Chapter 4 Equality of Non-European Nations in International Law
In: International Law in the Long Nineteenth Century (1776-1914)Search for other papers by Andrew Fitzmaurice in
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Abstract
This chapter examines the nineteenth century debate over the status of non-European peoples in the law of nations and, more broadly, as members of the society of nations. It does so through the writings and practice of Sir Travers Twiss, one of the most eminent Victorian international jurists. Recent scholarship has argued that Europeans used international law to accord non-European peoples a reduced standing, or even no standing, in the society of nations. Twiss, on the other hand, insisted upon the enfranchisement of non-European peoples in the law of nations, and he included not only China, Japan, and the Ottomans in that recognition but also what he described as the ‘slave states’ of Africa. Such recognition could have a number of advantages. Firstly, it enabled cessions of sovereignty to ‘protecting’ European powers. Secondly, the recognition of sovereign equality meant that duties could be imposed upon non-European peoples (such as the obligation to establish and maintain, for example, lighthouses) and, where the performance of those duties was inadequate, forms of trusteeship and extra-territorial power could be employed. In an age of enfranchisement, the extension of the international franchise could be a condition of dependence.