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11 - The evolution of international law

from Part III - Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Anthony Clark Arend
Edited by
J. R. McNeill  and
Kenneth Pomeranz
J. R. McNeill
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Kenneth Pomeranz
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Summary

This chapter explores the development of international law by tracing its origins from the early days of the modern state system to the present. For many centuries Islamic law, in its several forms, served as international law in large parts of the world. The term international law, as well as the older term, law of nations, refers to a set of rules that are binding on international actors. For the emerging European system, the Peace of Westphalia meant the formal recognition of a new system of international relations. The concept of consent-based law is captured in the notion of legal positivism. With a growing acceptance of a positivist approach to international law, the international community recognized that there were two primary ways in which states could consent to create rules of international law: treaties and custom. The use of multilateral treaties to create rules of international law on a more general basis began in the nineteenth century.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History , pp. 285 - 305
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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References

Further reading

Anghie, Antony. Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law. Cambridge University Press, 2005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arend, Anthony Clark. Legal Rules and International Society. Oxford University Press, 1999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Brierly, J. L. The Law of Nations: An Introduction to the International Law of Peace, 6th edn. Oxford University Press, 1963.Google Scholar
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Goldsmith, Jack L., and Posner, Eric A.. The Limits of International Law. Oxford University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Higgins, Rosalyn. The Development of International Law Through the Political Organs of the United Nations. Oxford University Press, 1963.Google Scholar
Janis, Mark W. America and the Law of Nations 1776–1939. Oxford University Press, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyner, Christopher C. International Law in the 21st Century: Rules for Global Governance. Lanham, md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.Google Scholar
Khadduri, Majid. The Islamic Conception of Justice. Baltimore, md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koskenniemi, Martti. The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law, 1870–1960. Cambridge University Press, 2001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, Arthur. A Concise History of the Law of Nations, rev. edn. New York: Macmillan, 1954.Google Scholar
O’Connell, Mary Ellen. The Power and Purpose of International Law. Oxford University Press, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, Ruth B., assisted by Muther, Jeannette. A History of the United Nations Charter: The Role of the United States, 1940–1945. Washington, dc: Brookings, 1958.Google Scholar
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