Morality and Responsibility of Rulers

European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of Law as Justice for World Order

Edited by Anthony Carty and Janne Nijman

A multidisciplinary exploration of Chinese and European international thought
Synthesizes classical European and East Asian texts to provide a fresh perspective on the international rule of law
Describes the relevance of tradition Chinese and European ethical thinking in the context of current world affairs

Morality and Responsibility of Rulers

European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of Law as Justice for World Order

Edited by Anthony Carty and Janne Nijman

Description

The history of ideas on rule of law for world order is a fascinating one, as revealed in this comparative study of both Eastern and Western traditions. This book discerns 'rule of law as justice' conceptions alternative to the positivist conceptions of the liberal internationalist rule of law today.

The volume begins by revisiting early-modern European roots of rule of law for world order thinking. In doing so it looks to Northern Humanism and to natural law, in the sense of justice as morally and reasonably ordered self-discipline. Such a standard is not an instrument of external monitoring but of self-reflection and self-cultivation. It then considers whether comparable concepts exist in Chinese thought. Inspired by Confucius and even Laozi, the Chinese official and intellectual elite readily imagined that international law was governed by moral principles similar to their own. A series of case studies then reveals the dramatic change after the East-West encounters from the 1860s until after 1901, as Chinese disillusionment with the Hobbesian positivism of Western international law becomes ever more apparent.

What, therefore, are the possibilities of traditional Chinese and European ethical thinking in the context of current world affairs? Considering the obstacles which stand in the way of this, both East and West, this book reaches the conclusion that everything is possible even in a world dominated by state bureaucracies and late capitalist postmodernism. The rational, ethical spirit is universal.

Morality and Responsibility of Rulers

European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of Law as Justice for World Order

Edited by Anthony Carty and Janne Nijman

Introduction: The Moral Responsibility of Rulers: Going Back Beyond the Liberal 'Rule of Law' for World Order, Anthony Carty and Janne Nijman
Part I: Law and Justice in Early Modern European Thought on World Order
1. The Universal Rule of Law in the Thought of the Late Medieval Jurists of Roman and Canon Law, Joseph Canning
2. 'The Law of Nations is Common to all Mankind': Jus gentium in Humanist Jurisprudence, Susan Longfield Karr
3. Cleare as is the Summers Sunne'? Scottish Perspectives on Legal Learning, Parliamentary Power and the English Royal Succession,, Andrew RC Simpson
4. Humanism, the Bible and Erasmus' Moral World Order, Xavier Tubau
5. Legislating for the 'Whole World that is, in a sense, a Commonwealth': Conquest, Occupation, and the Obligation to 'Defend the Innocent', Anthony Pagden
6. Cardinal Richelieu between Vattel and Machiavelli, Anthony Carty
7. The Universal Rule of Natural Law and Written Constitutions in the Thought of Johannes Althusius, John Witte Jr.
8. Hugo Grotius and the Universal Rule of Law, Christoph Stumpf
9. Aquatopia. Lines of Amity and Laws of the Sea, Peter Goodrich
10. A Universal Rule of Law for a Pluralist World Order: Leibniz's Universal Jurisprudence and his Praise of the Chinese Ruler, Janne Nijman
Part II: Law and Justice in Chinese Thought on World Order
11. Moral Rulership and World Order in Ancient Chinese Cosmology, Aihe Wang
12. 'Humane Governance' as the Moral Responsibility of Rulers in East Asian Confucian Political Philosophy, Chun-chieh Huang
13. Bridging the Western and Eastern Traditions: A Comparative Study of the Legal Thoughts of Hugo Grotius and Lao Zi, Hu Henan
14. The Hazards of Translating Wheaton's 'Elements of International Law' into Chinese: Cultures of World Order Lost in Translation, Emily Cheung and Maranatha Fung
15. Chinese Intellectuals' Discourse of International Law in the Late 19th Century and Early 20th Century, Tian Tao
16. The Crisis of the Ryukyus 1877-1882: Confucian World Order Challenged and Defeated by Western/Japanese Imperial International Law, Patrick Sze-lok Leung and Anthony Carty
17. Lost in Translation in the Sino-French War in Vietnam: From Western International Law to Confucian Legal Semantics: A Comparative-Critical Analysis of Chinese, French and American Archives, Anna Baka and Lucy QI
18. The Sino-Japanese War and the Collapse of the Qing and Confucian World Order in the Face of Japanese Imperialism and European Acquiescence, Patrick Sze-Lok Keung and Bijun Xu
19. Confucianism and Western International Law in 1900: Li Hongzhang and Sir Ernest Satow Compared: The Case Study of the Crisis of Russia in Manchuria 1900-1, Jing Tan and Anthony Carty

Morality and Responsibility of Rulers

European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of Law as Justice for World Order

Edited by Anthony Carty and Janne Nijman

Author Information

Edited by Anthony Carty, Professor of Law at the Beijing Institute of Technology School of Law, and Janne Nijman, Professor of History and Theory of International Law at the University of Amsterdam, Senior Research Fellow of the Amsterdam Center for International Law, and Academic Director of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague.

Professor Anthony Carty is Professor of Law at the Beijing Institute of Technology School of Law. Professor Carty has published widely in the field of critical theory and international law.

Professor Janne Nijman is Professor of History and Theory of International Law at the University of Amsterdam and a Senior Research Fellow of the Amsterdam Center for International Law. She is the Academic Director of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague, and is co-editor of New Perspectives on the Divide Between National and International Law.

Contributors:

Anna Baka is the Legal Officer at the Greek National Commission for Human Rights.
Joseph Canning is Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge.
Anthony Carty is Professor of Law at the School of Law of the Beijing Institute of Technology.Professor of International Law at Tsinghua University.
Emily Cheung is at Hong Kong University.
Maranatha Fung is at Hong Kong University.
Peter Goodrich is Professor of Law and the Director of the Program in Law and Humanities, at Cardozo School of Law, New York, and Visiting Professor in the School of Social Science, New York University, Abu Dhabi.
Hu Henan is Assistant Professor in the School of Law of the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, Guandong, Chinain Xiamen University Law Faculty, Law of the Sea Institute.
Chun-chieh Huang is Emeritus Professor at the Institute of the Humanities, National Taiwan University.
Susan Longfield Karr is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, University of Cincinnati.
Patrick Sze-Lok Keung is a PhD Candidate at lecturer in the Department of Chinese History, Hong Kong University.
Janne Nijman is Associate Professor of History and Theory Public of International Law at the University of Amsterdam.
Anthony Pagden is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and History at the UCLA Department of Political Science.Lucy QI is a PhD Candidate at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Andrew R C Simpson is Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Aberdeen.
Christoph Stumpf is Professor of Law at the Martin Luther Universität, Halle-Wittenberg.
Jing Tan is a PhD Candidate at Hong Kong University.
Tian Tao is Professor of History in tThe School of History and Culture at Tianjin Normal University.
Xavier Tubau is Assistant Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies at Hamilton CollegeJohn Witte Jr is Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, McDonald Distinguished Professor, and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University.
Bijun Xu is a PhD Candidate at Hong Kong University.

Morality and Responsibility of Rulers

European and Chinese Origins of a Rule of Law as Justice for World Order

Edited by Anthony Carty and Janne Nijman

Reviews and Awards

"the editors are remarkably successful in connecting western and Chinese intellectual histories. Moreover, the contributions brilliantly illustrate how intellectual history and philosophy can nourish each other." -- Hugo Canihac, International Affairs