Abstract
This paper focuses on the Austrian legal theorists, Kelsen and Verdross, and their influence on the Spanish Philosopher of Law, Legaz Lacambra, in relation to the concept of International Law during the interwar period, and his basis in natural law tradition. Legaz visited Vienna twice between 1930 and 1932, studying under both Kelsen and Verdross. Following Verdross, he defended a position of moderate monism with regard to the position of International in relation to national Law. At the same time, the last source of International Law for Legaz is Natural Law as defined by scholars like Francisco de Vitoria and Francisco Suárez of the Spanish School. Meanwhile, Verdross’ intellectual development led him away from Kelsen’s strict monism and positivism, and he came to share the position of the Spanish School of Natural Law, seeking the last foundation of the principle Pacta sunt servanda in the doctrine of Ius Gentium. These ideas are still present in the debate about the role of International Law Organisations like the UN and in the contents of Universal Human Rights.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
Verdross (Verdross 1955 b, 1937); 3rd edition, 1955 (Spanish translation, Derecho internacional público, with additional notes and bibliography by A. Truyol, Madrid, 1955); 4th edition, 1963 (Verdross (1963). Derecho Internacional Público, Madrid, Aguilar, 4th German edition in collaboration with Karl Zemanek 1963. Direct translation with additional notes and bibliography by Antonio Truyol y Serra, based on the revised 4th edition in which Verdross shortened some of the earlier texts); 5th edition, revised in collaboration with S. Verosta and K. Zemanek, 1964 (new Spanish translation by Truyol and revision in collaboration with M. Medina Ortega, Madrid, 1976).
- 4.
- 5.
Koskenniemi, Martti (2010, pp. 43–63).
- 6.
Koskenniemi, Martti, op.cit., p. 43.
- 7.
Truyol cites this journal in Truyol y Serra (1977), p. 263. This legacy is now kept at the Instituto de Estudios Internacionales y Europeos Francisco de Vitoria belonging to the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
- 8.
De Vitoria (1933–1935, 3 vol.; 1960). Fernández De Marcos Morales (2009, p. 258). Another Dominican, Vicente Beltrán Heredia, has also recently brought together a part of the master’s manuscripts (located in the Vatican Library in Rome, the Library of the University of Salamanca, the Library of the University of Valencia, etc.), most of them copied by his pupils and disciples, some of whom were themselves outstanding scholars, such as Martín Ledesma, who as professor in Coimbra, would publish a part of the lessons and teachings of F. de Vitoria in ‘Secudae quartae’ in 1560. Legaz Lacambra (1943, 1951).
- 9.
Gil Cremades (2002, p. 49).
- 10.
Also according to Gil Cremades (2002, p 50).
- 11.
Verdross (1937).
- 12.
See Gil Cremades (2002), passim.
- 13.
- 14.
Gil Cremades (1969). I, in turn, wrote my own thesis under Professor Gil Cremades, and to complete the chain I followed in his footsteps as a Humboldt scholar when I went to study under the philosopher and jurist, Robert Alexy at the Faculty of Law in Kiel, where Radbruch and Larenz also taught.
- 15.
López Medel (1981).
- 16.
For a study of Rafael Altamira, see Coronas González (2002).
- 17.
This thesis is originally attributable to Gil Cremades.
- 18.
In the prologue to Legaz’s doctoral thesis, Recaséns Siches expressly says, “I suggested this study to him some years ago, which he has now so brilliantly and splendidly completed.” Cf., Legaz (1933b), p. 11.
- 19.
Legaz Lacambra (1932a).
- 20.
Legaz Lacambra (1932b).
- 21.
Legaz Lacambra (1933b).
- 22.
- 23.
Recaséns and De Azcárate (1930). In his doctoral thesis, Legaz dates the translation as having been made in 1927.
- 24.
Rivaya (2010, p. 86. and p. 88).
- 25.
Legaz (1977).
- 26.
See Rivaya (2010, p. 127).
- 27.
Legaz (1934a).
- 28.
