To whom does international law belong? International lawyers have shaped our understanding of the nature as well as of the content of the discipline to an unusually high degree. This book explores this phenomena, probing the nature of the community of international lawyers that engage in this practice, its causes, consequences and the means through which it is accomplished. It is replete with thought-provoking insights into why we understand international law in the way that we do and, as a result, seeks to open the space for new understandings to emerge. --Malcolm D. Evans, University of Bristol, UKLaw does not have the seamless consistency of mathematics or moral philosophy; and lawyers need to be aware of its limitations. Many lawyers have quoted Emerson's great dictum that 'foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds', but few have had the courage to act on it. Here, d'Aspremont offers a principled defence of a position that is not only the unavoidable fate of the international lawyer but also the best hope for the rational development of international law. --Vaughan Lowe, Oxford University, UK

Jean d'Aspremont is one of the more thoughtful and creative international legal academics of his generation. In this volume of essays, he aims to explore how the 'invisible college of international lawyers' (to use a famous phrase) works, based on the idea that insight into the way international lawyers work will also tell us something of great value about international law itself. The result is sometimes compelling, sometimes controversial, and invariably thought-provoking: a must-read for the self-reflective international lawyer. --Jan Klabbers, University of Helsinki, Finland