The ransom of high-ranking captives, tributary relationships and the practice of diplomacy in northern Syria 448-522/1050-1128

This article examines how the introduction of western European crusaders and settlers to northern Syria from 490/1097 onwards impacted upon two important mechanisms of regional diplomacy; the ransom of prominent political prisoners and tributary relationships. Discussion begins with a comparison of the capture and ransom of high-ranking captives in northern Syria between 442-522/1050-1128, where it is argued that the establishment of the crusader states led to an increase in both the rate at which prisoners of elite status were ransomed and the financial sums involved in these interactions. This is followed by a reassessment of the various peace treaties, tributary arrangements and condominia or munāṣafa agreements concluded between the rulers of Antioch and Aleppo during the late fifth/eleventh and early sixth/twelfth centuries. Ultimately, this article seeks to place key features of northern Syrian diplomacy from the early crusading period within the context of regional norms in the decades preceding the crusaders’ arrival.

Serbia and Changes in the Concept of Citizenship in the Era of the First World War

This article examines changes in the concept of citizenship that occurred during and after the First World War resulting from Serbia's enlargement and unification with other South Slav nations in the Yugoslav state. As the consequence of unification with former Habsburg territories and the stipulations of peace treaties with Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria, Serbia's liberal concept of citizenship was changed by the introduction of Heimatrecht or pertinenza and by the creation of a certain hierarchy among ethnicities that gave preference to South Slavs and Slavs in general. With the passing of the 1928 Law on Citizenship it became clear that the Yugoslav concept of citizenship had become more regressive relative to the notion of citizenship that had existed in the pre-war Serbian Kingdom.

Suggestions on an Editorial Guideline for the Latin Language Peace Treaties between the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empire Based on the 18th-century Case Study

The aim of the paper is to provide a conceptual and theoretical framework for transcription of Latin historical texts based on the case study of the peace treaty of Passarowitz (1718). The article discusses some of the major works on editing Latin source publications concerning the scripts originating from the territories of the Hungarian kingdom. The paper attempts to provide answers for two major questions. Firstly, why should a specific sample-based guideline be elaborated on in case of the Ottoman-Habsburg Latin peace treaty documents and secondly, how should it be done. In accordance with that, the paper presents a sample guideline in the appendix, with transcriptional examples for the most of the relevant problems, covering the issues of transcription, editorial

Peace Agreements as International Legal Acts Protecting National Minorities: The Scope Ratione Personae

The issue of the protection of national minorities is regulated by acts of international law, frequently arising from international agreements that have been concluded to end armed conflicts or to regulate directly their consequences. Peace treaties concluded between states are governed by the rules set out in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. More and more peace agreements are, however, concluded by non-state actors. As indicated in Article 3 of the Convention, it cannot be excluded that these too would be international agreements, having effects in the sphere of international law. Such acts are concluded, inter alia, by insurgents or belligerents. In some cases, agreements ending non-international armed conflicts are concluded by domestic entities that are not subjects of international law. Such acts may reflect solutions that have been adopted as standards in international practice and in the provisions of international law. These do not necessarily have to be legally binding standards. They can also be framework solutions, including measures relating to the protection of national minorities, which are formulated and offered as proposals for specific regulations.

Thirty Years in the Service of the Habsburgs: Insight into the Devoted Work of the Turkish Dragoman (Interpreter) Johann Adam Lachowitz (1678–1709)

The article focuses on the career and activities of Johann Adam Lachowitz. In December 1707, the Commander of Pétervárad (present day Петроварадин (Petrovaradin) in Serbia) nominated him as the head of a committee which met with the Ottoman commissaries on the border between the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empire. The committee was created to negotiate in the case of 55 Muslim and Greek merchants who were murdered in Kecskemét on April 3, 1707. The negotiations took almost one and a half years and were his last completed assignment. He died a few months later, just after the consensus was reached in May 1709. Lachowitz did not have a violent death, but one can assume that the deplorable living conditions he had to endure his whole life, might have largely contributed to his indisposition and subsequent death. This paper shall provide an insight into these living conditions. The research on the career of the Turkish interpreter, later the Chief interpreter and then the secretary, can further enrich the academic narratives about the lives, services and office advancements of the lower officials in the Habsburg diplomatic organization. The interpreters (in the presented case, the interpreters of Oriental languages (dragomen)) assisted both courts with their services, which were arduous and often required personal sacrifices. They were the backbone of all the diplomatic structures in the Sublime Porte, in Vienna and on the Habsburg–Ottoman border as well. The outbreak of conflicts, the process of peace making and the corroboration of peace treaties were dependant on their contributions. Even though they were not soldiers, they nevertheless risked their lives while serving in an especially influential part of the Habsburg state structure.

The Making of Modern International Extradition Law

Joanna Harrington traces the development of modern extradition law back to the 19th century. Against a background of interactions between different states legal systems, the impact of peace treaties, the impact of the law of asylum, the growing use of multilateral treaties and the importance of counter-terrorism law, she conducts us on a tour of the principal flash-points in extradition, and the measures such as the political offence exception, and exceptions to this exception, taken to defuse them.

The International Law of Peace

Contemporary international law is in a state of flux based on shifts within the geopolitical order. This chapter discusses the normative evolution of the concept of peace international law from peaceful coexistence to the current identification of a right to peace and discusses the interface with the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. It discusses a wide range of dilemmas presented by peace treaties, Jus Post Bellum, and the interface between the umbrella terms of Human Security, Security, and Peace. The chapter suggests that these normative iterations represent a watershed in human rights and international law as non-Western approaches to conflict prevention gain traction.