History of International Law

Sheets 2015-2016Bonn

Second part

Seminar V: Just war

• Just war doctrine existed already inb Greece in Antiquity (Polemos dikaios)

• Cicero (106-43 BC): war is only just when there is a just cause (iusta causa)

• Just war doctrine transmitted by St Augustine (354-430)

• Just war in feudal times: dispute resolution by the superior

Seminar V : Just war II

• Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)• Main work: Summa Theologiae (text 17)• A war is just when three conditions are

fulfilled:– Auctoritas principis (consent of the superior in

the feudal system)– Intentio recta (good – subjective – intention)– Justa causa (an - objective – good reason)

Seminar V: Just war III

• NB The arguments of Thomas Aquinas fit into medieval forms of argumentation aimed at harmonizing contradictory texts (Abélard, Sic et non, 12th century logic)

Seminar V Just war IV

• Does the theory of just war of Thomas apply to every kind of warfare?

• Hostiensis (cardinal and canonist; end 13th century): every war against non-Christians is a just war

• Important in the struggle between Christian nations and Islamic rulers (cruisades, reconquista of Spain and Portugal)

Bellum iustum ex utraque parte

• Important in the context of the first waves of colonial expansion (in itself continuation of the reconquista)

• Application of the doctrine of mistake to the objective element of iusta causa

• F. de Vitoria (±1480-1546), De Indis

Doctrine of mistake• Developed

– in private law: mainly in the law of contract (Code civil art. 1110; BGB § 119; ABGB § 871 - § 875)

– in criminal law – originally

• partly Roman (law of sale), • partly Roman & canon law (criminal law)• Keyword: ignorantia invincibilis (invincible ignorance) a term

still present in modern common law– Literature:

• S. Kuttner, Kanonistische Schuldlehre, Città del Vaticano 1935

• M. Schermaier, Die Bestimmung des wesentlichen Irrtums Köln-Wien-Weimar 2000

Seminar VI Colonialism and its consequences for international law (1)

• Spanish and Portuguese form of colonization based on religious (Reconquista) and territorial motives

• Canary islands since 1402• Spain: Columbus 1492 (after siege of Granada)• Portugal: Vasco da Gama (1497-1499)• Papal bull “Inter caetera” 1493• Treaty of Tordesillas 1494, Treaty of Zaragoza 1529:

world divided between Spain and Portugal• Conquistadores in Middle and South America• Questions about just war:

– Fr. de Vitoria Relectio de Indis (texts 18, 19, see also text 20) – Controversy of Valladolid between Sepúlveda and Bartolomeo

de las Casas

Colonialism and its consequences for international law (2)

• Dutch colonial expansion since the end of the 16th century– An instance in the War of Independence

against Spain– Commercial interests prevail– Dutch East India Company since 1602

• Commercial enterprise • First multinational company with shares• Sovereign east of Cape of Good Hope – treaties !

Colonialism and its consequences for international law (3)

• British and French colonial expansion• Two phases:

– 16th -18th centuries: commercial colonialism– 19th century: imperialistic colonialism– Exception: colonization of North America

• To be compared with Spanish and Portuguese colonization

• Early forms of decolonization end of the 18th

century: War of Independence USA

International Law 16th century• Fernando Vasquez de Menchaca (1512-1569)

– Controversiae illustres• Pierino Belli (1502-1575)

– De re militari et bello tractatus• Balthazar Ayala (1548-1584)

– De iure et officiis bellicis et disciplina militari libri tres• Alberico Gentili (1552-1608)

– De legationibus libri tres– De iure belli libri tres– Hispanicae advocationis libri duo

Seminar VII Hugo Grotius (1583-1645)

• 1583 born in Delft• 1598 promotion LLD Orléans• 1602 legal adviser Dutch East India Company• 1607 Advocate General Court of Holland• 1613 Counsellor City of Rotterdam• 1618 Imprisonment• 1621 Escape to Paris• 1634-1644 Swedish ambassador in Paris

Legal Works of Grotius

• 1604 (1868) De iure praedae see textlaboratorium.com

• 1609 Mare Liberum = Ch XII DIP new edition has been published 2009

• 1625 De iure belli ac pacis, last edition 1993

• 1631 Introduction to Dutch Jurisprudence

Hugo Grotius

• De iure belli ac pacis: systematic construction of international law with the help of the system of private law (Institutional system)

• Ius gentium becomes the technical term for international law

• Cfr. LLD thesis Hersch Lauterpacht, Private law sources and analogies in international law, London 1927

De iure belli ac pacis, Prolegomena § 6

Verum quod hic dicit Philosophus, et sequitur Poeta ‘nec natura potest iusto secernere iniquum’ admitti omnino non debet. Nam homo animans quidem est, sed eximium animans, multoque longius distans a caeteris omnibus quam caeterorum genera inter se distant: cui rei testimonium perhibent multae actiones humani generis propriae. Inter haec autem quae homini sunt propria, est appetitus societatis, id est communitatis, non qualiscunque, sed tranquillae et pro sui intellectus modo ordinatae cum his qui sui sunt generis: quam oikeiosin Stoici appellabant. Quod ergo dicitur natura quodque animal ad suas tantum utilitates ferri, ita universe sumtum concedi non debet.

