International Law and Justice Working Papers - IILJ

1. Introduction
August von Bulmerincq (1822-1890) was a leading figure in the discipline of international law
during the 1860s-1880s. The way most international lawyers see and use international law today,
is strongly influenced by the heritage of “the men of 1873” 1 (of whom Bulmerincq was one).
Bulmerincq was influential in his time and thought about many questions about which
international lawyers think today. He had a keen interest in the theoretical foundations of
international law and propagated the idea that the foundation of international law had to be found
in the history. Reading Bulmerincq’s works, one can witness how the positivist theory of
international law gained ground and confidence in parallel to the intensification of international
relations during the second half of the 19 th century. Thus, Bulmerincq deserves further attention
– if not for the sake of his own glory then in any case because through learning about him we can
learn more from him.
In this working paper, I will focus on international legal arguments presented by Bulmerincq. I
will first present a biography of Bulmerincq, and then turn to his positivist vision of international
law as the antipode of the politics. In the proceeding part of the study, I will investigate the
politics behind Bulmerincq’s international legal arguments. In the end of the workin paper, I will
draw conclusions from the study.
This working paper is part of a larger research project with the working title “A Sociology of
International Legal Arguments” that I have carried out as Hauser Research Scholar at New York
University School of Law. The main idea of the research project is to situate the international
legal arguments of the representatives of an international law chair, that of my own university in
1 See M. Koskenniemi, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations. The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870-1960,
Cambridge University Press, 2001.