Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

It is an honor to be at the University of Connecticut School of Law to help celebrate the manifold accomplishments of Mark Weston Janis, William F. Starr Professor of Law and one of the most consequential American international law scholars of our time. Professor Janis's treatise, AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL LAW,' is in its fourth edition and defies those who would suggest that the age of learned treatise writing is past. His other writings-concerning law and religion, the old and new Europe, Russia and America, the law of the sea and the law of human rights, and much, much more-are no less impressive. And now we have THE AMERICAN TRADITION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW: GREAT EXPECTATIONS 1789-1914, which is very much the product of a lifetime of learning and wisdom-with more yet to come.

Both with his book and with his assignment for today, Professor Janis has set a timely challenge for us-namely, that of thinking about the universality of international law. As the focus for this, he has very aptly chosen Henry Wheaton, author of the most important American international law treatise of the 19t " century. In particular, Professor Janis asks us to focus on Wheaton's contention that "the ordinaryjus gentium is only a particular law, applicable to a distinct set of nations ... hence the international law of the civilized Christian nations of Europe and Asia is one thing" and that which governs others between themselves or with the West is "another and very different thing."

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