International Law and Justice Working Papers - IILJ

This is a thoroughly erudite study but also a highly interesting work from the methodological
point of view. At the outset, Bulmerincq gives an explanation about why he turns to the history:
it must be found out whether according to international law, States can offer asylum to citizens
of other States. “Recently, extradition treaties have been concluded between States but they are
not sufficient since constrained with time and not binding to non-members. The general norm
has yet to be established. (…) To observe this development and to tie to it a future development is
a purpose of this work that should prove the unconditional obligation of all States to extradite
fugitive criminals. But how can one best accomplish this task? The historical development has to
be taken as the basis of observation.” 56
It is astonishing that Bulmerincq already explains
beforehand what the ultimate outcome of his turn to the history would be, what the history
should demonstrate. He does not leave it open whether there exists such an unconditional
obligation to extradite or not. Here, history serves a classical teleological purpose: to prove a
particular claim or thesis. Bulmerincq’s approach to the history of international law was
generally teleological: the historical foundation of international law was supposed to raise the
potential of and respect for the discipline. 57 Already in his “Systematic de Völkerrechts” (1858)
Bulmerincq insisted that “In the current problems of international law, the deniers of this law
may not even present the biggest problem: the main guilt has the scholarship because it has not
done what it had to do: to demonstrate positive international law historically and through that as
non-attackable. 58
56 P. 9.
57 See e.g. Bulmerincq, Brief an die Dorpater Juristen-Facultät anlässlich der Glückwünsche zum Doktorjubiläum,
Wiesbaden, 14. Mai 1881: „Überhaupt aber war der Unterzeichnete bemüht die Bedeutung der publizistischen
Fächer zu heben, indem er einerseits sie zu systematisieren und andererseits auf historischer Basis aufzurichten
trachtete.“ Tartu University Archive.
58 Bulmerincq, Die Systematik des Völkerrechts, I Teil, Dorpat: Karow, 1858, p. 3.