International Law and Justice Working Papers - IILJ
International Law and Justice Working Papers - IILJ
International Law and Justice Working Papers - IILJ
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Bulmerincq’s critique of policies of France did not, however, prevent him from recognizing the<br />
position of the French language as the language of international law. Bulmerincq believed that<br />
the French language suited best for international law, better than English or German. 129 This was<br />
so for the reasons immanent to the French language itself. English would never make it to this<br />
status. 130 But Bulmerincq also made it clear that preferring a certain language did not imply<br />
preferring the nation of its native speakers. 131<br />
Secondly, equally clear-cut as Bulmerincq’s disdain of policies of Napoleon’s France was his<br />
rejection of the Catholic universalism. In fact, his angry reaction to claims of Catholic<br />
universalism invoked images of age-old conspiracy theories regarding power pursuits of the<br />
Church. There were ultramontanist “disturbers of peace” whose political propag<strong>and</strong>a was<br />
“unpatriotic <strong>and</strong> radical”. 132 Essentially, the Church with its universalistic claims was leading a<br />
battle against the State. To fight the ultramontanists was thus not only a political necessity, it was<br />
an “international legal obligation”. 133 “The head of the religious-political <strong>International</strong> has its<br />
seat in Rome, its constitutive members (Bundesgenossen) are (…) knights of legitimacy (…) the<br />
religious-political <strong>International</strong> have far-reaching goals, it wants to create a Christian-Catholic<br />
world state. It is an international legal obligation to intervene against all those enemies of the<br />
State <strong>and</strong> of the States.” 134<br />
The antagonism of the Catholic Church <strong>and</strong> the nation State was a historic phenomenon.<br />
According to Bulmerincq, the Germans <strong>and</strong> other Germanic peoples played a crucial role in<br />
securing the victory to the nation State: “The power position desired by the Catholic Church was<br />
129 P. 119-120.<br />
130 P. 121.<br />
131 P. 122.<br />
132 P. 18-19.<br />
133 P. 20.<br />
134 P. 21.