An Historical Introduction to the Teaching of International Law in Canada: Part II

Abstract

The teaching of international law at Queen’s University in its early years took place mainly in the faculty of arts and science. The first, short-lived, law school offered a course of lectures from 1861 to 1864 and again from 1880 to 1883, when the faculty was disbanded, not to re-open until 1957. During the period 1861 to 1864 no specific course in international law was offered in the law school or in the faculty of arts.When lectures in the law school resumed in 1880, one of the courses offered was Roman Law, for which one lecture per week was given. The texts to be consulted in this course included, strange to say, Kent’sCommentary on International Lawand Wheaton’sElements of International Law. It is possible that at this time instruction in international law was offered in the faculty of arts as well as in the law school. For example, in the examination for the gold medal in political economy the following question was asked: “Would abolition of tolls on the Welland Canada be a Free Trade or Protective measure? How does the Treaty of Washington affect the imposition of those tolls?” The second part of the question indicates that some reference to the law of treaties might have been made during the teaching of the course.