Justice among Nations: A History of International Law

641 Pages·2014·3.56 MB·English

by  Stephen C. Neff

Justice among Nations

Justice among Nations
A History of International Law
(cid:2)
Stephen C. Neff
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, En gland
2014
Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
An excerpt from Immanuel Kant, “Th eory and Practice,” in Kant, Political
Writings, 2nd ed., ed. Hans Reiss, trans. H. B. Nisbet (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1991), 91, has been reprinted as an epigraph with the
permission of Cambridge University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Neff , Stephen C.
Justice among nations : a history of international law / Stephen C. Neff .
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 674- 72529- 4 (alk. paper)
1. International law—History. I. Title.
KZ1242.N44 2014
341—dc23 2013018438
To the fond memory of my father,
John C. Neff,
who made so many things possible.
I wish he were here.

Contents
Ac know ledg ments ix
Introduction 1
I
Law and Morality Abroad
(to ca. ad 1550) 5
1. Doing Justice to Others 9
2. Keeping Kings in Check 50
3. New Worlds and Th eir Challenges 92
II
Reason and Its Rivals
(ca. 1550– 1815) 137
4. Putting Nature and Nations Asunder 143
5. Of Spiders and Bees 179
III
A Positive Century
(1815–1914) 215
6. Breaking with the Past 221
7. Dissident Voices 260
8. In Full Flower 298
viii Contents
IV
Between Yesterday and Tomorrow
(1914– ) 341
9. Dreams Born and Shattered 345
10. Building Anew 395
11. Shadows across the Path 439
Conclusion 481
Notes 485
Bibliographic Essay 561
Index 603
Ac know ledg ments
I am especially grateful for the hospitality of George Washington University
School of Law, where I had the inestimable privilege to be a Visiting Scholar
during the major part of the research for this work, in 2009– 10. I am simi-
larly grateful to my own institution, the University of Edinburgh School of
Law, for granting the period of leave. My deepest thanks also go to that most
magnifi cent resource, the National Library of Scotland.
Imm ense gratitude for assistance and inspiration of sundry kinds go (al-
phabetically) to the following: Kenneth Anderson, Christine Bell, Alan Boyle,
Douglas Brodie, Stephanie Carvin, Michael and Linda Cosgrove, Steve
Charnowitz, Paul J. du Plessis, Th omas Giegerich, William Gilmore, Peter
Haggenmacher, James Harrison, Susan Karamanian, Carl Landauer, Euan
MacDonald, Linda Mathison, Alexander McCall Smith, Sean Murphy, Cian
O’Driscoll, Dinah Shelton, Frederick Shiels, Ralph Steinhardt, Simonetta Stir-
ling, James Whitman, Arthur Wilmarth, and John Fabian Witt.
A very special thanks goes to Kathleen McDermott at Harvard University
Press, for her unfailing support, and even enthusiasm, for what some might
think a quixotic enterprise. For editorial assistance, my thanks go to Kasey
McCall-S mith. For assistance with German translations, I am particularly
indebted to Simonetta Stirling and Rebecca Zahn, and to Simonetta Stirling
for Italian. For proofreading par excellence (and so much e lse besides), my
deepest gratitude goes to my wife, Nancy.
Finally, it should be noted that this work is liberally suff used by the spirits
of two great scholars and fi ne men whose parting is much lamented: Rich-
ard B. Lillich (1933– 96) and Daniel J. Boorstin (1914– 2004).