Lassa Francis Lawrence Oppenheim (30 March 1858 – 7 October 1919) was a German

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...

. He is regarded by many as the father of the modern discipline of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

, especially the hard legal positivist school of thought. He inspired

Joseph Raz Joseph Raz (; he, יוסף רז; born Zaltsman; 21 March 19392 May 2022) was an Israeli legal, moral and political philosopher. He was an advocate of legal positivism and is known for his conception of perfectionist liberalism. Raz spent mos ...

and

Prosper Weil Prosper Weil (21 September 1926 – 3 October 2018), was a French lawyer, professor emeritus of Panthéon-Assas University's law school and, since 1999, a member of the Institut de France's Académie des sciences morales et politiques. Life Weil w ...

Birth, life, and career in Germany

Oppenheim was born in Windecken near the

Free City of Frankfurt For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt was a city-state within two major Germanic entities: *The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt () (until 1806) *The German Confederation as the Free City of Frankfurt ...

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

, the son of a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

horse trader, and educated at the Universities of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

. In 1881, he obtained his PhD of Law at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. In 1883, he went to the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

, where he became a disciple of the renowned Professor of Criminal Law Karl Binding. In 1885 he completed his ''

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

'' at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

and taught criminal law there until he moved to the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universiti ...

in 1892. In Basel, Oppenheim still worked on criminal law. It was not until he moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

that he turned from criminal law to international law.

Life and career in the United Kingdom

Oppenheim moved to the United Kingdom in 1895, acquiring citizenship in 1900, and lived there until his death. He first lectured at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

and in 1908 became the Whewell Professor of International Law in the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He is the author of the internationally renowned ''International Law: A Treatise'', the first edition of which was published in 1905–1906. The eighth edition of the part on

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

was edited by Sir Hersch Lauterpacht; the ninth and most recent edition of the same part was co-edited by Sir Robert Yewdall Jennings and Sir Arthur Watts. The work is still considered a standard text of international Law.B Fassfender and A Peters (eds), ''Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law'' (OUP 2012) 1152

Works

Books and monographs

* ''Die Rechtsbeugungsverbrechen des Deutschen Reichsstrafgesetzbuches'' (1886) * ''Die Nebenklage im deutschen Strafprozess'' (1889) * ''Zur Lehre von der Untersuchungshaft'' (1889) * ''Die Objekte des Verbrechens'' (1894) * ''Das Gewissen'' (1898) * ''International Law:'' volume I, ''Peace''
1905second edition, 1912
, volume II, ''War and Neutrality'',
1906second edition, 1912

''International Incidents'' (Cambridge University Press 1909)
second edition, 1911) * ''The Future of International Law'' (in German, 1912;
English, by Bate, 1914)
*Lassa Oppenheim,

Ronald Roxburgh Sir Ronald Francis Roxburgh (19 November 1889 – 19 August 1981) was a British barrister, High Court judge, and writer on international law and on the history of the Inns of Court. Life Born at Eastbourne, Roxburgh was the only son of Francis R ...

, et al., ''International Law: A Treatise'' (two volumes, 1918)
''The Panama Canal Conflict'' (Cambridge University Press 1913)

''The League of Nations and its Problems'' Collection of three lectures (Longmans, Green and Co. 1919)

Other works

* ''The Science of International Law: Its Task and Method'', American Journal of International Law, vol. ii, pp. 313–56 (1908)

Edited by Oppenheim

* The Collected Papers of John Westlake on Public International Law (Cambridge University Press 1914) * Co-editor, Zeitschrift für Völkerrecht, Vols. i–viii (1906–14) * Contributions to International Law and Diplomacy (Longmans, Green and Co.)

References

External links

* *
International Law: A Treatise
Vol I: Peace. 1905 edition in Gallica
International Law: A Treatise
Vol II: War and Neutrality. 1905 edition in Gallica

The Internationalist as a Scientist and Herald: Lassa Oppenheim

Legal Positivism as Normative Politics: International Society, Balance of Power and Lassa Oppenheim's Positive International Law {{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheim, L. F. L. 1858 births, Oppenheim, Lassa Francis Oppenheim, Lassa Francis People from Main-Kinzig-Kreis People from the Electorate of Hesse Oppenheim, Lassa Francis Oppenheim, L.F.L. German political writers German male non-fiction writers Heidelberg University alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Göttingen alumni Academics of the London School of Economics Whewell Professors of International Law