The Aims and Methods of Postcolonial International Law

Criticism of colonial justifications has been familiar since the age of Sepúlveda and Las Casas. Yet today it is said that international law is, and always was, an instrument of colonialism. It is true that the ius gentium and the Law of Nations failed to prevent colonialism and were used in fact to justify colonialism. Still, such failures which occurred over the successive periods of European colonization of non-European peoples did not implicate the whole of international law thought. That is just a modern exaggeration, but rather than repair the international law that we have, for example in our discussions about colonial reparation, some now wish us to reject international law altogether. In seeking to cast present-day criticisms in a proper light, these lectures at the Hague Academy had discussed the more notable literature, including in judgments and arbitral awards, from the time of the classic works that are connected to the history of the subject to the present day. Now presented in pocketbook form the objective is the same; which is to explain the aims and methods of post-colonial criticism, and to reject the view that it is too late for international law.

Chin Leng Lim is an associé of the Institut de droit international, arbitrator, and a practising barrister called to the bars of England and Wales and of Singapore. He is currently the Choh Ming-Li Professor of Law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, visiting professor at King’s College London, honorary senior fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and an editorial board member of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly.

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