L’institutionnalisation du droit international (1869-1873). Les réseaux internationaux de Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns

This article deals with a phenomenon which appears in a particular context: the
institutionalisation of international law between 1869 (creation of the Revue de
droit international et de législation comparée) and 1873 (birth of the Institut de Droit
International), through the international networks of the Belgian lawyer Gustave
Rolin-Jaequemyns. He was close to Pasquale Mancini, John Westlake, James Lorimer,
Franz Von Holtzendorff, but also to the least-known Michael Corr-Van der Maeren,
a publicist. Until this period of crystallisation this field was not structured and represented
an aggregate of individualities. What can we say about such a process of
institutionalisation on the basis of unpublished archives? The history of international
law, until today, especially studied by lawyers, was very neglected by historians, whose
methods and sources are complementary to those of the lawyer. Our contribution
wishes to contribute to the development of a history of international law written
by historians.