Justice among Nations. A History of International Law - Stephen C. Neff

Dreams Born and Shattered 371

the system was too self- contained, too obsessively rational to have much at-

traction to practicing lawyers. It sometimes seemed more like an exercise in

pure mathematics than in law. H. L. A. Hart, a professor of general jurispru-

dence at Oxford University, expressed scorn for the Vienna School’s “obsti-

nate search for unity and system” in the teeth of the variety and diversity of

the real world. Indeed, the spirit of the Vienna School was a far cry from

the original antirationalist, antisystem approach of Comte and the empiri-

cal positivist lawyers of the nineteenth century. But it remains as probably

the foremost example in the history of international law of a thoroughly

worked- out, self- contained, coherent system of thought. Wolff would have

been proud of it, even if Comte would not.

Liberalism
In certain respects, liberalism continued along the lines marked out in the
nineteenth century— supporting freedom of trade and investment, account-
able government, and respect for individual human rights. Th ere were also
some important changes. One is that liberalism now, for the fi rst time, be-
gan to have a constituency among professional international lawyers. In
addition, there was an important new element in the conceptual mix: strong
support for collective security policies of the type adopted by the League
Covenant. Th is was, of course, a principal legacy of that archetypal liberal,
Woodrow Wilson.
Th e intellectual home of this new avatar of liberalism was not primarily
international law, but rather a newly created academic discipline called in-
ternational relations. Th is was largely an initiative of the English- speaking
world. At its inception, it was regarded as the scientifi c study of the preven-
tion of war and the promotion of world peace. Th e fi rst academic chair in
the subject was created in 1919 at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth—
named, appropriately, for Woodrow Wilson. Its charter stipulated that the
subject be studied “with special reference to the best means of promoting
peace between nations.”
In the United States, there were several prominent liberal fi gures in inter-
national law who pressed for increased cooperation by their country with
the League of Nations and for American adherence to the World Court
(without success on both counts). One was Manley Hudson, who was unable