EVOLUTION AND

DEVELOPMENT OF
INTERNATIONAL LAW
Dr. Juliee Sharma,
Assistant Professor, Amity Law School, Noida.
Origin
• While the origins of the modern system of international law can
be traced back 400 years, the development of the concepts and
practices that would underpin that system can be traced back to
ancient historical politics and relationships thousands of years
old.

• The ancient India had a legal system in advance of any other

legal system of antiquity. The People of ancient India had
commercial and cultural intercourse with other nations and
Indian sovereigns had diplomatic relations with other sovereign
States. Indian merchants carried on trade on a large scale with
nations as far apart as China, Rome, Egypt and South-East
Asia.
• Greeks also followed certain usuages concerning prior
declaration of war and enslavement of prisoners of war.

• Romans also treated international rules as legal rules and

had set of priests, called fetiales, for the management of
functions regarding their relations with foreign nations.
They were deployed when war was declared or peace
was made, when treaties of friendship and alliance were
concluded or when the romans had a international claim
against a foreign state, or vice-versa.
Origin and Development of Modern
International Law
• Renaissance of Europe (15th, 16th century)
• Hugo Grotius (1583–1645)
• Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
• Hague Conventions (1899 & 1907)
• Congress of Vienna (1814–1815)
• The League of Nations (1920)
• United Nations (1945)
• Modern customary law and treaty law
Renaissance Europe
Hugo Grotius
Treaty of Westphalia
Hague Conventions
Congress of Vienna
League of Nations
Permanent Court of International Justice
United Nations
International Court of Justice
Codification and Progressive development of
international law

• Article 13 (1)(a) of UN Charter, the UNGA is mandated to

encourage the progressive development of international law and
its codification.

• The progressive development of international law encompasses

the drafting of legal rules in fields that have not yet been regulated
by international law or sufficiently addressed in State practice. 

• the codification of international law refers to the more precise

formulation and systematization of rules of international law on
subjects that have already been extensively covered by State
practice, precedent and doctrine.
International Law Commission
• The International Law Commission was established by the
General Assembly, in 1947, to undertake the mandate of
the Assembly, under article 13 (1) (a) of the Charter of the
United Nations.

• Since its inception in 1949, the work product

(documentation, reports, texts and instruments etc.) of the
International Law Commission has accumulated into an
extensive body of research into a wide range of aspects of
public international law. For ILC work, visit:
https://legal.un.org/ilc/research.shtml
Supplementary readings:
• Origin and Development of the Law of the Sea: History of
International Law Revisited, RP Anand, BRILLS 1983-
https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UcGG8UI
kEsoC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=history+of+international+law
&ots=anw9NH3MHX&sig=uM_AF8BXbOcfirhAO79sT2U-
17Y&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20interna
tional%20law&f=false

• Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of

International Law, Antony Anghie Cambridge University
Press 2007-
https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VJuHlZ1_f
bEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=history+of+international+law&
ots=wAxVnrqf0R&sig=pJihjOQwr2pu2dcaqzNP9VpCm_g
&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20internation
MUST WATCH
• History and International law, Mr. Antony Anghei, Samuel
D. Thurman Professor of Law S.J. Quinney College of
Law, University of Utah –
https://legal.un.org/avl/ls/Anghie_IL_video_2.html;
• Audio -
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soun
dcloud.com/tracks/319903677&color=ff5500&auto_play=f
alse&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_us
er=true&show_reposts=false
Useful weblinks
• UN Audiovisual Library of International Law-
https://legal.un.org/avl/intro/introduction.html?tab=2
• ILC- https://legal.un.org/ilc/
• UN - https://www.un.org/en/
• ICJ - https://www.icj-cij.org/en
• PCIJ cases http://www.worldcourts.com/pcij/eng/;
http://www.worldlii.org/int/cases/PCIJ/
• International law MOOC -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGasG4aiJ2_8ar-EX
GHI1kQ