Larenz (1942).It is the Spanish translation of the German edition with an introduction by E. Galán Gutiérrez and A. Truyol y Serra, and a prologue by Legaz Lacambra. It was reissued by Reus in 2008 with a foreword by Miguel Grande Yáñez. Other translations by Legaz include Sauer (1933) and Mayer (1937).
- 29.
For a discussion of his subsequent transformation, which is not dealt with in this article, see Rivaya (2010, pp. 117–118). According to Rivaya, Hegel had scant influence in the Spain of the interwar period, and Legaz’s transformation was more closely associated with the restored Neo-Hegelianism of German and Italian Fascism, and with Legaz’s own intellectual development during the war and post-war years. See op. cit., p. 97. See also Gil Cremades (1978), pp. 55–103.
- 30.
- 31.
The discussion of KUNZ provided by Truyol in his Fundamentos de Derecho Internacional Público is enlightening, because it explains why Legaz came to follow him. Cf. Truyol (1977, p. 70).
- 32.
Legaz (1933b p. 330).
- 33.
Legaz (1933b, p. 293).
- 34.
The brief summary printed on the dust jacket of Truyol’s Spanish translation of Verdross’ Manual corroborates these details: “Professor Verdross is a professor of International Law. He is also a Philosopher of Law, however, and as such grounds International Law philosophically and juridically in a way that is unusual in manuals of this kind. He has also had direct experience as a judge in international courts, which enriches his theories with a profound knowledge of international jurisprudence and his own professional practice in the international courts. He is not only a university professor but has also taught at the international Academy in The Hague.”
- 35.
Verdross (1971/1972, pp. 57–76). In Verdross’ festschrift, Truyol submitted a paper on the Spanish law of nations in the sixteenth century entitled Völkerrecht und rechtliches Weltbild, Festschrift für A. Verdross, Viena, 1960. The original Spanish version of this work, entitled Razón de Estado y derecho de gentes en tiempos de Carlos V had appeared in the collective work Karl V., der Kaiser und Seine Zeit, edited by P. Rassow and F. Schalk, Cologne-Graz, pp. 189–210.
- 36.
Fernández De Marcos Morales (2009, p. 259): “Grotius cites Vitoria over fifty times in his famous treatise De iure belli ac pacis, where he expounds the fundamental ideas of the Dominican’s doctrine. As Brown notes, moreover, the Dutchman’s own doctrine barely differs in the essentials of its method and content from that of the Dominican, because if Grotius built the ‘edifice’, he did so using ‘materials’ taken largely from Vitoria.”
- 37.
- 38.
- 39.
Verdross’ original works in German and successive reprints may be consulted in the Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek: https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?query=Woe%3D11862654X&method=simpleSearch
- 40.
Seidl-Hohenveldern (1994, p. 101).
- 41.
Truyol (1977, p. 109). The first edition was published by Seix Barral in Barcelona in 1960.
- 42.
Truyol agrees with Legaz’s criticisms of this kind of monism, tending towards a moderate monism or reconciling theory. he considers himself a disciple of Verdross, although he never actually heard him lecture. Cf. Pérez Luño (1991, pp. 344–345). For further information on Verdross’ disciple, Karl Zemanek, who helped Truyol translate one of the editions of Verdross’ manual, see Verdross (1955a, pp. 116–117).
- 43.
Truyol (1977, p. 109).
- 44.
- 45.
Legaz (1933b, pp. 68–69).
- 46.
Legaz (1933b, pp. 70–71), citing the Kelsen Compendium, p. 55 ff.
- 47.
- 48.
Duguit (1920–1921).
- 49.
Legaz (1933b, p 173).
- 50.
Legaz (1933b, p. 194, see the footnote to page 257).
- 51.
Legaz (1933b, p. 195).
- 52.
Rivaya (2010, pp. 122–124).
- 53.
Legaz (1933b, p. 241).
- 54.
Legaz (1933b, p. 243, see note 324).
- 55.
Legaz (1933b, p. 252).
- 56.
Legaz (1933b, p. 275).
- 57.
Legaz (1933b, pp. 275–276).
- 58.
Hauriou (1928).
- 59.
Legaz (1933b, p. 279).
- 60.
Gil Cremades (2002, p. 49).
- 61.
Cf., Legaz (1933b, p. 279).
- 62.
