JOURNAL: Journal of the History of International Law/Revue d'histoire du droit international XXIV (2022), no. 4

 

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Articles

Spotlight Interview 2021: Gilad Ben-Nun, How Jewish Is International Law? 
DOI 10.1163/15718050-12340215

Acquisitive Prescription in Early Modern International Law (Alexander Batson)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-12340198
Abstract:

This article examines the role of Roman acquisitive prescription in early modern international law debates. The ubiquity of prescription demonstrates the importance of Roman private law in the development of international law. Yet, although it was a widely-used juristic concept, there was no consensus about its legitimacy in international relations from 1500 to 1800. Debates raged over whether it was a product of the natural law, the law of nations, or the Roman civil law. There was a crucial tension between prescription’s utility in confirming the political status quo and its tendency to justify ownership based on prior injustice or violence. In assessing the place of prescription in international law, this article examines its use by Grotius, Vázquez, Freitas, Boecler, Conring, Bellarmine, Solórzano, and others in debates over freedom of the seas, imperial possessions in the Americas, Dutch independence, papal temporal power, and the aftermath of the Thirty Years War.

The Origins of Regional Ideas: International Law, External Legitimization and Latin America’s ‘legalismo’ (Nicole Jenne)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-bja10022
Abstract:

Latin American politics are widely characterized by legalismo: a set of practices that can be traced to the notion of a continental or regional, American or Latin American International Law (AIL/LAIL) including the American international congresses and treaties, the practice of invoking AIL/LAIL’s various principles, and the use of judicial and quasi-judicial means of conflict resolution. However, it is far less clear where the origins of Latin America’s legalismo culture lay. Moreover, why did this formalistic-legalistic culture not take root in other regions? The article uses an original comparative historical approach to show that legalismo was a product of two conditions unique to Latin America: the distinctive security needs of its newly independent states and the time of independence. In comparison with Southeast Asia and Africa, I argue that legalismo was central to Latin America’s regional idea but that the practical impact of international law was not stronger than elsewhere.

Disarmament Debates around the 1899 Hague Peace Conference and the 1921–1922 Washington Conference: Community-Oriented Aspirations and Individual Security Concerns (Mika Hayashi)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-12340191
Abstract:

When disarmament started to interest the major states and international lawyers at around the time of the 1899 Hague Conference, two distinct positions concerning the law of disarmament became apparent: proponents and opponents. The proponents, with their community-oriented aspirations, found much merit in establishing the law of disarmament, while the opponents, with their individual security concerns, saw nothing but negative consequences for such a possibility. Given these two forces in the disarmament debate, one could wonder how the 1921–1922 Washington Conference was able to produce a treaty limiting the naval armament. This article tries to show that the Washington Naval Treaty was different from the law of disarmament that the proponents had envisioned, and that it was made possible by carefully crafted provisions to limit its own impact on the security of the naval powers.

Theorizing the Normative Significance of Critical Histories for International Law (Damian Cueni & Matthieu Queloz) (OPEN ACCESS)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-12340207
Abstract:

Though recent years have seen a proliferation of critical histories of international law, their normative significance remains under-theorized, especially from the perspective of general readers rather than writers of such histories. How do critical histories of international law acquire their normative significance? And how should one react to them? We distinguish three ways in which critical histories can be normatively significant: (i) by undermining the overt or covert conceptions of history embedded within present practices in support of their authority; (ii) by disappointing the normative expectations that regulate people’s reactions to critical histories; and (iii) by revealing continuities and discontinuities in the functions that our practices serve. By giving us a theoretical grip on the different ways in which history can be normatively significant and call for different reactions, this account helps us think about the overall normative significance of critical histories and how one and the same critical history can pull us in different directions.

Book reviews

• Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination, written by Adom Getachew (Daniel R. Quiroga-Villamarín)
• The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War, written by Nicholas Mulder (Hossein Askari)

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