The Visible College of International Law: An Introduction

Abstract

When developing the theme of the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL), we decided-in conjunction with the officers and staff of the Society as well as with the talented and dedicated members of our program commit-tee-to undertake a rigorous and focused examination of the discipline ofinternational law itself. At the center of this process of self-reflection, culminating in the Annual Meet-ing held in April 2001 and this volume of the Proceedings, was Professor Oscar Schachter's famous observation, made nearly a quarter century ago in 1977, referring to our profes-sion as an "invisible college of international lawyers." 1 We found this to be an intriguing characterization, one that demanded a kind of reflection particularly suitable in observance of the (true) millennium and the extraordinary changes that had occurred in the nature of international law-and its practice-over the past quarter century. The ultimate goal of the Annual Meeting was to review the historical evolution, our current status, and our future prospects as a college, we submit, an increasingly visible college, of international legal scholars, practitioners, policy makers, and social scientists. Describing the college of international lawyers was a major theme of the Annual Meeting, and, indeed, this was perhaps best captured in Oscar Schachter's remarks on the durability of his characterization. The discipline and practice of international law and lawyering have vastly changed in the past decades. We have grown in number but, most would agree, we have divided our ranks. In the academy, the schism between inter-national law and international relations continues to grow, despite significant inter-ventions to close that gap. Many individuals in the field of international law, especially in the corporate world and the highest reaches of governments, are not formally trained as international lawyers or lawyers at all, and do not identify themselves as such. Special-ties among practicing international lawyers, virtually unheard of even a decade ago, are multiplying and flourishing. In scholarly circles, there is growing allegiance to new subdisciplines, appealing methodological approaches, and doctrinal revisionism. We sought, therefore, in the face of such dynamism, to look back to our origins and to take stock. Are we still a college, a group that cuts across physical borders, national interests, and ideological divides, in pursuit of the common mission ofpromoting a rule of law for international affairs? Can it still be said that we are invisible, or have we emerged as a distinct, open, public, and occasionally unruly community? The sessions held on the past and future of international law in the United States, the role of the Society itself, and the role of U.S. lawyer-statesmen at times of crisis all offer a superb perspective on these questions. One major concern ofparticipants at theAnnual Meetingwas whether the profession of international law-both its teaching and scholarship-was safely situated in the American academy. The sessions held on the role of method in the examination of international legal developments (including international relations theories), as well as the relevance of religious and social-ethical perspectives, offered a variety of "Professor of Law, Emory University.