Foreword: Marshalling International Governance under the Rule of Law

Résumé En

Marshalling International Governance under the Rule of Law Medieval Times … are for the science of the law of nations exceedingly barren. During that whole period, which was altogether unfavourable to all sciences, there was hardly anything, with regard to this particular area of scholarship, which may deserve any mention. 'Skip the Middle Ages'. Such was the message from Dietrich H.L. von Ompteda in his historical survey of international law, which he included in the introduction to his important bibliographical work on the 'Literature of the entire law of nations, both natural and positive', published in 1785. The Middle Ages which he referred to, he explained, spanned the whole period from 533 (Tribonian's work on Justinian's compilations) until 1625, when Grotius' De jure belli ac pacis was first published, a work "which projected a much clearer and completely new light on the law of nations". Accordingly, the reader is propelled straightaway from the early sixth century to a handful of (late-)sixteenth-century figures: J. Oldendorp, G. Vasquez, F. Suarez, A. Gentili, and B. Winkler. After a brief discussion of these authors, a new era, the proper beginnings of international law scholarship, starts with Grotius.