Review of Spiermann, Ole. International Legal Argument in the Permanent Court of International Justice: The Rise of the International Judiciary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Abstract

In International Legal Argument in the Permanent Court of International Justice: The Rise of the International Judiciary, Ole Spiermann reassesses the jurisprudence of the first permanent court of international law and, in the process, articulates a theory on International Legal Argument. The book is the adaptation of Spiermann’s doctoral dissertation for the University of Cambridge written under Professor James Crawford, also the series editor (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law). The book consists of 8 chapters (538 pages) four of which are dedicated to international legal history and four concerned with the rhetoric of international law. Spiermann begins with the foundation of the Permanent Court of International Justice (“PCIJ”) and, in the following three chapters, introduces his theory on international legal argument. Chapters V – VII test this thesis on the jurisprudence of the PCIJ. In the final chapter, the author discusses the legacy of the Permanent Court of International Justice as the first to institutionalize the international legal argument.