International law

International law, deals with the relationships between states, or between persons or entities in different states. It sub-divides into "public international law" and private international law (also called conflict of laws). When used without an adjective, "international law" generally refers to "public international law." Thus, public international law is defined as "the system of law which regulates the activities of entities possessing international personality." This article will concentrate on this aspect.

History

Through the ages a code developed for the relations and conduct between nations. Even when nations were at war, envoys were often considered immune to violence.

Related Topics:
War - Envoy

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The first formal attempts in this direction, which over time have developed into the current international law, stem from the era of the Renaissance in Europe.

Related Topics:
Renaissance - Europe

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In the Middle Ages it had been considered the obligation of the Church to mediate in international disputes. During the Council of Constance (1414) Pawel Wlodkowic, rector of Jagiellonian University (Kraków, Poland), theologian, lawyer and diplomat, presented the theory that all, including pagan, nations have right to self-govern and to live in peace and possess their land.

Related Topics:
Middle Ages - Church - Council of Constance - Pawel Wlodkowic - Jagiellonian University - Kraków - Poland - Pagan

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In the 16th and 17th centuries the Church gradually lost its direct influence in international affairs, as Catholic and Protestant powers emerged and struggled for dominance and survival. At the beginning of the 17th century, several generalizations could be made about the political situation:

Related Topics:
16th - 17th - Catholic - Protestant

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• Self-governing, autonomous states existed.
• Almost all of them were governed by monarchs.
• England and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had constitutional monarchies.
• Not all monarchs were hereditary: the Holy Roman Emperor and the ruler of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were elected.
• Switzerland, the Netherlands, and many Italian city-states were republics.
• After the Thirty Years' War, which ended with the Peace of Westphalia, there was relative stability in Europe for 130 years (until the 1789 French Revolution).
• The Peace of Wesphalia is often cited as being the birth of the modern nation-states, establishing states as sovereigns answering to no-one within its own borders.
• Land, wealth, trading rights, and monopolizing the new lands were the topics of war.

Some people assert that international law developed to deal with the new states arising, others claim that the lack of influence of the Pope and the Catholic church gave rise to the need for new generally-accepted codes.

Related Topics:
Pope - Catholic church

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The Dominican professor of theology Francisco de Vitoria (in Latin Franciscus de Victoria) at the University of Salamanca lectured on the rights of the natives. He did so while Spain was at the height of its power, after the violent Spanish conquest of Peru in 1536. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, protested against the friar, but in 1542 new laws put the natives under protection of the Spanish crown. Vitoria is generally recognized as the founder of modern international law. (See also School of Salamanca.)

Related Topics:
Dominican - Theology - Francisco de Vitoria - Latin - Salamanca - Spain - Peru - 1536 - Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor - Friar - 1542 - Crown - School of Salamanca

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The French monk Emeric Cruce (1590–1648) came up with the idea of having representatives of all countries meeting in one place to discuss their conflicts so as to avoid war and create more peace. He suggested this in his The New Cyneas (1623), choosing Venice to be the selected city for all of the representatives to meet, and suggested that the Pope should preside over the meeting. Of course, during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), this was not acceptable to the Protestant nations. He also said that armies should be abolished and called for a world court. Though his call to abolish armies was not taken seriously, Emeric Cruce does deserve his place in history through his foresight that international organizations are crucial to solve international disputes.

Related Topics:
French - Monk - Emeric Cruce - 1590 - 1648 - 1623 - Venice - Thirty Years' War - 1618 - Armies

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Hugo Grotius (or Huig de Groot) (1583-1645) was a Dutch humanist and jurist considered central to the development of international law. He became a lawyer when he was 15 years old and got sentenced to life in prison after going against Maurice of Nassau, son of William of Orange in a trial, but he escaped and fled to Paris. In France, he developed his ideas on international law with his Mare Liberum (Latin for "Free seas"), in which he challenged the claims and attempts of England, Spain, and Portugal to rule portions of the oceans and seas. He gained new international fame in 1625 with his book De Jure Belli ac Pacis (The Law of War and Peace), as it became the first definitive text on international law. It was published only two years after The New Cyneas.

Related Topics:
Hugo Grotius - 1583 - 1645 - Humanist - Maurice of Nassau - William of Orange - Latin - England - Spain - Portugal - 1625

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Much of Grotius's content drew from the Bible and from classical history (just war theory of Augustine of Hippo). In his work he did not condemn war as only a political tool, considering cases in which war is appropriate. He further developed the just war theory. A just war fits certain criteria:

Related Topics:
Bible - Just war - Augustine of Hippo

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• It can be to repel an invasion.
• It can be to punish an insult to God.
• There has to be a just cause (one of the two mentioned above).
• It has to be declared by the proper authorities.
• It must possess moral intention.
• It must have a chance of success.
• It must abstain from brutal practices.
• Its end result must be proportional to the means used.

The statesmen of the time believed no nation could escape war, so they prepared for it.

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King Henry IV's Chief Minister, the Duke of Sully, proposed the founding of an alliance of the European nations that was to meet to arbitrate issues and wage war not between themselves but collectively on the Ottoman Turks, and he called it the Grand Design, but was never established.

Related Topics:
King Henry IV's - Duke of Sully

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After World War I, the nations of the world decided to form an international body. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson came up with the idea of a "League of Nations". However, due to political wrangling in the U.S. Congress, the United States did not join the League of Nations, which was one of the causes of its demise.

Related Topics:
World War I - U.S. - Woodrow Wilson - League of Nations - Congress

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When World War II broke out, the League of Nations was finished. Yet at the same time, the United Nations was being formed. On January 1, 1942, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the "Declaration by United Nations" on behalf of 26 nations who had pledged to fight against the Axis powers. Even before the end of the war, representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco to draw up the charter for an international body to replace the League of Nations. On October 24, 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence, setting a basis for much international law to follow.

Related Topics:
World War II - League of Nations - United Nations - January 1 - US - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Declaration by United Nations - Axis powers - San Francisco - October 24

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