Historical Development of Public International Law

Disputes have long reigned the shed of blood across the globe. Throughout the history, the world has witnessed extreme barbaric practices resulting in brutality and inhumane practices and moral conduct at large. The law in its virtue lacked the essence of living in the Earth together as civilised men, universality.  

Conversing history takes us back to the archives portraying salient historical events of the world witnessing how the binding of legal principles meet a common ground for nations. Public international law was brought alive through the first codification of Grotius’ De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625) and the Congress and Treaty of Westphalia (1648). The radical change took place upon the earliest attempt to codify a set of universal laws applicable for nations of the world. The pristine purpose of law bringing justice was limitless, law no longer oppress states deprived of sovereignty. Instead, law was established through the acceptance and practices of international doctrines.  

The notion of independence was deemed to be exclusive to certain legions making other weaker nations paralysed from practicing their established laws should legal disputes arise internationally. That was made apparent following the practice of the Roman Republic and Empire. This brings back to the 5 main phases of development which sails by the slavery period, then the feudal period, followed by the pre-bourgeoisie period, then the capitalist and then the socialist.  

In concise points, the works and studies done on international law did not occur until the 18th century. And even so, the works done were very customised and niche in nature and not liberally. The dominant neglect of international law was observed to have prolonged into the 1930s. The works done in the 18th century saturated themselves into the compilation of legal ideas and concepts curated by rationalist philosophies whereas in the 19th century, practicality was observed to have been more predominant. Therein that period, public international law was heavily reliant on the binding of biblical teachings and law of human nature, reeking off the Eurocentric values despite the world not being occupied by Europeans only. Also in the 19th century, the need for a regulated public international law surged by the Industrial Revolution which fuelled the Western influence across the world. Upon so, it created legal attention to be brought to tend to both public and private international entities. Examples can be found in the Final Act of the Congress of the Vienna (1815) in relations to the legal principle about the freedom of navigation in regard to international waterways. Alongside the creation of that legal principle is the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration which was attained through the Hague Conference (1899) and (1907). This then contributed to the prime importance on the international law to be expanded into other states. It is also worth noting that in the 20th century, Hegel, a German thinker had come up with the doctrine of the will of the state which builds the most prominent concept of public international law and that is for the state to maintain the regulations and law being set in place for subjects of their nation while still being able to claim their international rights. There were several debates regarding the fundamental principle whereby Triepel claims that international law and municipal (domestic) law do not share the same plane. They each serve exclusive purposes. Whereas the monists are on the side whereby they stand by dualist concept where the element of consent is being reiterated. That unity has to be observed under the fundamentals of national and international law. Hence, generally, the 18th and 19th century revolved around the state of compilation and practice of international relations which were made possible by the set of laws that were set in place for nations to abide by. Deterioration coerced the establishment of the League of Nations from the Peace Treaty (1919). Despite so there are several factors that hampers the success the establishment was hoping for. First, the fact that it was very much a European body judging from the absence of non-European nations. Second, Japan’s invasion in China (1931), third, Italy’s attack on Ethiopia and lastly, the Soviet Union’s attack on Finland.  

In 1921, the Permanent Court of International Justice was founded and it was later succeeded by the International Court of Justice in 1946. It suffices to conclude that the establishments of United Organisations in the 19th century alongside with the International Labour Organisation have consolidated a solid foundation for the public international law today. Despite so, it is interesting how the collection of historical archives notes that the Eurocentric influence equates itself to civilisation when international law embodies itself in universality. Do the Eurocentric traits of international law be abolished? Is civilisation tied and confined by the European standards? These are the issues to be resolved in the 21st century especially in reconstructing anti-colonial international legal history which encourages European ‘philosophic assumptions’ that deny, erase or suppress ‘non-European subjectivity’.  

Conclusively, the historical development of public international law elevates the spirit of justice from being subjects of a state to citizens of the world whereby actors of other nations are given the opportunity to exert justice where it needs to be served.