Introduction 3It would be a great error to think of international law as a single, unitary
phenomenon— like a ship sailing through diff erent seas and weathering vari-
ous storms more or less intact. On our voyage, the features of the ship itself
will be constantly changing in character. Th is history is about that ship— the
venerable “S.S. International Law,” if you will— and the many refi ttings that
it has undergone in the course of its adventures. It is a remarkable journey,
which has been surprisingly little chronicled. Th e present work is intended
to put that to rights.
It might be better to shift meta phors and instead think of international
law as analogous to a river— perpetually in fl ow, but also constantly wearing
away at its banks, changing shape, depositing silt here and stirring it up there,
sometimes in fl ood, and sometimes reduced to a series of trickles through
separate channels. And sometimes, too, breaking free of its channel altogether
and taking a new path to its (vaguely defi ned) destination. International law
indeed has, through part of its long history, been regarded as an intellectual
feature of nature itself, to be accepted and understood— and obeyed— as
best can be done by frail humans. At other times, humans have fancied
themselves in the role of hydraulic engineers, bending nature to the will of
man. Sometimes, in short, international law has been regarded as some-
thing to be “found,” and at other times as something to be “made.”
Th is discussion cannot be a comprehensive history of all international
legal doctrines and practices through the whole of history. Th at would put
far too great a strain on the patience of both writer and audience (and on the
sanity of at least one of these). Your author, though mild mannered in many
respects, has been stern and ruthless in the selectivity of topics, doctrines,
and incidents to be covered. As a meek defense, it can only be said that every
chapter threatened menacingly to blow up into a book of its own. Selectivity
was a desperate response but an inevitable one, too.
Professional lawyers will be quick to spot neglect of their specialist areas.
Diplomatic law, for example, will not receive much in the way of detailed con-
sideration. Th e law of the sea will also receive less attention than is ideal. Other
areas that receive little treatment include state succession, trade and investment
law, and environmental law. Th ere is little in detail on the law on the conduct of
war (as rich a fi eld as that is). International organizations will not receive treat-
ment in depth, nor will collective- security questions, or regional systems. Ad-
herents of the various contending schools of thought will undoubtedly fi nd