Historicizing International Law

In recent decades, international law has undergone a historical turn. While the attempts to historicize the subject matter of international law have been productive, they have also spurred intense controversies, with some international lawyers claiming that contextualization and historicization threaten the critical purchase and autonomy of international law. This essay revisits this debate, arguing that the relationship between law and history should be subjected to historical inquiry rather than futile attempts at principled resolution. Only once the historicity of international law is fully acknowledged can international law reclaim its critical purchase and worldmaking potentials without recourse to transhistorical meanings or principles.