To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth shows the vital role played by legal imagination in the formation of the international order during 1300–1870. It discusses how European statehood arose during early modernity as a locally specific combination of ideas about sovereign power and property rights, and how those ideas expanded to structure the formation of European empires and consolidate modern international relations. By connecting the development of legal thinking with the history of political thought and by showing the gradual rise of economic analysis into predominance, the author argues that legal ideas from different European legal systems - Spanish, French, English and German - have played a prominent role in the history of global power. This history has emerged in imaginative ways to combine public and private power, sovereignty and property. The book will appeal to readers crossing conventional limits between international law, international relations, history of political thought, jurisprudence and legal history.
- Connects legal history with the history of political thought and the rise of capitalism
- Suggests a critical approach for studying law and legal history, analysing law as an effect of 'legal imagination'
- Transgresses conventional boundaries between domestic and international law, between public and private law as well as between law and politics It links developments in domestic European legal orders to the expansion of European hegemony
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Reviews & endorsements
'[This] book is so much more than a brand-new history of international law in the pre-modern era; it is a new history, it is an extraordinary piece of scholarship … not just a scientific work of the finest quality, but also an amazing literary achievement. … It contains a dazzling amount of knowledge about so much more than international law. It also offers new views on intellectual history, medieval scholasticism, the history of early modern theology, and the history of law, tout court.' Wim Decock, Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international (JHIL)
'… intellectual historians and many other audiences too will happily and gratefully scavenge on its rich argument, wealth of scholarship and detail.' Koen Stapelbroek, Journal of the History of International Law / Revue d'histoire du droit international (JHIL)
'… a veritable trove of intellectual pleasure, full of ideas and written in a remarkably accessible style.' Randall Lesaffer, American Journal of International Law
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Product details
- Date Published: August 2021
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521745345
- length: 1124 pages
- dimensions: 227 x 152 x 53 mm
- weight: 1.77kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Legal Imagination in a Christian World – Ruling France, c. 1300
2. The Political Philosophy of jus gentium – the Expansion of Spain, 1524–1559
3. Italian Lessons – ius gentium and Reason of States
4. The Rule of Law – Grotius
5. Governing Sovereignty – Negotiating French 'Absolutism' in Europe, 1625–1715
6. Reason, Resolution, Restoration – European Public Law, 1715–1804
7. Colonies, Companies, Slaves – French dominium in the World, 1627–1804
8. The Law and Economics of State-Building – England, c. 1450–c. 1650
9. 'Giving Law to the World – England, c. 1635–c. 1830
10. Global Law – Ruling the British Empire
11. A Science of State-Machines – ius naturae et gentium as a German Discipline, 1500–1758
12. The End of Natural Law – German Freedom, 1734–1821
Epilogue.
Look Inside
Author
Martti Koskenniemi, University of Helsinki
Martti Koskenniemi is Professor of International Law at the University of Helsinki. His works on the theory and history of international law are studied by lawyers, historians and international relations scholars across the world. He has held visiting professorships at many leading universities and he is Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.