The Law of Strangers

Fourteen leading scholars explore the lives of seven of the most famous Jewish lawyers in the history of international law.

From the Nuremberg Trials onwards, Jews figure prominently in international legal history. Yet ties between Jewish identity and legal thought rarely receive critical analysis. Here, fourteen historians and legal scholars employ interdisciplinary methods and new sources to reconsider the lives and ideas of seven famous international Jewish lawyers.From the Nuremberg Trials to contemporary human rights, Jews have long played prominent roles in the making of international law. But the actual ties between Jewish heritage and legal thought remain a subject of mystery and conjecture even among specialists. This volume of biographical studies takes a unique interdisciplinary approach, pairing historians and legal scholars to explore how the Jewish identities and experiences shaped their legal thought and activism. Using newly-discovered sources and sophisticated interpretative methods, this book offers an alternative history of twentieth-century international legal profession - and a new model to the emerging field of international legal biography.