Description: This interdisciplinary exploration of the modern historiography of international law invites a diverse assessment of the indissoluble unity of the old and the new in the most global of all legal disciplines. The study of the history of international law does not only serve a better understanding of how international law has evolved to become what it is and what it is not. Its histories, which rethink the past in the present, also influence our perception of contemporary matters in international law and our understandings of how they may potentially unfold. This multi-perspectival enquiry into the dominant modes of international legal history and its fundamental debates may also help students of both international law and history to identify the historical approaches that best suit their international legal-historical perspectives and best address their historical and legal research questions.
Brief description: Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral holds the Han Depei Chair in Public International Law and is a One Thousand Talents Plan Professor at The Wuhan University Institute of International Law in China. He is the author or editor of five books on international law and its histories including Experiments in International Adjudication (Cambridge 2019).
Review Quotes: 'A fascinating and comprehensive analysis of scholarly trends in international legal history. In recent decades, the historical study of international law has expanded dramatically. De la Rasilla surveys the many perspectives and methodologies brought to the subject, offering both a guide and a thoughtful analytic perspective of his own.' David Kennedy, Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Institute of Global Law and Policy, Harvard Law School