A period of reckoning: private international law during the time of the League of Nations

Book section : Chapter

It is often assumed that private international law is disconnected from geopolitical events. Scholars of private international law assume this because they generally perceive their field as neutral and apolitical. Scholars of public international law are unaware that the two fields were enmeshed in geopolitical debates. This chapter revisits the history of private international law to expose the reckoning of a variety of actors with the way in which the field was impacted by and could respond to the geopolitical events of the day. Puzzles surrounding questions of jurisdiction and choice of law would be used to translate aspects of state succession, conflicts of nationality, vested rights, statelessness, capitulations, conflict of laws and jurisdiction in the mandates or the extraterritorial application of Russian and then Nazi laws, into familiar questions of private international law. Some of these interwar questions have contemporary parallels. Engaging with the history of private international law can offer valuable lessons when considering private international law’s current role in geopolitical events.

Authors: Banu, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Host title: The Cambridge History of International Law
• Volume: Volume 10: International Law at the Time of the League of Nations (1920–1945)
• Pages: 555-588
• Chapter number: 17
• Series: The Cambridge History of International Law
• Series number: 10
• Place of publication: Cambridge
• Publication date: 2025-05-01
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.1017/9781108633963.019
• EISBN: 9781108633963
• Language: English
• Keywords: vested rights; statelessness; capitulations; conflict of laws and jurisdiction; territoriality; recognition
• Subtype: Chapter