Transcript History of International Law

History of
International Law
Nicolas E. A Delcourt
Bachelor of Law, Economic, and
Management
 IL exists since Antiquity (2000 years ago)
In Middle East and Roman Empire
But Contemporary IL comes from Law
European People (16-17th Century)
Context :
• Renaissance effect
• Peace Treaties of Westphalia (1648)
 The International society is now :
 Based on states who see themselves as
sovereign
 And equal in rights
Before?
 To be part of international society :
 Belong to Christian community
 Respect and follow the decisions of the
Emperor
 And of the Pope
Now that the states are sovereign,
what’s new? :
• They decide the limitation of their own
territory
• They have an exclusive jurisdiction on it
Today, these two rules are the basic
rules of the international law
The next process : the
development of international
treaties (1814-1945)
 The seven treaties of Paris in 1814 by France
between it and each of the seven Allied
States
 Only two signatures per treaty
 The congress of Vienna in 1815  same
provisions but only one treaty
 8 signatures in one treaty
 The two conferences about Peace in The
Hague (1899 and 1907)
Then, two deathly events will traumatize
people and governments :
 The Great War (1914-1918) and its 9 millions
of death
 Desire to cooperate and pacify relations
between states
 The Spanish flu (1918-1919) and its 1 billion
people infected and 60 millions of death
 Governments realize that the world is now
global and all states are connected.
Therefore will be created the League of Nations
(1919) and the Permanent Court of International
Justice (1922)
 First world-wide organizations to have a
political independence
 Problem : the LoN have no authority and a
few states respect it
 Beginning of WW2 will definitely prove it is
unable to prevent wars
 After WW2 (1945), victorious states meet
again and create UNO and ICJ
 Same objectives but different organisation
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