Hardback
Research Handbook on the Theory and History of International Law
2nd edition
9781788116701 Edward Elgar Publishing
This updated and revised second edition, with contributions from renowned experts, provides a comprehensive scholarly framework for analyzing the theory and history of international law. Featuring an array of legal and interdisciplinary analyses, it focuses on those theories and developments that illuminate the central and timeless basic concepts and categories of the international legal system, highlighting the interdependency of various aspects of theory and history and demonstrating the connections between theory and practice.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
This updated and revised second edition provides a comprehensive scholarly framework for analyzing the theory and history of international law. Featuring an array of legal and interdisciplinary analyses, it focuses on those theories and developments that illuminate the central and timeless basic concepts and categories of the international legal system, highlighting the interdependency of various aspects of theory and history and demonstrating the connections between theory and practice.
With contributions from renowned experts, this Research Handbook explores the essence and development of international legal theory, taking account of the key shifts and advances since the era of classical legal scholarship. Contributors examine several major areas of international law in depth, before transferring their focus to the history of international law from the medieval period up to the present day. Coverage has been expanded to include analysis of the origins of and Eurocentric narratives surrounding the present system, and to discuss significant developments of the 21st century.
Scholars and students of international law and politics looking for an in-depth understanding of the current international legal system and its history will find this Research Handbook to be crucial reading. Its theoretical approach will also be of interest to legal theorists, as well as researchers in ethics and philosophy.
With contributions from renowned experts, this Research Handbook explores the essence and development of international legal theory, taking account of the key shifts and advances since the era of classical legal scholarship. Contributors examine several major areas of international law in depth, before transferring their focus to the history of international law from the medieval period up to the present day. Coverage has been expanded to include analysis of the origins of and Eurocentric narratives surrounding the present system, and to discuss significant developments of the 21st century.
Scholars and students of international law and politics looking for an in-depth understanding of the current international legal system and its history will find this Research Handbook to be crucial reading. Its theoretical approach will also be of interest to legal theorists, as well as researchers in ethics and philosophy.
Critical Acclaim
Acclaim for the First Edition:
‘The editor has done a masterful job of gathering leaders in this field, facilitating the flow of this book through the ages of the thinking it describes, and presenting an incredibly well-documented and authoritative treatment of a somewhat neglected subject.’
– American Society of International Law Newsletter
‘It is a good time in which to be a thinker about the remarkable present and the daunting future of the human world. The present volume will encourage more thinkers and more thought. It could not be more timely or more necessary.’
– From the Foreword to the First Edition by Philip Allott
‘The editor has done a masterful job of gathering leaders in this field, facilitating the flow of this book through the ages of the thinking it describes, and presenting an incredibly well-documented and authoritative treatment of a somewhat neglected subject.’
– American Society of International Law Newsletter
‘It is a good time in which to be a thinker about the remarkable present and the daunting future of the human world. The present volume will encourage more thinkers and more thought. It could not be more timely or more necessary.’
– From the Foreword to the First Edition by Philip Allott
Contributors
Contributors include: J. Allain, W.E. Butler, P. Capps, R. Cryer, C. Focarelli, J. Kammerhofer, R. Lesaffer, A. Lev, L. Mälksoo, F. Mégret, A. Nell, A. Orakhelashvili, T. Ruys, A. Soete, A. Wijffels
Contents
Contents:
Foreword to the First Edition viii
Editor’s Preface to the Second Edition x
PART I THE ESSENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL THEORY
1 The relevance of theory and history: the essence and origins of
international law 2
Alexander Orakhelashvili
2 Early-modern scholarship on international law 19
Alain Wijffels
3 Natural law and the law of nations 58
Patrick Capps
4 The origins of consensual positivism: Pufendorf, Wolff and Vattel 90
Alexander Orakhelashvili
5 The transformation of international law in the nineteenth century 108
Amnon Lev
6 Hans Kelsen’s place in international legal theory 139
Jörg Kammerhofer
PART II THEMATIC ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL THEORY
7 International human rights law theory 164
Frédéric Mégret
8 The philosophy of international criminal law 200
Robert Cryer and Albert Nell
9 International law, international politics and ideology 240
Alexander Orakhelashvili
PART III HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
10 Periodization and international law 281
William E. Butler
11 Origins, record and narratives: uses and abuses of international legal history 296
Alexander Orakhelashvili
12 Acculturation through the Middle Ages: the Islamic law of nations and
its place in the history of international law 312
Jean Allain
13 The classical law of nations 326
Randall Lesaffer
14 The nineteenth-century life of international law 359
Alexander Orakhelashvili
15 International law between universality and regional fragmentation: the
historical case of Russia 373
Lauri Mälksoo
16 International law in the twentieth century 394
Carlo Focarelli
17 International law in the early twenty-first century 444
Tom Ruys and Anemoon Soete
Index 474
Foreword to the First Edition viii
Editor’s Preface to the Second Edition x
PART I THE ESSENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL THEORY
1 The relevance of theory and history: the essence and origins of
international law 2
Alexander Orakhelashvili
2 Early-modern scholarship on international law 19
Alain Wijffels
3 Natural law and the law of nations 58
Patrick Capps
4 The origins of consensual positivism: Pufendorf, Wolff and Vattel 90
Alexander Orakhelashvili
5 The transformation of international law in the nineteenth century 108
Amnon Lev
6 Hans Kelsen’s place in international legal theory 139
Jörg Kammerhofer
PART II THEMATIC ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL THEORY
7 International human rights law theory 164
Frédéric Mégret
8 The philosophy of international criminal law 200
Robert Cryer and Albert Nell
9 International law, international politics and ideology 240
Alexander Orakhelashvili
PART III HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
10 Periodization and international law 281
William E. Butler
11 Origins, record and narratives: uses and abuses of international legal history 296
Alexander Orakhelashvili
12 Acculturation through the Middle Ages: the Islamic law of nations and
its place in the history of international law 312
Jean Allain
13 The classical law of nations 326
Randall Lesaffer
14 The nineteenth-century life of international law 359
Alexander Orakhelashvili
15 International law between universality and regional fragmentation: the
historical case of Russia 373
Lauri Mälksoo
16 International law in the twentieth century 394
Carlo Focarelli
17 International law in the early twenty-first century 444
Tom Ruys and Anemoon Soete
Index 474
