ARTICLE: "The Law of Nations and Declarations of War after the Peace of Utrecht", History of European Ideas XLII (2016), pp. 329-349 (ISSN 0191-6599) - Published online (Taylor&Francis/Routledge)

 (image source: Taylor&Francis)

Taylor & Francis/Routledge just published the online version of my forthcoming article "The Law of Nations and Declarations of War after the Peace of Utrecht", History of European Ideas XLII (2016), pp. 329-349.

DOI: 10.1080/01916599.2015.1118333.

Abstract:

The history of the law of nations is generally seen as a synonym for the history of the laws of war. Yet, a strictly bilateral perspective can distort our interpretation of early modern diplomacy. The Peace of Utrecht (11 April 1713) inaugurated an era of relative stability in the European state system, based on balance-of-power politics and anti-hegemonic legal argumentation. Incidental conflicts ought to be interpreted against this background. Declarations of war issued in 1718, 1719 and 1733 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance and the Polish Succession should not be read as doctrinal surrogates for trials between two parties, but as manifestos in a European arena.

 More information on the Taylor & Francis website.

(see also the announcement on the Ghent Rolin Jaequemyns Institute for International Law's website)

CONFERENCE PAPER: "L'histoire, parole vivante du droit ? François Laurent en Ernest Nys als historiografen van het volkenrecht". In: B. DEBAENST (ed.). De Belle Époque van het Belgisch Recht [Justitie & Samenleving, ed. X. ROUSSEAUX & D. HEIRBAUT]. Brugge: Die Keure, 2016, pp. 91-115. ISBN 9789048625499.

Die Keure Juridische Uitgaven just published another volume in the series "Justitie & Samenleving" (eds. D. Heirbaut & X. Rousseaux), namely the volume De 'Belle Epoque' van het Belgisch Recht (1870-1914), containing the acta of a symposium held in Ghent in August 2014, organised by Bruno Debaenst.

The volume (in Dutch) contains one of my papers. Abstract:

UGent law professor François Laurent (1810-1887) and his pupil Ernest Nys (1851-1920) are known as pioneers in the history of public international law, but mainstream literature (Koskenniemi, Peters&Fassbender, Gaurier, Neff) mostly only mentions them briefly, generally associated with one or two characteristics. The present contribution highlights the qualities of Laurent's Histoire de l'Humanité (1855-1869; originally Histoire du droit des gens et des relations internationales) and the erudition of Ernest Nys, professor at the ULB, whose primary source-work is still of considerable value for researchers in the 21st century. Although both men were liberal academics, Laurent's militant political engagement is of an entirely different kind than Nys'. The present contribution proceeds in three steps: their vision on progress, freedom and equality in international law (I), interpretations of the early modern period, from Grotius to Kant (II) and, finally, some examples of Ernest Nys' historical case method an work in comparative legal history (III).

More information on the publisher's website.

BOOK REVIEW: Review of RULE (John C.) & TROTTER (Ben S.), Louis XIV, Colbert de Torcy and the Rise of the Information State, Kingston/Montréal, McGill/Queen's UP, 2014, XVII + 829 p. ISBN 9780773543706". Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire/Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis, XCLIII (2015), No. 2, pp. 555-561 (ISSN 0035-0818)

(image source: McGill UP)

This week, the Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire/Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis published the second issue of its 93th volume, containing (inter alia):

• My article on the legal and diplomatic background of the Ostend Company quarrel (1722-1727) (see earlier on this blog) (pp. 397-437)
• A book review on the work by the late John C. Rule and Ben S. Trotter on Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Torcy and the French Foreign Office under Louis XIV (pp. 555-561). For more information on the book, see the publisher's website.

These articles will become available on the free online platform Persée, with a moving wall. Indexes for the journal can be found on its website.