The German Society of International Law is dedicated to the promotion of research, teaching and the development of law in the fields of Public International Law, Private International Law and other areas of transnational law. The Society organizes biennial conferences as well as study workshops on specific topics or special events at irregular intervals. It also awards the Hermann Mosler Prize and the Gerhard Kegel Prize every two years.
the society
the biennial conference
At the centre of the Society's activities are the biennial conferences, to which all members are invited. The presentations and discussions at the conferences of the German Society of International Law are subsequently published in conference proceedings, which are available in full text on this website.
legal education
The German Society of International Law is also concerned with the current state of legal education in international law at law faculties in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and has issued a resolution on the matter:
Nowadays, lawyers no longer face only national, but also European, global and transnational challenges. Legal education at universities must adequately respond to these challenges.
The German Society of International Law therefore calls upon all those responsible in Germany to work towards ensuring
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that the basic elements of public international law, private international law and comparative law become part of undergraduate studies in law.
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that the current weight of the 'areas of specialisation' in German legal education is maintained.
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that private international law remains or becomes subject of the „Ersten Juristischen Prüfung“ (First State Examination in Law).
our history
The Society was founded in 1917, suspended in 1933 and re-established in 1949.
founding of the society
1917
Theodor Niemeyer (1857 - 1939), co-founder and first chairman of the Society (1917 - 1929)
‘The weather in Germany on January 6th, 1917 was marked by bitter cold and persistent snowfall. The men around Theodor Niemeyer, who on that day at what one might assume was an ‘extraordinary’ meeting of Section B of the ‘Kriegsarchiv des Völkerrechts’ (War Archive of International Law), based at the Seminar for International Law at Kiel University, passed the resolution to found our German Society of International Law - [...] they were standing right on the threshold [from the ‘long 19th century’] to this day and age.’ (Khan 2018)
The founding of our society took place in the context of the First World War and a ‘renationalisation’ in the field of international law societies - international associations had largely ceased their work during the war. Undeterred by this, the society was founded with a view to the impending reorganisation of the world order and with the intention of strengthening international law as a whole.
the days of the weimar republic
1918 - 1933
Bundesarchiv, Image 102-01156 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5479382
Walter Simons (1861 - 1937), Reichsminister of Foreign Affairs (1920/21), President of the Reich Court (1922 - 1929), provisional President of the Reich (1925) and second Chairman of the Society (1929 - 1933)
The society was aimed equally at theorists and practitioners of international law. In the early years, apart from prominent exceptions such as Walther Schücking, it was a ‘society strongly characterised by the bureaucratic-militaristic milieu of the German Empire, with an overall conservative nationalist orientation’. (Khan 2018)
Despite the World War, the society's members were united by their belief in international law as the basis of international relations. ‘Collaboration in the restoration and strengthening of international law’ was one of its explicit aims. Accordingly, the society was not only dedicated to scholarship, but also a forum for the discussion of topical issues of international law, acted in a policy advisory capacity and was committed to the enforcement of national interests by means of law.
From 1925 onwards, private international law was also explicitly part of the Society's scope of activities.
suspension and dissolution
1933 / 1934
The society's last announcements in March 1933, still in the hope that Hitler's seizure of power ‘would not change the traditional character of our work’.
In the context of the National Socialist takeover and confronted with the order for ‘Gleichschaltung’, or synchronisation, the society suspended itself in April 1933 by resolution of the Board of Directors. In spring 1934, it was liquidated and dissolved by the authorities. The society could therefore not be used as a platform for ‘party-political, ideological or even racist agitation’ (Khan 2018). Nonetheless, its members included both active supporters and victims of the National Socialist dictatorship.
A detailed report by Daniel-Erasmus Khan on the history of the society between 1917 and 1933 can be found here.
refounding in the spirit of continuity
1949
From 1947, conferences of German scholars of international law were once again held in Hamburg. At the third conference in 1949, the decision was made to re-establish the society, following the tradition and statutes of the old society.
In the initial phase, the Society's conferences focussed primarily on the situation in post-war Germany, i.e. the legal subjectivity of Germany under international law, the occupation, the trials of war criminals, the new constitutions and the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community. Continuity is also evident in the fact that the Society passed resolutions on current international law issues affecting Germany until the early 1950s.
Hamburg, site of the re-establishment and venue of the post-war conferences from 1947 to 1952.
specialised society in a divided germany
1950s - 1989
From the 1950s onwards, the Society focussed exclusively on joint academic work. In order to deepen this work beyond the regular conferences, specialised study commissions were also set up in the 1960s and 1970s on particular topics (transformation doctrine, immunity and freedom of navigation). Majority resolutions, meanwhile, were increasingly regarded as ‘unsuitable for the formulation of academic theses’ and were only adopted on the topic of education in international law (Mosler 1989). The support of German politics through policy advice and expert opinions was largely abandoned.
During this phase, the Society's activities in Germany were limited to West Germany. At this time, the Society had only about half as many members as it has today.
A detailed report by Hermann Mosler on the history of the Society between 1949 and 1989 can be found here.
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KMstatista, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hermann_Mosler_(1964).jpg
Hermann Mosler (1912- 2001), judge at the ECtHR (from 1959) and at the ICJ (1976 - 1985), Chairman of the Society (1961 - 1965) and second Honorary President of the Society (from 1985).
(international) cooperation
1990 - today
With the inclusion of the first four members from the ‘new states of Germany’ in 1991, we once again became an all-German society. In recent decades, the society has primarily expanded its (international) co-operation. Since 1996, regular conferences with our French sister society, the Société française pour le droit international, have complemented the Society's activities. Since 2012/13, the Society has also been more involved in supporting researchers in the early stages of their careers, on the one hand through conferences in cooperation with the Association of Young International Law Scholars (AjV) and on the other hand through the awarding of dissertation prizes.
After the turn of the millennium, the Society's Council began to occasionally issue statements on political events again.
In 2011, the name was changed to ‘Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationales Recht e.V.’ in order to reflect the field of private international law in its name.
An overview by Rudolf Bernhardt of the Society's activities between 1989 and 2009 can be found here.
CHAIRWOMAN
Prof. Dr.
Heike Krieger
Freie Universität Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin
VICE CHAIRMAN
Prof. Dr.
Christian Walter
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich
cwalter@jura.uni-muenchen.de
VICE CHAIRMAN
Prof. Dr., LL.M.
Karsten Thorn
Bucerius Law School
Bucerius Law School
cooperations
The German Society of International Law cooperates with numerous formal and informal academic associations in the area of international law. Our cooperation with our French sister society and the Association of Young International Law Scholars (AjV) is particularly close:
Association of Young International Law Scholars (AjV)
Société française pour le droit international
