St. Thomas Law Professor Wiessner’s Book “General Theory of International Law” Published

Professor Siegfried Wiessner, who is regularly consulted by foreign governments and other groups regarding human rights, has just come out with an important and already acclaimed new book, General Theory of International Law, which is the introductory volume of the “American Classics in International Law” series and will adorn the shelves of law libraries around the world.

In this book, Professor Wiessner presented, put into context, and critically appraised specifically American general theories of and about international law. He focused on American Legal Realism, the New Haven School of Jurisprudence, International and Transnational Legal Process, liberal theories of international law, linkages to social sciences, including Law & Economics, Critical Legal Studies, LatCrit, TWAIL, and feminist approaches to the field.

The book has been published by the renowned Dutch publisher of BRILL Nijhoff, and will be formally launched at the upcoming Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington, D.C.

Yale law professor Michael Reisman, the venerated international law scholar who wrote the preface, praised Professor Wiessner’s work this way: “[M]uch as another European, Alexis De Toqueville, was able to see democracy in America with unique penetration and depth, Siegfried Wiessner . . . brings unique insights and appraisals of America’s contribution to theories of and about international law . . . . His introductory essay . . . is an intellectual tour de force . . . . I am confident that this superlative study will stand the test of time.”

 

The faculty celebrated the occasion with a lunchtime reception in Professor Wiessner’s honor.