thought. That is just a modern exaggeration, but rather than repair the international law that we have, for example in our discussions about colonial reparation, some now wish us to reject international law altogether. In seeking to cast present-day criticisms in a proper light, these lectures at the Hague Academy had discussed the more notable literature, including in judgments and arbitral awards, from the time of the classic works that are connected to the history of the subject to the present day. Now presented in pocketbook form the objective is the same; which is to explain the aims and methods of post-colonial criticism, and to reject the view that it is too late for international law.

This first edition of Philosophical Foundations of International Criminal Law: Correlating Thinkers contains 20 chapters about renowned thinkers from Plato to Foucault. As the first volume in the series "Philosophical Foundations of International Criminal Law", the book identifies leading philosophers and thinkers in the history of philosophy or ideas whose writings bear on the foundations of the discipline of international criminal law, and then correlates their writings with international criminal law.

Explores how Vattel used the natural law tradition to frame a pragmatic and treaty-oriented model of the law of nations.

Twelve international scholars offer innovative studies of the law of nations from the Peace of Westphalia to the Enlightenment. The focus is on little known contexts and sources, and on novel interpretations of classics in the field.

In Enemies of Mankind Walter Rech offers a contextual history of the collective security doctrine articulated by Swiss international lawyer Emer de Vattel (1714-67) in the authoritative treatise Droit des gens of 1758.

This collection of essays gathers contributions from leading international lawyers from different countries, generations and angles with the aim of highlighting the multifaceted history of international law. This volume questions and analyses the origins and foundations of the international legal system. A particular attention is devoted to Hugo Grotius as one of the founding fathers of the law of nations. Several contributions further question the positivist tradition initiated by Vattel and endorsed by scholars of the 19th Century. This immersion in the intellectual origins of international law is enriched by an inquiry into the practice of the law of nations, including its main patterns and changing evolution as well as the role of non-western traditions and the impact of colonization. Le présent ouvrage réunit les contributions de juristes internationaux reconnus en vue d’éclairer les multiples facettes de l’histoire du droit international public. L’ouvrage analyse et questionne les origines et les fondements de l’ordre juridique international. Une attention toute particulière est dédiée à Hugo Grotius l’un des pères fondateurs du droit international. D’autres contributions questionnent également la tradition positiviste initiée par Vattel et confortée par la doctrine du 19ème siècle. Cette immersion dans les origines doctrinales du système juridique international est enrichie par l’étude de la pratique du droit international public, son évolution ainsi que le rôle des traditions non-occidentales et l’impact de la colonisation.

For many centuries, thinkers have tried to understand and to conceptualize political and legal order beyond the boundaries of sovereign territories. Their concepts, deeply entangled with ideas of theology, state formation, and human nature, form the bedrock of today's theoretical discourses on international law. This volume engages with models of early international legal thought from Machiavelli to Hegel before international law in the modern sense became an academic discipline of its own. The interplay of system and order serves as a leitmotiv throughout the book, helping to link historical models to contemporary discourse. Part I of the book covers a diverse collection of thinkers in order to scrutinize and contextualize their respective models of the international realm in light of general legal and political philosophy. Part II maps the historical development of international legal thought more generally by distilling common themes and ideas, such as the relationship between universality and particularity, the role of the state, the influence of power and economic interests on the law, and the contingencies of time, space and technical opportunities. In the current political climate, where it appears that the reinvigorated concept of the nation state as an ordering force competes with internationalist thinking, the problems at issue in the classic theories point to contemporary questions: is an international system without central power possible? How can a normative order come about if there is no central force to order relations between states? These essays show that uncovering the history of international law can offer ways in which to envisage its future.