Book Review: Law and Peace in International Relations

Abstract

In these six lectures, delivered at Cambridge in March 1941, the distinguished Viennese scholar, Dr. Kelsen, now at Harvard, presents his views, some previously announced, on (1) the concept of law, (2) the nature of international law, (3) international law and the State, (4) the technique of international law, (5) federal State or confederacy of States, and (6) "international administration" or "international court." The first four deal with analytical jurisprudence, disconnected from any social content; the last two present the author's views on the nature of the new organization, federation or confederation of States, which seems likely to evolve from the present conflict as a means of assuring a more intelligent international life, and concludes that the postwar effort of states should concentrate on the creation of an international court with compulsory jurisdiction of "all" disputes. This he thinks reflects a workable analogy to the growth of law within the primitive State, courts preceding legislation, and affords a basis for the hope that international development will follow the same course.