A Concise History of the Law of Nations

The author has sought to trace the main lines of development of international law from the time of the earliest known treaty (3100 B.C.) to the beginning of World War II. There are separate chapters on Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and on each century from the sixteenth through the first four decades of the twentieth. Nussbaum conceives the history of international law as comprising both actual political history and also the evolution of doctrine. Hence the several chapters include, first, a summary of the main political events and state practices regarded as having actually contributed to the development of international law, and, second, an analysis of the writings of the outstanding thinkers on international law of the period. [Valentine Jobst III.]