CONFERENCE: International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century (c. 1775-1920) (Leuven: KULeuven, 24-25 Nov 2016)

(Mgr Sencie Institute; image source: Screenflanders)

The University of Leuven (R. Lesaffer, I. Van Hulle) organizes a conference on International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century  on 24 and 25 November 2016.

On the conference:

Recent historiography on public international law of the long nineteenth century consists of several storylines. For a long time, there was a strong emphasis on the period after 1870, which was regarded as a precursor to the formation of a truly global international law. Thus the nineteenth century was presented as the era in which international law as a discipline finally came to fruition through the creation of specialized chairs, professional societies, modern journals and academic contributions. International jurists embraced new scientific theories such as economic liberalism and positivism and said goodbye to the natural law as an interpretative paradigm. In addition, significant progress was made in the area of human rights, international humanitarian law, arbitration and the conclusion of multilateral treaties. However, in contrast to these nobles aspirations, recent literature on international law has also indicated the strong ties to imperialism. Recent research has taken important steps towards investigating the development of international law in the period before 1870, for example, by highlighting its contribution to the abolition of the slave trade and slavery, the impact of political economy, the role of the Holy Alliance and the growth of international maritime law and warfare. 

This conference aims to encourage critical reflections on traditional historiographical themes, methods and sources used to study nineteenth-century international law. As such, they will provide new research topics such as, for example, the role of big versus small states in shaping international legal doctrine, the contributions of Western and non-Western jurists for the development of international law, the continuities and differences in relation to earlier and later periods, the legacy of the Napoleonic era, indigenous forms of international law, regional systems of international law, etc.

Day 1:

Day 1, 24 November 2016
12:30 Registration - coffee, tea
12:45 Welcome by the Dean B. Tilleman
12:55 Welcome by Randall Lesaffer
13:00-14:30 First panel: The Eighteenth-Century Fall-Out on Nineteenth-Century International Law13:00-13:20 James Crawford, Napoleon – A Small Issue of Status
13:20-13:40 Camilla Boisen, Subjecting International Relations to the Law of Nature: A Neglected Aspect of the Early Modern Jurists and Edmund Burke
13:40-14:00 Raymond Kubben, The Nineteenth-Century Origin of Conceptual Comfort on ‘Statehood
(30 minutes question time - followed by coffee break)
15:00-16:30 Second panel: Neutrality15:00-15:20 Frederik Dhondt, Permanent neutrality or permanent insecurity? Obligation and self-interest in the defense of Belgian neutrality
15:20-15:40 Shavana Musa, The Law of Neutrality in the Long Nineteenth Century
15:40-16:00 Viktorija Jakimovska: Uneasy Neutrality: Great Britain and the Greek War of Independence
(30 minutes question time followed by coffee break)
17:00-18:00 Third panel: Historiography of Nineteenth-Century International Law17:00-17:20 Miloš Vec, Which Narratives for Which Histories? The Contested Story of 19th Century International Law
17:20-17:40 Jan Lemnitzer, Economic globalisation and mid-19th Century expansion of International law 

Day 2:

09:00-09:30 Registration - coffee, tea
09:30-11:00 First panel: Professionalization and International Law 09:30-09:50 Stephen Neff, The Science of Man: Anthropology and International Law in the Nineteenth Century
09:50-10:10 Vincent Genin, Institut de droit International’s Crisis (1873-1899)
10:10-10 30 Ana Delic, Formative Interactions of Comparative Law and Private International Law (1820s to 1900s)
(30 minutes question time - followed by coffee break)
11:30-13:00 Second Panel: Empire and the Periphery in the Nineteenth Century 11:30-11:50 Andrew Fitzmaurice, ‘Equality in the Law of Nations
11:50-12:10 Stefan Kroll, Public-Private Colonialism: Political Authority and Judicial Decision-Making in the Shanghai International Settlement
12:10-12:30 Anne-Charlotte Martineau, Revisiting the Abolition of Slavery in the Long 19th Century (30 minutes question time - followed by lunch)
14:00-15:30 Third Panel: Individuals and International Law
14:00-14:20 Gabriela Frei, A Nation should be judged by its Laws” – Sir William Jones and the Translation of Hindu and Islamic Laws in Bengal (1788-1794)
14:20-14:40 Raphael Cahen, The Mahmoud ben Ayed case and the transformation of international law
14:40-15:00 Inge Van Hulle, British Imperial International Law in Africa and its Agents
(30 minutes question time and concluding remarks)
15:45 Closing Reception

Venue: Mgr. Sencie Instituut, Erasmusplein 2, 3000 Leuven (room MSI 1 03.12)

More information and registration here.