Through a Glass, Darkly: Reflections on James Lorimer’s International Law

Abstract

This article introduces a symposium wherein four well-known scholars reflect upon the work of James Lorimer, the 19th-century Scottish jurist. The articles, by Martti Koskenniemi, Karen Knop, Stephen Neff and Gerry Simpson, emerge from a seminar organized by the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law to mark the anniversary of Lorimer’s election in 1862 to the Regius Chair in Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations at the University of Edinburgh, a post he held until his death in 1890. The degree of influence that Lorimer had on the development of international law in this crucial period of European expansion, and the lingering impact of his work on contemporary international law theory and practice, have never before been subjected to systematic academic analysis in a collection of this kind.