International Law and Justice Working Papers - IILJ

In 1856 Bulmericq defended in Dorpat his doctoral dissertation in Latin: « De natura
principiorum iuris inter gentes positivi » 26 and became extraordinary professor in public law,
international law and politics. In 1858 Bulmerincq published another work in public international
law, the dogmatically ambitious “Die Systematik des Völkerrechts” and was in the same year
nominated ordinary professor of the above mentioned disciplines. He continued to serve in this
function at the Faculty of Law of the University of Dorpat until his retirement in 1875. A year
before his retirement from Dorpat, in 1874, his most personal and powerful account of public
international law, “Praxis, Theorie und Codification des Völkerrechts” was published.
We do not know very much about Bulmerincq as teacher. However, during Bulmerincq’s
professorship in Dorpat, several noteworthy works in the field of public international law with
the emphasis on theory and history of international law were defended under his supervision. For
example, one of Bulmerincq’s students was Witold Załeski, a son of a Polish nobleman of
Grodno, who was born in Warsaw and had gone to the gymnasium in Vilna. 27 Since Poland was
divided and annexed by other countries in the 19th century and there existed severe constraints to
the higher education in Poland, more than two thousand Poles (such as Załeski) living in the part
annexed by Russia received their university education in Dorpat (thus their nickname,
“dorpatchiki”). Dorpat was at that time known for its relative autonomy, academic freedom, and
the fact that the language of instruction at the university was German. 28
26 Augustus Bulmerincq, De natura principiorum iuris inter gentes positivi, Dorpat: H. Laakmann, 1856.
27 See Estonian History Archive F 402/2/28072 and F 402/2/28073. Załeski’s master thesis was Zur Geschichte und
Lehre der internationalen Gemeinschaft, Dorpat: H. Laakmann, 1866 and his doctoral thesis was Die
völkerrechtliche Bedeutung der Kongresse, Dorpat: H. Laakmann, 1874.
28 See further Erik Amburger, Die Bedeutung der Universität Dorpat für Osteuropa, in: G. v. Pistohlkors et al (Hg.)
Die Universitäten Dorpat/Tartu..., 1987, pp 163-181.