The First International Law
Theory: Isocrates ‘Paragraphe
pros Kallimachon’
PH. D. VÍCTOR M. SÁNCHEZ
[email protected]
OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA
 1.
What is a Theory of International
Law?
 2. Isocrates Theory of International
Law: basic elements
 3. Influence in XVI-XVII Century IL
Theorists
 5. Conclusion
1. What is a Theory of International
Law
A set of ideas.
 A) Is it Law?
 B) Why we have to obey this law?
 C) How this international law relates
to other ‘national’ law?
 D) Can it be invoke as ‘law’ by
individuals for their defense before
Courts?
2. Isocrates Theory of International
Law
2.1. Amnesty clause: a ‘Συνθήκη’?

Previous amnesty clauses:
-
VIII Law of Solon of the Thirteenth table
(594 BC) Source: Plut. Sol. 19.3
-
Themistocles Decree (480 BC) Source: Andoc.
Mist. 1.77
-
Patrocleides Decree (405 BC) Source: Andoc. Mist.
1.77
2.1. Amnesty clause: a ‘Συνθήκη’?
Sources
Athen. Polit. 38.4
Xenoph. Hell. 2.4.38
 “For
it was Pausanias the king of the
Lacedaemonians who brought the peace
and reconciliation to fulfillment, with the aid
of the ten mediators who later arrived from
Sparta, and whose coming was due to the
efforts of the king himself”
ISOC. 18.4
“I intend to prove that Callimachus …is
bringing a suit in violation of the terms of the
Amnesty agreement”
“ἀποδείξω δὲ Καλλίμαχον οὐ μόνον παρὰ τὰς
συνθήκας δικαζόμενον”
2.1. Amnesty clause: a ‘Συνθήκη’?
Sources:
- Andoc. Mist.6,1. 87 and 89
“Laws. In no circumstances shall magistrates
enforce a law which has not been inscribed.
No decree, whether of the Council or
Assembly, shall override a law. No law shall be
directed against an individual without
applying to all citizens alike, unless an
Assembly of six thousand so resolve by secret
ballot.”
2.2. Is it Law the ‘synthéke’? Which Hierarchy?
Source: Isoc. Calim. 18.34 and 24

“If in render an unjust verdict in this case, you will be
violating not only the laws of the city, but also the laws
common to all men. Consequently, it is not fitting that your
votes should be based upon favor, or upon mere equity,
nor upon anything else than upon the oaths you took
when you made the covenant of Amnesty.”
“
πόλεως …μόνον νόμους ἀλλὰ καὶ
τοὺς ἁπάντων κοινοὺς “

Source: Isocr. Call. 18. 28, 27

“This is the only universal institution which all we
of the human race constantly employ”

“… μόνῳ κοινῷ πάντες ἄνθρωποι”

“…all the daily activities of Greeks and of
barbarians are governed by covenants”
2.3. Why to obbey? Who is to obbey?
1. ‘Bona fide’ principle
‘it is your duty (because) the oaths…”
(18.29)
2. Reciprocity principle
“And yet how can one accuse the other
party of transgressions of which he is himself
guilty?” (18.30)
 3.
‘Punitive’ principle

- War as a consequences for ‘polis’ “you undertook your
most recent war…in behalf of those who where
deprived of their autonomy in violation of the oaths and
covenants.” (Isocr. On peace, 8.17)

- Penalties for individuals: “Therefore it is incumbent
upon us to inflict upon those who dare to violate the
covenant, not merely the heavy penalties prescribed by
the treaty, but the most extreme, on the ground that
these persons are the cause of the greatest evils” (18.47)
3. Influence on XVI-XVII th ILTh

Spanish Neoescolastic theologitians and jurists: no
citation

Why?
H. Grotius: De iure belli ac pacis libris tres
(1625)
4. Conclusion
PEACE THROUGH INTERNATIONAL LAW IS A
VERY OLD IDEA THAT WE OW TO ISOCRATES