Essays on International Law
Graeme BaberThe idea for this book of essays came from a combination of 2 sources.
First, I have enjoyed teaching international law to students of the Master
of Laws Degree, even though I did not study the subject at this stage of my
career. Second, I realised that all good legal scholars write essays – for
instance Professor Herbert Hart’s Essays in Jurisprudence and Legal
Philosophy – which was studied during my time as a student of the law.
So, why not Essays on International Law?
International law is to legal studies as the church organ is to musical
instruments. Just as the latter has three-stave reading and performance,
together with the utilisation of both hands and feet and the production of a
variety of sounds, which can blend together in a superb way, so the former
has a variety of legal instruments, techniques, elements, and variables that
can be combined to form an interesting analysis. Similarly to international
law, I only started to learn the church organ at the age of 26 – although I
was already a proficient pianist. After a few years of ‘teething’ with the
co-ordination of 2 manuals and the pedal, I have not looked back.
The institutional aspect of the subject takes a fairly high profile within
the essays. The United Nations, the International Labour Organization, the
World Trade Organization and other structures of this sort play a major
part in the regulation of the content of the law over their functional areas.
Furthermore, the working of these entities is inherently interesting. I
would like this to be evident through the crafting of the essays.
The essays do not pretend to be comprehensive. They are comparable
neither to a textbook nor to a detailed research work. Each essay stands
alone as an area of interest to the author, over which I would like to share
my observations and ideas with readers. No doubt, not all readers will
agree with everything stated in all of the essays – but difference of view,
provided that it is genuinely held and grounded in logical argument, is one
method of progress in any subject area. Above all, I hope that you find
your journey through the essays an enjoyable experience.