4831621987

International Law

IDC Publishers is proud to present this completely revised and updated cumulative catalogue on International Law. In close cooperation with Professor W.E. Butler, University of London, the collection has been augmented to a total of 3,691 titles on a total of 15,916 microfiches.

The international legał materials available in this IDC microfiche project have been assembled during the past decade from the most distinguished collections in Europę and the United States, most notably the Library of the Peace Pałace in The Hague, and the Marąuis de 01ivart Collection in the Harvard Law School Library.

Marquis de OHvart

The Marquis de 01ivart, a pre-eminent Spanish international lawyer, achieved no less renown as a bibliophile and bibliographer. He collected exhaustively on the subject and by the tum of the twentieth century had formed the finest private collection on international law in the world. His library supported his own considerable contributions to scholarship, including studies of succession to territory and recognition of belligerency. In the best tradition of the three Martens, he compiled an important collection of international treaties. Most enduring was his monumental bibliography of international law, published in Paris in several volumes (1905-10) and based largely on his own holdings. The subject classification of his bibliography subsequently had a far reaching influence on library science.

The Marquis’ original intention was to donate his library to the Spanish Government on the condition that the collection be suitably accommodated and maintained. However, when these conditions were not met, the offer was retracted, although the library remained in Spain.

Harvard Law School

Upon the completion of his bibliography for publication, the Marquis de 01ivart let it be known in publishing circles that the entire library might be acquired en bloc, so long as it was not sold off piecemeal and dispersed. A German book dealer informed Roscoe Pound, at the Harvard Law School of this opportunity. Legend has it that the collection, comprising some 14000 volumes, was smuggled out of Spain by night, either for fear that the creditors of the Marquis might seize it or because of a rumour that the Spanish Parliament was considering a draft enactment to prohibit the export of the books. Whatever the motive, we have it on good authority that the purchase price of the collection was paid for in gold coin. The foresight of

the Marquis in forming his collection and then ensuring that it was eventually housed both safely and intact, has served the cause of international legał scholarship throughout the twentieth century. In microfiche form the legacy of the collection is ensured in perpetuity.

The Peace Pałace

What the Harvard Law School acquired in 1911 has, for the balance of the twentieth century, been emulated in quality and comprehensiveness by the Library at the Peace Pałace in The Hague. The past five decades have witnessed a substantial increase in the numbers of independent States and other entities recognised as full-fledged members of the international community. Most countries encourage and support the teaching of international law as a core element of higher legał education. Even if Financial resources were unlimited, duplicating the holdings of the Olivart and Peace Pałace collections is no longer an option avai!able to libraries. The IDC International Law Project makes it possible for institutions throughout the world to have foundation research materiał availabie to law students, historians, and professional advisors.

Immediatc link

Unlike national legał Systems which in the course of deveIopment, revolution, or transition consign certain portions of their legislation and legał past to the category of legał history, the past of international law, even that of many centuries ago, may have an immediate link with the present when one is evaluating the origins of international ’ legał rules or the existence of opinio juris. Whether a matter is related to, for example, boundary disputes, title to territory, succession to treaties, or the crystallisation of doctrinal opinion, earlier international legał documents are aspects of the present State of the law in a way that is not ordinarily the case in national legał Systems. And when national legał systems, as is

increasingly the case, provide in their constitutions that international law is an integral part of the national legał system, the past and present of international law takes on a direct and immediate importance to lawyers who in the past could advise on legał issues without even a minimal understanding of international law.

Therefore, the need to acquire earlier materiał on international law transcends its historical value. Microfiche enables this vital legacy to be accessible to all.

W.E. Butler

Professor of Comparative Law, Universiiy of London

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