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The Versailles Peace Treaty Before the Permanent Court of International Justice: Tracing the Legalism of the Paris Settlement

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Kleinlein, T. The Versailles Peace Treaty Before the Permanent Court of International Justice: Tracing the Legalism of the Paris Settlement. German Yearbook of International Law, 62(1), 129-162. https://doi.org/10.3790/gyil.62.1.129
Kleinlein, Thomas "The Versailles Peace Treaty Before the Permanent Court of International Justice: Tracing the Legalism of the Paris Settlement" German Yearbook of International Law 62.1, 2021, 129-162. https://doi.org/10.3790/gyil.62.1.129
Kleinlein, Thomas (2021): The Versailles Peace Treaty Before the Permanent Court of International Justice: Tracing the Legalism of the Paris Settlement, in: German Yearbook of International Law, vol. 62, iss. 1, 129-162, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/gyil.62.1.129

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The Versailles Peace Treaty Before the Permanent Court of International Justice: Tracing the Legalism of the Paris Settlement

Kleinlein, Thomas

German Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 62 (2019), Iss. 1 : pp. 129–162

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Thomas Kleinlein, Chair of Public Law, Public International Law, EU Law and Comparative Law, Faculty of Law, Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

Abstract

The concept of international law underlying the Versailles Peace Treaty is marked by a complex and ambivalent combination of references to just peace and the use of the legal form. This article analyses the concept of law and the use of legal techniques and institutions in the Paris settlement, and connects it to various contemporaneous strands of ‘legalism' and to the transformation from (classical) nineteenth-century to (modern) twentieth-century international law. In a second step, the article turns to how the ambivalent legalism in the Versailles Peace Treaty impacted on the respective case law of the Permanent Court and how this case law connects to ‘modern' approaches to international law. While, in substance, the cases involving the Versailles Peace Treaty raised issues of both post-war settlement and international organisation, in doctrinal terms, the Court tentatively developed a concept of international law that squares with modern approaches. This can be demonstrated by examination of the case law, which contributed to the law of international organisations, redefined sovereignty, and developed the humanitarian dimension of international law.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Thomas Kleinlein\nThe Versailles Peace Treaty Before the Permanent Court of International Justice: Tracing the Legalism of the Paris Settlement 129
I. Introduction 129
II. Varieties of Legalism and the Paris Peace Settlement 131
A. Legalism in the Techniques and Institutions of the Versailles Peace Treaty 132
1. Institutional Provisions 132
2. Reparations, Disarmament, and Individual Responsibility 133
3. Self-Determination and Minority Rights 135
B. Invocation of Higher Legal Principles and Morality 137
1. Legalism as a Justification for the War 129
2. Legalism and ‘Wilsonianism’ 129
C. Legalism in the German Counter-Perspective 129
D. Modern International Law 129
III. The Treaty of Versailles in the Case Law of the Permanent Court of International Justice 129
A. International Organisations: Competences of the ILO and of the European Danube Commission 129
B. Sovereignty Redefined: The Wimbledon Case 130
C. The Humanitarian Dimension of International Law: Cases Concerning the German Minorities in Poland 130
IV. Conclusion 131