- Person
- Hersch Lauterpacht
- Lived
- 1897–1960
- Field
- International law
- From
- British (born in Austrian Galicia)
The story
Oppenheim's International Law was the definitive treatise on the subject, the book to which lawyers, judges and diplomats turned for a statement of the rules governing relations between states. It had already gone through four editions when Hersch Lauterpacht, then a rising scholar in London, took over as editor. He held the role for twenty-five years, through his time at the London School of Economics, his Cambridge professorship and his early years as a judge.
He produced four more editions of the first volume and three of the second, and another edition of volume one was in preparation when he died in 1960. His revisions were so thorough and meticulous, with every word added or removed to take account of new developments in the law, that the work was acknowledged to be principally his own and became known in legal circles as Lauterpacht's Oppenheim.
According to the Jewish Historical Society of England, it became indispensable in every law library and embassy in the world, and in the early 1980s, decades after his last edition, it was still the book international lawyers turned to when faced with a problem. Dorothy Stone, who gave that assessment, suggested that if he had not edited Oppenheim he would probably have written his own treatise on international law. Notes for one were found after his death, and some chapters were published in the first volume of his Collected Papers.
Alongside the editing, Lauterpacht wrote five books of his own, among them The Function of Law in the International Community (1933), An International Bill of the Rights of Man (1945) and Recognition in International Law (1947). Each became something of a classic in the modern law of nations. A fellow jurist observed a fundamental unity in them, inspired by moral earnestness and a belief that right and justice would prevail.
The knowledge he gathered while editing Oppenheim served him well as a judge of the International Court of Justice. It also shaped the way generations of students learned the subject, since the treatise set out the law as a coherent system grounded in practice.
Why it matters
Lauterpacht's Oppenheim gave governments, courts and students a reliable guide to the rules that govern relations between nations.
About Hersch Lauterpacht
Galician-born Cambridge jurist who put the individual at the heart of international law, helped bring “crimes against humanity” to Nuremberg, and sat on the World Court.
More about Hersch Lauterpacht
- Hersch Lauterpacht put crimes against humanity into lawHersch Lauterpacht recommended the charges 'war crimes' and 'crimes against humanity' used at Nuremberg, putting the protection of individuals at the heart of international law.
- Hersch Lauterpacht launched the International Law ReportsIn 1929 Hersch Lauterpacht and Arnold McNair started the Annual Digest of International Law Cases, now the International Law Reports, an essential resource running to dozens of volumes.
- Hersch Lauterpacht's ideas shaped two human rights chartersEnglish Heritage notes that Hersch Lauterpacht's 1945 book An International Bill of the Rights of Man helped form the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention.
- Hersch Lauterpacht helped codify the law of treatiesAs a member of the UN International Law Commission in the early 1950s, Hersch Lauterpacht served as its special rapporteur on the law of treaties.
Sources
- Sir Hersch Lauterpacht: teacher, writer and judge, a presidential address by Dorothy Stone Jewish Historical Society of England
- Hersch Lauterpacht Wikipedia
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