Professorial Lecture of Professor Stephen Neff

Edinburgh Law School presents the Professorial Lecture of Professor Stephen Neff

About the Lecture

International law is, in essence, the art of bringing order out of chaos in international relations. A priori, there are, broadly, three ways in which this might be done. First is the “Confucian” path (also adhered to by, inter alia, Plato and Aristotle): a psychological approach, seeking to found order in the virtue and character of world rulers. Second – and at the other extreme – is the structural path: seeing order as a function of material factors and configurations or, at the most extreme, having a providential or deterministic view of world order, where the free will of humans plays little or no role. Third is the middle way, which is that of international law: seeking order in rules and norms, where human will is free, but at the same time constrained by external rules (as opposed to internal self-restraint). Within this third, or middle, path are a number of alternatives. They are four in number, to be precise. They might be described as four tribes of international lawyers – or perhaps better as four competing tribal mentalities, or as four alternative visions of an ultimate moral and juridical heaven. These four will be explored in the lecture.

About the Speaker

Stephen Neff is a graduate of Harvard University (in sociology) and of the University of Virginia School of Law. His primary research interest is the history of public international law. He is the author of books on the historical development of international economic law, on the history of the law of neutrality and on the legal history of the American Civil War. In addition, he is the author of a general history of international law. He has taught at the University of Edinburgh since 1983.

This lecture will be followed by a reception in the Quad Cafe.

This event is free and open to all but registration is required

Host or Publisher Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh