Randall Lesaffer
Randall Christoph Herman Lesaffer is a Belgian historian of international law. He has been professor of legal history at Tilburg University since 1999, where he also served as dean of Tilburg Law School from 2008 to 2012. His work focuses on the Early Modern Age.
Career
Lesaffer was born in 1968 in Bruges, the town where he continues to live. He studied law as well as history at the universities of Ghent and Leuven. In 1998, he obtained his PhD in law from the University of Leuven. He became professor of legal history at Tilburg University in 1999 and is also part-time professor of International and European history at the University of Leuven.Lesaffer's work focuses on the history of public international law, a field which has gone through a significant growth as an academic discipline since the 1990s. He mainly published on international law in the European Early-Modern Age. He is
- the editor of the Oxford Historical Treaties, a digitisation of historical treaties.
- general editor of the book series Studies in the History of International Law,
- editor of the Global Law Series,
- editor of the Journal of the History of International Law
- president of the Grotiana foundation.
He has been actively involved in local politics in Bruges since the 1990s. He was chairman of the VLD in Bruges from 1993 to 2001 and served as a member of the city-council for CD&V in 2011-2012. He was a member and vice-president of the Port Authority of the harbour of Bruges-Zeebruges from 1999 till 2014.
Publications
Books and articles in English
His main publications are:- Peace treaties and international law in European history. From the Late Middle Ages to World War One, Cambridge University Press, 2008
- European Legal History: A Cultural and Political Perspective, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, a textbook on legal history in general.
- The Westphalia Peace Treaties and the Development of the Tradition of Great European Peace Treaties prior to 1648, in: Grotiana, NS 17 71-95.
- The International Dimension of the Westphalia Peace Treaties. A Juridical Approach in: 350 años de la Paz de Westfalia. Del antagonismo a la integración en Europa. Ciclo de conferencias celebrado en la Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid 9 de marzo a 30 de noviembre de 1998 291-310
- The concepts of war and peace in the 15th century treaties of Arras in: Denis Clauzel, Charles Giry-Deloison and Christophe Leduc, edd., Arras et la diplomatie européenne XVe-XVIe siècles 165-182.
- The Medieval Canon Law of Contract and Early Modern Treaty Law, in: Journal of the History of International Law, 2 178-198
- War, Peace, Interstate Friendship and the Emergence of the jus publicum Europaeum in: Ronald G. Asch, Wulf Eckart Voss and Martin Wrede, edd., Frieden und Krieg in der frühen Neuzeit. Die europäische Staatenordnung und die aussereuropäische Welt 87-113.
- The Grotian Tradition Revisited: Change and Continuity in the History of International Law, in: British Yearbook of International Law, 73 103-139.
- Education and Research in Roman Law and Legal History in Belgium and the Netherlands in: Kjell A. Modeer, ed., Rättshistoria I förändring 265-279.
- An Early Treatise on Peace Treaties: Petrus Gudelinus between Roman Law and Modern Practice, in: Journal of Legal History, 23 223-252.
- Amicitia in Renaissance Peace and Alliance Treaties, in: Journal of the History of International Law, 4 77-99.
- The Yerodia Case'’, in: Tilburg Foreign Law Review, 10 194-205.
- Introduction in: Randall Lesaffer, Peace Treaties and International Law in European History: From the Late Middle Ages to World War One 1-6.
- Peace Treaties from Lodi to Westphalia in: Randall Lesaffer, Peace Treaties and International Law in European History: From the Late Middle Ages to World War One 9-44.
- Conclusion in: Randall Lesaffer, Peace Treaties and International Law in European History: From the Late Middle Ages to World War One 399-411.
- A Short Legal History of the Netherlands in: Sanne Taekema, Understanding Dutch Law 31-58.
- Charles V, Monarchia Universalis and the Law of Nations, in: Legal History Review, 71 79-123.
- Argument from Roman Law in Current International Law: Occupation and Acquisitive Prescription, in: European Journal of International Law, 16 25-58.
- Ivo of Chartres, the Gregorian Reform and the Formation of the Just War Doctrine, in: Journal of the History of International Law, 7 43-54.
- Defensive Warfare, Prevention and Hegemony: The Justification for the Franco-Spanish War of 1635, in: Journal of the History of International Law, 8 91-123 and 141-179.
- The Influence of the Medieval Canon Law of Contract on Early Modern Treaty Law, in: Manlio Bellomo and Orazio Condorelli, Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Medieval Canon Law, Monumenta Iuris Canonici Series C: Subsidia 12 449-467.
- Siege Warfare and the Early Modern Laws of War, in: Erik-Jan Broers, Beatrix Jacobs and Randall Lesaffer, eds., Ius Brabanticum, Ius Commune, Ius Gentium: Opstellen aangeboden aan prof. mr. J.P.A. Coopmans ter gelegenheid van zijn tachtigste verjaardag, Nijmegen, Wolf, 2006, 87-110.
- Introduction: Taming the Leviathan, in: Randall Lesaffer and Georges Macours, Sovereignty and the Law of Nations, Iuris Scripta Historiae 20, Brussels, 2006, 5-10.
- Siege Warfare in the Early Modern Age: A study on the customary laws of war, in: Amanda Perreau-Saussine and James B. Murphy, eds, The Nature of Customary Law: Legal, Historical and Philosophical Perspectives¸ Cambridge, 2007, 176-202.
- International Law and its History: The Story of an Unrequited Love, in: Matthew Craven, Malgosia Fitzmaurice and Maria Vogiatzi, Time, History and International Law, Leiden/Boston, Martinus Nijhoff, 2007, 27-41.
- Alberico Gentili’s ius post bellum and Early Modern Peace Treaties, in: Benedict Kingsbury and Benjamin Straumann, The Roman Foundations of the Law of Nations: Alberico Gentili and the Justice of Empire 210-240.
- A Schoolmaster Abolishing Homework? Vattel on peacemaking and peace treaties in: Vincent Chetail and Peter Haggenmacher, eds., Vattel's International Law from a XXIst Century Perspective/Le droit international de Vattel vu du XXIe siècle, Graduate Institute of International Law and Development Studies 9, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2011, 353-384.
- Law and History: Law between Past and Present in Bart van Klink and Sanne Taekema, eds., Law and Method: Interdisciplinary Research into Law, Tübingen, 2011, 133-152.
- Private property in the Dutch-Spanish Peace Treaty of Münster, in: Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, Beihefte, 45, 2011, 165-195.
- The Classical Law of Nations , in: A. Orakhelashvili, Research handbook on the theory and history of international law, Chelthenham-Northampton, MA, Edward Elgar Publishing..
- A short legal history of the Netherlands, in: In S. Taekema, A. de Roo, & C. Elion-Valter, Understanding Dutch law. The Hague, Eleven, 2011.
- Roman Law and the Early Historiography of International Law, Ward, Wheaton, Hosack and Walker, in: T. Marauhn & H. Steiger, Universality and Continuity in International Law. The Hague, Eleven International Publishing, 2011.
- Kellogg-Briand Pact , in: R. Wolfrum, Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- The end of the Cold War: A epochal event in the history of international law?, in: J. Crawford & S. Nouwen, International Law 1989-2010: A Performance Appraisal, Cambridge 2–4 September 2010, Oxford and Portland, Or., Hart, 2012.
- Peace Treaties after World War I, in: R. Wolfrum, Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012.
- Peace Treaties and the Formation of International Law, in: Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters, The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012.
- The Lighthouse of Law’, in: Tilburg Law Review, 17, 2012, 153-158.
- The Global Challenge to Public International Law: Some First Thoughts, in: Tilburg Law Review, 17, 2012, 256-262.
- The Temple of Peace. The Hague Peace Conference, Andrew Carnegie and the Building of the Peace Palace , in: Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Internationaal Recht, Preadviezen 140 1-39.
- From Antwerp to Munster : Truce and Peace under the Law of Nations in: Randall Lesaffer, 'The Twelve Years Truce. Peace, Truce, War and Law in the Low Countries at the Turn of the 17th Century', Studies in the History of International Law 6, Leiden en Boston, Brill/Nijhoff, 2014, 233-255.
- Too Much History: From War as Sanction to the Sanctioning of War, in: Marc Weller, Oxford Handbook of the Use of Force in International Law, Oxford University Press 2015.
Books and articles in other languages
- Moet vrede rechtvaardig zijn? Het vredesconcept in de historische ontwikkeling van het internationaal recht, Inaugural lecture in occasion of the acceptance of the Chair of Legal History at Tilburg University, Tilburg University Press, 1999
- Europa: een zoektocht naar vrede? Het klassieke statensysteem in vredes- en alliantieverdragen , Leuven University Press, 1999
- Inleiding tot de Europese Rechtsgeschiedenis, Leuven, University Press, 2004, 2de herziene uitgave 2008.
- Vernulaeus, Zypaeus en Tuldenus: het recht van de oorlog in de Spaanse Nederlanden tijdens de laatste fase van de Tachtigjarige Oorlog , in: Ex Officina, 8 32-70.
- Le Journal des Tribunaux. De Belgisch-Nederlandse betrekkingen vanuit het standpunt van de Belgische nationalisten in: Fred Stevens en Dirk van den Auweele,, Uuytwysens d'Archiven. Handelingen van de XIde Belgisch-Nederlandse Rechtshistorische Dagen, Leuven 22–23 November 1990 107-139.
- In de marge van de rechtsgeschiedenis? Politieke verdragen als rechtshistorische bron, Bulletin des Ancien Pays et Assemblées d’Etat, 5 60-76.
- Tussen respublica christiana en ius publicum europaeum: de ontwikkeling van de Europese rechtsordening in alliantieverdragen van de vroege Nieuwe Tijd in: Beatrix Jacobs, De rechtspraktijk in beeld. Van Justinianus tot de Duitse bezetting. Handelingen van het XIVde Belgisch-Nederlands Rechtshistorisch Congres. Katholieke Universiteit Brabant. Tilburg, 24 en 25 januari 1997 95-127.
- Het moderne volkenrecht , in: Onze Alma Mater, 52 426-451.
- La dimensión internacional de los Tratados de Paz de Westfalia. Un enfoque jurídico in: 350 años de la Paz de Westfalia. Del antagonismo a la integración en Europa. Ciclo de conferencias celebrado en la Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid 9 de marzo a 30 de noviembre de 1998 33-52.
- La paix de Vervins : souveraineté, territorialité et le développement du droit public européen in: Jean-Marie Cauchies en Serge Dauchy, Personnalité, territorialité et droit. Actes des Journées internationales de la Société d'Histoire du Droit tenues à Bruxelles du 28 au 31 mai 1998 131-152.
- Vrede in de ontwikkeling van het internationaal recht, in: Onze Alma Mater, 54 226-250.
- De opmars van de wetgeving in de continentale juridische traditie in: Bart van Klink and Willem J. Witteveen., De overtuigende wetgever 29-44.
- De opkomst en de ontwikkeling van de permanente diplomatie. Diplomatieke onschendbaarheid en de opkomst van het moderne volkenrecht in: Peter Van Kemseke, Diplomatieke cultuur 37-49.
- Tussen menselijk en eeuwig recht. Sophocles, Antigonè in: Willem Witteveen and Sanne Taekema, Verbeeldingsmacht. Wat juristen moeten lezen 321-326.
- Petrus Gudelinus, De jure pacis commentarius : een vroege bijdrage tot de volkenrechtsleer’', in: Pro Memorie: Bijdragen tot de rechtsgeschiedenis der Nederlanden, 3 67-96.
- The Scholar as a Judge: Romeins recht en algemene beginselen van privaatrecht bij sir Hersch Lauterpacht in: Erik-Jan Broers and Bart van Klink, De rechter als rechtsvormer 65-87.
- Cedant arma togae. De vrede van Athis-sur-Orge in: Paul Trio, Dirk Heirbaut and Dirk van den Auweele, Omtrent 1302 161-181.
- Iudex, magistratus, senator. Franciscus Zypaeus over het publiekrecht in: Erik-Jan Broers en Beatrix Jacobs, ed., Interactie tussen wetgever en rechter voor de Trias Politica 29-48.
- De justitie en de media in: Dirk Heirbaut, Xavier Rousseaux and Karel Velle, Politieke en sociale geschiedenis van justitie in België van 1830 tot heden 357-368.
- Quod est in codice, est in mundo. Over Federico de Castro, het Romeins recht en het Internationaal Gerechtshof in: Ad amicissimum amici scripsimus. Vriendenboek Raf Verstegen 180-184.
- Paix et guerre dans les grands traités du dix-huitième siècle, in: Journal of the History of International Law, 7 25-41.
- Ter Inleiding: Rechtshistorisch onderzoek in Tilburg, van regionaal naar internationaal, in: Erik-Jan Broers, Beatrix Jacobs en Randall Lesaffer, eds., Ius Brabanticum, Ius Commune, Ius Gentium: Opstellen aangeboden aan prof. mr. J.P.A. Coopmans ter gelegenheid van zijn tachtigste verjaardag, Nijmegen, Wolf, 2006, 1-8.
- La Tregua de los Doce Años y la formacion del Derecho de Naciones clasica'' in: Tiempo de Paces. La Pax Hispanica y la Tregua de los Doce Años 177-191.
Literature
- John Fabian Witt, A Social History of International Law: Historical Commentary, 1861-1900 in David L. Sloss et alii, International Law in the US Supreme Court. Continuity and Change, pp. 164–87.
- Prof Eduard Somers, Laudatio of Prof. Randall Lesaffer, at the presentation of the George Sarton Medal 2012-2013 of the University of Ghent