Seliverstov, M.V. On the issue of terminological specific features of the definition “international law” in the German legal science in late XIX century – early XX century

Abstract: The article concerns the issues regarding the attitudes of German lawyers in late XIX and early XX centuries towards the terminological specificities of the term “international law” in legal science. The works of German lawyers in most cases regard international law as a special legal order, regulating the relations among the subjects of this legal system. At the same time another definition provides that international law is a combination of legal norms, regulating the legal relations among the subjects of international law, which does not belong to their domestic law. The discussion of there issues have long history. The development of international law followed from the ancient Roman and Medieval ius gentium (law of peoples) to ius inter gentes (law among the peoples) of the Spanish era (1494-1648) and the dominating French approach (1648-1815) of the inter-state law, and than later to the modern international public law – «internationals öffentliches Recht». The scientific and theoretical views on terminological differences within the term “international law”, as provided by the scientists in XVII-XIX centuries, have formed the basis for the German scholars and their modern approaches to its definition. In order to find the most objective definition, which would reflect separate aspects of international law, the German scholars used the alternative methods and brought together three scientific approaches of their predecessors towards the scientific category in question: from the standpoints of international legal sources, subjects of international law and object of legal regulation. The conclusions of the author are the following. Firstly, the scientific approaches to the term “international law” prove presence of contradictory and sometimes mutually excluding opinions of the lawyers and pluralism of their opinions. Secondly, in spite of an individual approach of German lawyers and pluralism of their opinion, they cannot find a fixed definition of international law, which would apply to all of the historical periods.

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