Centers & Programs

NYU School of Law

Professor Benedict Kingsbury

Fall Seminar

Course L05.3561

History and Theory of International Law

FORMAT: Seminar

CLASS MEETS: 4:05pm-5:55pm, Furman Hall 316

CREDITS: Two (2).  (Three (3) credits if, with permission of instructor, the Extra Credit  option is selected and the paper requirements are met according to the timetable and arrangements specified below.)

INSTRUCTOR: Prof Benedict Kingsbury, VH-314D, email benedict.kingsbury@nyu.edu. 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course explores the intellectual foundations of contemporary international law. The aim is to embed thinking about international law in wider bodies of political and legal theory. We will consider competing approaches to international order developed by Grotius, Pufendorf, Hobbes, Kant and their modern successors, including fundamental concepts of sovereignty, anarchy, society, rights and law in international relations; the approaches to imperialism and colonial expansion taken by Vitoria, Gentili, Locke, and in 19th century US continental and extra-continental expansion, and the interaction of international law with colonial and post-colonial projects; the vitality of alternative (particularly East Asian) models of international order and alternative histories of international law; the imagination and problems of international law as law, academic discipline, and practice; and what it means to be an international lawyer now. A detailed sample syllabus is available in Professor Kingsbury's course webpage.

ASSESSMENT OF WRITTEN WORK: Students have a choice of (a) writing a substantial research paper (two-credit, typically 20-30 pages, or three-credit, typically 30-40 pages); or (b) taking the exam (two credits). The exam format will be discussed in class -- it will be a 24-hour take-home exam available (if practicable) throughout the Law School's examination period.

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: All students are required to attend class regularly, to do the reading before class, and to participate actively. This includes making 2-3 class presentations of specific course materials (typically 5-6 mins, making an argument about the materials or themes they raise, not summarizing them - it is often helpful to distribute a presentation outline to attendees.)  Participation will be weighed in the final grade.  No credit for the course will be awarded to anyone who is present for less than 80% of the class time.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THOSE WRITING PAPERS: For those writing a standard (2-credit) paper, a one-page synopsis of a research topic is due in October, and the final paper is due in December.  For those writing a 3-credit paper (including LLM, JSD and PhD students as well as JD students writing "A" papers), a preliminary indication of the topic should be provided by October, a well-developed outline is due in November, a full first draft is due in December for comments, and the final paper is due by January.  The specific dates will be given in class and are not flexible.  Late papers will receive lower grades (absent, special medical circumstances etc.)  Those intending to write 3-credit papers must meet the specified due dates for the full draft and the final paper to receive three credits.  Final papers must be turned in by email to benedict.kingsbury@nyu.edu. 

COURSE MATERIALS: There is one required text, available from the Professional Bookstore: Richard Tuck, The Rights of War and Peace: Political Thought and International Order from Grotius to Kant (Oxford University Press, 1999).  Other course materials will be distributed in photocopied form or made available in the library, or via Professor Kingsbury's course webpage.

BACKGROUND OR SUPPLEMENTARY READING: Complete texts of most of the "classic" legal tomes excerpted in the course materials for topics 1-8, roughly from Vitoria (c. 1538) through to Vattel (1758), are included in the Carnegie Endowment's Classics of International Law series, on reserve in the library (texts in the original language is accompanied by an English translation and an Introduction in English.)  Many leading primary texts we use appear in English in the excellent series Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought.  The Liberty Fund in Indianapolis has produced useful and very moderately priced editions of English translations of  works of Grotius, Pufendorf, and some other texts we cover.  Many of the classics are now available online; use the Law Library gateway as a starting point.  Some of the major books excerpted later in the course are also on reserve in the Law Library.  Other general works held on reserve include the following.  The most helpful and easy-to-read basic text for those seeking a general overview of the history of international law is Arthur Nussbaum, A Concise History of the Law of Nations (rev edn, 1954), JX1305.n8 1954.   A useful chronological and topical introductory survey of the history of general legal and politico-legal theory in the periods covered in the course is J.M. (John) Kelly, A Short History of Western Legal Theory (1992), NYUL KG10.K3464.S4.  Another overview of international legal history, which attempts to trace the development of international law through successive epochs each defined by dominance of a particular power,  is provided by Wilhelm Grewe, The Epochs of International Law (transl. Michael Byers, 2000), KZ1242.G7413 2000.  Recent articles on several of the thinkers we cover are included in Ian Clark and Iver Neumann eds., Classical Theories of International Relations (1996).   Those able to read French may be interested in Antoine Pillet ed.,  Les fondateurs du droit international (1904), JX3901.F5 (a somewhat mixed collection with longer articles on Vitoria, Gentili, Grotius, Pufendorf, and Vattel among others), and Emmanuelle Jouannet=s Emer de Vattel (1998), KZ2420.J68.  Collections of scholarly essays on the history and expansion of international society include Herbert Butterfield and Martin Wight eds, Diplomatic Investigations (1966), JX1395.B868; Hedley Bull and Adam Watson eds, The Expansion of International Society (1984), JX1391.E96 1984.   Succinct notes on many of the realist thinkers covered in the course are found in Jonathan Haslam,  No Virtue Like Necessity: Realist Thought in International Relations since Machiavelli  (Yale University Press, 2002, JZ1253 .H37 2002.)   Jonathan Haslam has also written an engaging intellectual biography of E.H. Carr: The Vices of Integrity: E.H. Carr, 1892-1982  (Verso, 1999, LC Coll  DK38.7.C37 H37 1999.)   A valuable source on Pufendorf, Leibniz, Wolff and Vattel is T.J. Hochstrasser,  Natural Law Theories in the Early Enlightenment  (Cambridge UP, 2000, LC Coll  K455 .H63 2000.)  Also recommended are Ian Hunter, Rival Enlightenments (Cambridge UP, 2001), and Hans Blom and Laurens Winkel (eds.), Grotius and the Stoa (Van Gorcum, 2004). An elegant and fine-grained treatment of the history of European ideas in international law from the mid-19th century is Martti Koskenniemi, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations (Cambridge University Press, 2002, KZ1242 .K67.)  See also his short orientation essay, The History of International Law Today (Rechtsgeschichte, 2004).  On practice, see Gerry Simpson, Great Powers and Outlaw States (2004), KZ4012 .S57; and several works of Randall Lesaffer.  For those writing papers, some source materials in different languages are collected in Wilhelm Grewe ed., Fontes Historiae Iuris Gentium (1988-92), JX64.F4 1988; and see J.H.W. Verzijl's International Law in Historical Perspective (12 vols, 1968-98), JX3695 D8V4.  The Journal of the History of International Law (KZ1242.J68, and also available online within NYU) contains useful papers on assorted topics.