304 A Positive Century (1815–1914)It is remarkable (and not readily explicable) how many international law-
yers began their careers in the fi eld of criminal law. Hefft er was one (with
civil procedure as another of his major academic interests). Oppenheim was
another, as was Heinrich Lammasch, the most prominent Austrian interna-
tional lawyer. Francis Wharton in the United States was similarly distin-
guished in criminal law, most notably as an infl uential fi gure in the develop-
ment of the insanity defense. Franz von Liszt, from Germany, was the most
striking example, in that, throughout his career, criminal law remained his
principal interest, with international law as a sideline.
International law was slow in obtaining a place in university curricula— a
pro cess that still awaits adequate study. An early professorship in the subject
was established at the University of Turin, with Mancini as its fi rst holder in
- It was the English- speaking world, however, which took the leading
part. In Canada, international law was taught fi rst at McGill University in
Montreal in 1856, and then at Laval University the following year, as well as
at Dalhousie University in Halifax from the time of its foundation in 1883.
Th e mother country soon followed suit. In 1859, the Chichele Chair of Inter-
national Law and Diplomacy was established at Oxford University. At Cam-
bridge, the Whewell Chair in International Law was founded in 1867. West-
lake and Oppenheim were eminent holders of it prior to 1914.
In the United States, Harvard Law School attempted to enlist Wheaton to
teach international law in the 1840s, but illness prevented his taking up the
off er. Th e earliest university instruction in the subject may therefore have
been at the newly founded University of Wisconsin, in 1852. At Yale Uni-
versity, Woolsey began teaching the subject aft er stepping down as the uni-
versity’s president in 1871. Instruction in the subject began at Columbia Law
School in 1880. But it was not until 1891 that the Hamilton Fish Professor-
ship of International Law and Diplomacy was created— the fi rst full profes-
sorship in the subject in the country. Its inaugural holder was John Bassett
Moore, who remained in post for an impressive stretch of thirty- three years.
Th e fi rst course in international law at the University of California at Berke-
ley took place in 1891– 92. In 1898, Harvard Law School appointed its fi rst
international-law professor (although lectures had been given in the subject
in the 1860s). Harvard Law School later became a major center of international-
law scholarship, aft er it acquired the massive library of the Marquis de
Olivart, the noted Spanish scholar, in 1912. Th is collection formed the basis