History of International Law

Few figures in international law have witnessed and influenced its development as much as Judge Theodor Meron. A Holocaust survivor who became a leading scholar, government legal adviser, diplomat and international judge, his unique reflections offer a first-hand account, built over decades of experience, of how international law is formed, interpreted, and applied under pressure.  I…

“The test of a first-rate intelligence,” according to F. Scott Fitzgerald, “is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” For international lawyers in these times of the Board of Peace and the Gaza Riviera, this kind of functional cognitive dissonance has become less a…

Much has been said on Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ (the Board) and much remains to be seen. While the identity of the Board as an international organisation has been discussed (here), other contributions have focused on the corporate dimension of the organisation (here, here and here) or…

In a slightly extended version of Two Weeks in Review, we take in fundamental questions about what happens when law and lawyers seek or refuse to justify illegal actions, “relocation orders” issued by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, Australian soldiers and Belgian consular officials in domestic courts for international crimes, the…