David J. Bederman – International Law in Antiquity

Автор: David J. Bederman
Название книги: International Law in Antiquity
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Древний мир и Античность
Страницы: 345
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

This study of the origins of international law combines techniques of intellectual history and historiography to investigate the earliest developments of the law of nations. Containing up-to-date literature and archaeological evidence, it reevaluates the critical attributes of international law. David J. Bederman focuses on three essential areas in which law influenced ancient state relations–diplomacy, treaty-making and warfare–in a detailed analysis of the Near East (2800-700 BCE), the Greek city-states (500-338 BCE), and Rome (358-168 BCE). A fascinating study for lawyers, ancient historians and classicists alike.

This study of the origins of international law combines
techniques of intellectual history and historiography to
investigate the earliest developments of the law of nations.
The book examines the sources, processes, and doctrines of
international legal obligation in antiquity to reevaluate the
critical attributes of international law. David J. Bederman
focuses on three essential areas in which law influenced
ancient State relations – diplomacy, treaty-making, and
warfare – in a detailed analysis of international relations
in the Near East (2800–700 BCE), the Greek city-States
(500–338 BCE), and Rome (358–168 BCE). Containing up-to-date
literature and archeological evidence, this study does not
merely catalogue instances of recognition by ancient States
of these seminal features of international law: it accounts
for recurrent patterns of thinking and practice. This
comprehensive analysis of international law and State
relations in ancient times provides a fascinating study for
lawyers and academics, ancient historians and classicists
alike.This is a study of the intellectual origins of international law. This volume
combines techniques of intellectual history and historiography in order to
account for the earliest developments in the sources, processes and doctrines
of the law of nations. This combination of methods is not only
essential for considering the earliest formation of ideas of international
law, but also for beginning an understanding of the manner in which
those ideas have been received by modern publicists and the extent to
which they have been recognized in the modern practice of States.
My book will thus critically examine what has become an article of faith
in our discipline: that international law is a unique product of the
modern, rational mind. I argue here that it is not. While this volume
charts the intellectual impact of the idea of ancient international law, it
purposefully ignores the appreciation of this subject by historians, political
scientists and internationalists. My study, moreover, confines itself to
the single inquiry of whether the ancient mind could and did conceive of
a rule of law for international relations. I certainly do not attempt to argue
or suggest here that modern principles or doctrines of international law
can be traced to antiquity. Nor do I pronounce judgment on the exact
manner in which the ancient tradition of international law was received
in early-Modern Europe or after. These inquiries must be left for later
research and discussion. I confront here, therefore, an ancient law of
nations on its own terms. By doing so, I am making a start on a broader
vision of the intellectual origins of our discipline.
Intellectual history is, after all, the story of ideas. International law,
even when considered as an historical subject, is typically conceived as a
collection of rules motivated by international relations. Rarely is it viewed
as a cogent theory of State relations. One thrust of this book will test such
a theory against the historical circumstances of the ancient world. In
order to do this, my study accepts the notion that international law is
impossible without a system of multiple States, each conscious of its own
sovereignty and the choice between relations being premised on order or
on anarchy