Legaz (1933b, pp. 279–280).
- 63.
Legaz (1933b, p. 282).
- 64.
The Italian jurist indubitably influenced contemporary Spanish scholars, especially Recaséns Siches, who in turn oriented Legaz’s work although he did not direct his thesis. For a discussion of Del Vecchio’s influence in Spain, see Rivaya (2010, p. 51).
- 65.
Legaz (1933b, p. 283).
- 66.
Legaz (1933b, p. 283)
- 67.
Legaz (1933b, p. 285).
- 68.
Recaséns Siches (1927).
- 69.
Legaz (1933b, p. 293).
- 70.
Legaz (1933b, p. 293).
- 71.
I would like to thank Jonathan Crowe, author of the monography´s referees for this clarification, in order to distinguish Kelsen thought from Legaz’s summary of Kelsen’s views.
- 72.
Legaz (1933b, pp. 316–317).
- 73.
On Scheler, see Legaz (1933b, pp. 293–295).
- 74.
Legaz (1933b, p. 321 and p. 323).
- 75.
- 76.
Legaz (1933b, p. 325), note 404. In this case he is explicit, using the plural to affirm “Our universalist theory….”
- 77.
On p. 325, note 404 Legaz refers to Mendizabal, L. Derecho Natural, cap. VI.
- 78.
See Gil Cremades (2002, p. 40).
- 79.
- 80.
Verdross (1927). The original is in French. The translation is ours.
- 81.
This argument contrasts with certain positions taken by the later Legaz, such as the foreword to Larenz.
- 82.
Legaz (1933b, p. 330).
- 83.
Kunz (1962. pp. 77–86). Spanish translation by Antonio Pastor Ridruejo.
- 84.
Legaz (1933b, p. 331 quotes Verdross, in Einheit, p. 126).
- 85.
Verdross (1914).
- 86.
Truyol (1977, p. 74).
- 87.
Legaz (1933b, p. 331).
- 88.
Legaz (1933b, p. 333).
- 89.
Legaz (1933b, p. 333).
- 90.
Truyol (1977, p. 63).
- 91.
Kelsen (1942). The contents consist of the ‘renowned Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures published’. Lectures delivered between 1941 and 1942.
- 92.
Truyol (1977, p. 63).
- 93.
Truyol (1977, p. 74).
- 94.
Truyol (1977, p. 74).
- 95.
- 96.
Idem, cited by Truyol (1977, p. 70).
- 97.
The notion of law as culture also appears clearly in Legaz. This distinction between natural sciences and cultural sciences is very typical of the debate in German intellectual circles. See Truyol (1977, p. 74), and in Legaz’s thesis, he expressly asserts, “Law is rather a cultural product”.
- 98.
Verdross cites Legaz y Lacambra. Cf., Verdross, p. 63 of his manual of International Law, Legaz Lacambra (1947, pp. 9–28).
- 99.
Truyol (1977, p. 74).
- 100.
Verdross (1955a, p. 64).
- 101.
Verdross (1955a, p. 64).
- 102.
Verdross (1955a, p. 65).
- 103.
Cf. Verdross (1955a, p. 68).
- 104.
Seidl-Hohenveldern (1994, pp. 98–102). On p. 98 Seidl-Hohenveldern recounts how proud Verdross had been that his 1919 article had influenced the Weimar Constitution.
- 105.
Verdross (1919, p. 281).
- 106.
Cf. Verdross (1955a, pp. 68–69).
- 107.
Verdross (1955a, p. 71).
- 108.
Verdross (1955a, p. 71).
- 109.
Cf. Verdross (1955a, p. 72).
- 110.
Verdross (1955a, p. 50). The idea of universality, to which Legaz also refers, is clear here.
- 111.
Verdross (1955a, p. 51).
- 112.
Verdross (1955a. p. 52).
- 113.
Verdross (1955a. p. 570).
- 114.
Verdross (1955a, p. 570).
- 115.
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Elósegui, M. (2013). International Law and the Natural Law Tradition: The Influence of Verdross and Kelsen on Legaz Lacambra. In: Contreras, F. (eds) The Threads of Natural Law. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5656-4_10
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