§ 6 Prolegomena DIBAP translation

What the philosopher here says, and the poet reaffirms in verse “And just from unjust Nature cannot know” must not for one moment be admitted. Man is, to be sure, an animal, but an animal of a superior kind, much farther removed from all other animals than the different kinds of animals are from one another; evidence on this point may be found in the many traits peculiar to the human species. But among the traits characteristic of man is an impeliing desire for society, that is, for the social life – not of any and every sort, but peaceful, and organized according to the measure of his intelligence, with those who are of his own kind; this social trend the Stoics called ‘sociableness’. Stated as a universal truth, therefore, the assertion that every animal is impelled by nature to seek only its own good cannot be conceded.(Translation Kelsey, Classics of International Law)

De iure belli ac pacis, Prolegomena § 8

• Haec vero quam rudi modo iam expressimus societatis custodia humano intellectui conveniens, fons est eius iuris, quod proprie tali nomine appellatur: quo pertinent alieni abstinentia, et si quid alieni habeamus aut lucri inde fecerimus restitutio, promissorum implendorum obligatio, damni culpa dati reparatio, et poenae inter homines meritum.

•  

Prol. § 8 translationThis maintenance of the social order, which we have roughly sketched, and which is consonant with human intelligence, is the source of law properly so called. To this sphere of law belong the abstaining from that which is another’s, the restoration to another of anything of his which we may have, together with any gain which we may have received from it; the obligation to fulfil promises, the making good of losses incurred through our fault, and the infliction of penalties upon men according to their deserts. (translation Francis W. Kelsey, Classics of International Law, 1925)

Peace Treaty of Westphalia• Roman law traces:

– Uti possidetis clause: the military situation is “frozen” until arbitration takes place

– To be compared with the so called reivindicatio in classical Roman law; this action is only possible against the possessor. Hence the praetor gives an injunction (interdictum) to freeze the possession until the judge has pronounced his sentence

– The Uti possidetis clause belongs to modern international law as well!!!

Peace Treaty Utrecht 1713

• Puts an end to the Spanish War of Succession• Succession in Spain by a grandson of Louis XIV

under the condition that France and Spain would never be united

• Visible are from now on the aims of international law– Collective security– Balance of power

18th century: Natural law orientation of international law is weakening

Causes:– The rise of the concept of sovereignty (“not recognizing a

superior”)– Just war doctrine is only formally maintained

• Auctoritas principis no longer of practical relevance; kings do not have a superior; decline of the Holy Roman Empire of the Germanic Nation

• Iusta causa is now a subjective element since the recognition already by Vitoria (16th century) of the just war at both sides

• Just war at both sides also in Grotius, DIBAP

Colonial problems

• Conquest as a title; status of territories• “Empty” land (res nullius) cfr South Africa• Maritime warfare / piracy? Law of price and

booty• Position of trade companies

– E.g. Dutch East India Company sovereign power east of Cape of Good Hope

– Position of the East India Company (England): could wage a war

“Law of nature and nations”

• Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) De cive/ Leviathan

• Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694) De iure naturae et gentium

• Chr. Wolff (1679-1754) Ius gentium methodo scientifico pertractatum

• Emer de Vattel (1714-1767), Le droit des gens…

Transition from international law based on natural law towards positivistic international law

• Vattel emphasizes ius gentium voluntarium = treaty law as main source of international law

• This coincides with the actual raise of treaty law, see Grewe, Fontes Historiae Iuris Gentium (chronological survey of treaties)

More practical solutions

• Mare liberum (Grotius 1609)/Mare clausum (John Selden 1635)

• Cornelis van Bynkershoek proposes the concept of territorial sea: the sea can be dominated from the shores by guns: 3 miles zone (maintained till 1958!)

Seven Years War 1756-1763

• Balance of power Prussia/Austria• Balance of power France/England in

Europe and outside Europe• Canada British colony• France looses territories in India• Peace Treaty of Paris 1763

French Revolution 1789

• Consequences fo international law?• Royal sovereignty replaced by state

sovereignty? • Levée en masse: compulsory military service

for every male citizen• Rise of Napoleon: “Mediatisierung” in German

territory (Mediatization)• End of the Holy Roman Empire 1806• Congress of Vienna 1815: restoration?

Ius in bello

• Crimea War1853-1856 (Florence Nightingale) • Treaty of Parijs 1856: Ottoman Empire

integrated in the system of European states; secularization of International Law

• Souvenirs de Solférino (1859): battle in war between France and Austria

• Red Cross 1864 first international NGO; start of the Geneva conventions (revised convention: Geneva 1949)

International law and technical developments

• Telegraph (1856)• Postal Union (1874)• “Poids et mesures”= “Weight and

measures”, international office founded in Paris (1875) – standard meter, standard kilogram, result of international cooperation by treaty

• Railway freight traffic (1893)

Decolonisation• 1776-1783 War of Independence: USA • 1809 onwards: Independence of the Spanish territories in the

Americas as a consequence of the invasion of Spain by Napoleon• 1829 Greece recognized as an independent country from the Ottoman

Empire• Monroe doctrine (1823/1850): USA do not tolerate intervention of

European powers in the American continent• Calvo doctrine (1868): no military intervention of creditor states in

indebted countries: local legal remedies must prevail (Venezuela!)• Dominions as a part of the British Empire

– Australia 1901– South Africa 1910– Conference of Westminster 1931

– Decolonisation after WW II

The Hague Peace Conferences

• 1899 First conference convened by Nicolas II– Ius in bello regulated– Permanent Court of Arbitration created

• 1907 Second conference: The Hague Convention on Warfare

Peaceful settlement International Disputes

• 1922 Permanent Court of International Justice (League of Nations)

• 1928 Briand Kellogg Pact for the Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy

• 1946 International Court of Justice (UN)