The Grotian Tradition in International Thought

Abstract

In Hedley Bull’s estimation two figures can be held responsible for the Grotian revival that took place at the beginning of the twentieth century. The first is the Dutch scholar Cornelius van Vollenhoven whose 1918 The Three Stages in the Evolution of the Law of Nations sought to defend Grotius’ work against the “misshapen conglomeration of hypocrisy and cynicism” that was, in his view, Vattel’s Le Droit des Gens.2 The second figure is Hersch Lauterpacht whose 1946 work “The Grotian Tradition in International Law” constitutes the most comprehensive expression of the “Grotian tradition” to date. It is thus his contribution that is the central focus of this chapter. However, alongside Lauterpacht, the works of van Vollenhoven and a range of other scholars who contributed to the development of the Grotian tradition in the early twentieth century, including Alfred Verdross, James Brierly and Georg Schwarzenberger will also be discussed. KeywordsInternational RelationHague ConventionInternational MoralityLegal PositivismInterwar PeriodThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.