Doctrinal Aspects of the Universality of the Law of Nations (1961)
The process of European consolidation can be traced back to the second half of the eighteenth century when some classic writers on the law of nations first conceived or pronounced the existence of a legally ‘organized’ European community of States. This regional conception has been contrasted with that of the universal and natural conception of the law of nations which found itself in juxtaposition with new trends, and the ensuing conflict between them raised the question of whether the positivist European reality was reconcilable with the idea of the universalism of the law of nations. Various answers have been offered to this question and some of the leading classical writers showed comparatively less understanding of its solution in the long run than some of the lesser-known writers. This chapter recalls their views and compares them with those expressed in the well-known treatises of the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century positivists.