Merchants of Legalism : A History of State Responsibility (1870–1960)

This engaging study examines the duality of state responsibility for violations of international law and provides the first in-depth, extensive history of this modern doctrine. Will enrich researchers, practitioners and students interested in diplomacy, international law, legal history and the regulation of international enforcement actions.

Since the United Nations finalised its Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts in 2001, most of the attention has been on the codification history of the topic. Alan Nissel widens the historic lens to include the pre-United Nations origins, offering the first extensive study on the American contribution to the modern law of state responsibility. The book examines the recurring narrative of lawyers using international law to suit the particular needs of their clients in three key contexts: the US turn to international arbitration practice in the New World, the German theorisation of public law in the setting of its national unification, and the multilateral effort to codify international law within world bodies. This expanded historical framework not only traces the pre-institutional origins of the code, but also highlights the duality of State responsibility doctrines and the political environments from which they emerged.