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As our society becomes more global, international law is taking on an increasingly significant role, not only in world politics but also in the affairs of a striking array of individuals, enterprises, and institutions. In this comprehensive study, David J. Bederman focuses on international law as a current, practical means of regulating and influencing international behavior. He shows it to be a system unique in its nature—nonterritorial but secular, cosmopolitan, and traditional. Part intellectual history and part contemporary review, The Spirit of International Law ranges across the series of cyclical processes and dialectics in international law over the past five centuries to assess its current prospects as a viable legal system. After addressing philosophical concerns about authority and obligation in international law, Bederman considers the sources and methods of international lawmaking. Topics include key legal actors in the international system, the permissible scope of international legal regulation (what Bederman calls the "subjects and objects" of the discipline), the primitive character of international law and its ability to remain coherent, and the essential values of international legal order (and possible tensions among those values). Bederman then measures the extent to which the rules of international law are formal or pragmatic, conservative or progressive, and ignored or enforced. Finally, he reflects on whether cynicism or enthusiasm is the proper attitude to govern our thoughts on international law. Throughout his study, Bederman highlights some of the canonical documents of international law: those arising from famous cases (decisions by both international and domestic tribunals), significant treaties, important diplomatic correspondence, and serious international incidents. Distilling the essence of international law, this volume is a lively, broad, thematic summation of its structure, characteristics, and main features.
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The Spirit of International Law
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The Spirit of the Laws Alan Watson, General Editor The Spirit of the Laws series illuminates the nature of legal systems throughout the world. Titles in the series are concerned less with the rules of the law and more with the relationships of the laws in each system with religion and moral perspectives; the degree of complexity and abstraction; classifications; attitudes to possible sources of law; authority; and values enshrined in law. Topics covered in the series include Roman law, Chinese law, biblical law, Talmudic law, canon law, common law, Hindu law, customary law, Japanese law, and international law.
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THE SPIRIT OF
INTERNATIONAL LAW David J. Bederman
The University of Georgia Press Athens & London
© 2002 by the University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 All rights reserved Designed by Walton Harris Set in Trump 9.5/14 by Bookcomp, Inc. Printed and bound by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Printed in the United States of America 06 05 04 03 02 c 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bederman, David J. The spirit of international law / David J. Bederman. p. cm. — (The spirit of the laws) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-8203-2404-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. International law. I. Title. II. Spirit of the laws (Athens, Georgia) kz3410 .b433 2002 341—dc21 2001008257 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
For my mother and her love of books and learning
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CONTENTS
Preface
xi
List of Abbreviations