In association with the International Commission of Jurists

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25 Aug

[Ruth Buchanan is Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University] “Words in the right order make us feel differently about the world.” (p. 19) I will begin this review with a confession—that is it late.  Very late.  There are reasons for its lateness of course—some mundane (family caregiving obligations, etc), others perhaps more telling.  As a long- time supervisor of graduate...

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24 Aug

[Ankit Malhotra is reading his LLM at SOAS as the Felix Scholar and is the co-editor of the recently published book “Reimagining the International Legal Order.”] It is always a pleasure and honour to read the work of Professor Gerry Simpson. His new magnum opus, “The Sentimental Life of International Law” is no exception. That is because his vivid portrait explores...

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24 Aug

[Isobel Roele is a Reader in the Department of Law at Queen Mary University of London, and the author of Articulating Security: The United Nations and Its Infra-Law (CUP, 2022)] The Sentimental Life of International Law makes a radical proposal: that we think of ourselves as living our lives when we do international law. The book invites readers to imagine a world where the professional is...

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23 Aug

[Zinaida Miller is Professor of Law & International Affairs at Northeastern University.] In his wide-ranging exploration, Gerry Simpson demonstrates the fundamental tensions experienced within international law and by international lawyers as they simultaneously embrace and distance themselves from the individuals, sites, histories, modes of violence, and narratives at the center of their work. To approach international law through the sentimental, Simpson suggests, allows him to understand it...

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23 Aug

[Carl Landauer taught history at Yale, Stanford, and McGill Universities and international legal theory at UC Berkeley School of Law.] Gerry Simpson, in the final chapter of The Sentimental Life of International Law, urges international lawyers to follow the Voltairean advice, “Il faut cultiver notre jardin,” which Simpson means both figuratively and literally. Among the various garden images that Simpson marshals for the garden chapter...

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22 Aug

[Immi Tallgren is docent of international law at the University of Helsinki, researching ICL, the history of international law and feminism. Her latest publication is Portraits of Women in International Law: New Names and Forgotten Faces (OUP 2023). ] I was thrilled to be invited to this symposium on Gerry Simpson’s The Sentimental Life of International Law (2022). My thrill soon...

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22 Aug

I am delighted to announce that this week Opinio Juris will be hosting a symposium on Gerry Simpson's wonderful new book "The Sentimental Life of International Law." Here is Oxford University Press's description: The Sentimental Life of International Law is about our age-old longing for a decent international society and the ways of seeing, being, and speaking that might help us achieve...

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16 Aug

[Keshav Somani is as an Associate with the Dispute Resolution team of S&R Associates, New Delhi] Introduction The International Court of Justice on July 13, 2023, delivered its judgment in the case concerning Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia). The Court concluded by thirteen votes...

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14 Aug

[Stephen Lamony is an international lawyer] This essay benefited from comments by the Coordinator of the African States Parties to the ICC in New York, Mr Marvin Ikondere. Introduction In July 2010, International Criminal Court (ICC) President Judge Sang-Hyun Song and African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Jean Ping met and agreed to establish a Liaison Office to promote dialogue, information exchange, and mutual...

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11 Aug

[Barrie Sander (@Barrie_Sander) is Assistant Professor of International Justice at Leiden University – Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs] Reflecting on the narrative nature of law, James Boyd White famously observed how ‘[t]he text does not conclude the difficulties of the real world, but begins a process, a process of its own interpretation. This is the process by which the law is...

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11 Aug

[Marina Veličković is a Lecturer at the University of Kent, UK. In her research she explores the role of international law in (re)producing structures of violence in post-conflict settings.] Everyone has a moment of sheer panic during their PhD journey (or a few moments if your anxiety levels are that of an average academic) when they come across the thesis/article/book that...

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