L. F. L. Oppenheim

Lassa Francis Lawrence Oppenheim
Born March 30, 1858
Windecken, Electorate of Hesse, German Confederation
Died October 19, 1919 (aged 61)
Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
Nationality German
Citizenship United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1900 until death
Employer University of Cambridge
Known for Work in public international law
Title Whewell Professor of International Law
Religion Jewish
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Alexander (m. 1902–19)

Lassa Francis Lawrence Oppenheim (March 30, 1858 – October 7, 1919) was a renowned German jurist. He is regarded by many as the father of the modern discipline of international law, especially the hard legal positivist school of thought. He inspired Joseph Raz and Prosper Weil.

Birth, life, and career in Germany

Oppenheim was born in Windecken near the Free City of Frankfurt, German Confederation, son of a Jewish horse trader,[1] and educated at the Universities of Berlin, Göttingen and Heidelberg. In 1881 he obtained his PhD of Law at the University of Göttingen. In 1883 he went to the University of Leipzig, where he became a disciple of the renowned Professor of Criminal Law Karl Binding.In 1885 he completed his Habilitation at the University of Freiburg and taught criminal law there until he moved to the University of Basel in 1892. In Basel Oppenheim still worked on criminal law. It was not until he moved to the United Kingdom that he turned from criminal law to international law.

Life and career in the United Kingdom

Oppenheim moved to the United Kingdom in 1895, acquired citizenship in 1900 and lived there until his death.

He first lectured at the London School of Economics and in 1908 became the Whewell Professor of International Law in the University of Cambridge. He is the author of the internationally renowned International Law: A Treatise, the first edition of which was published in 1905-1906. The eighth edition of the part on peace was edited by Sir Hersch Lauterpacht; the ninth and most recent edition of the same part was co-edited by Sir Robert Jennings and Sir Arthur Watts. The work is still considered a standard text of International Law.

Works

Books and Monograms

Other works

Edited by Oppenheim

References

  1. ↑ Schmoeckel, Matthias (2004). "Lassa Oppenheim (1858–1919)". In Beatson, J.; Zimmermann, R. Jurists Uprooted: German-speaking Émigré Lawyers in Twentieth-century Britain. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 583–599. ISBN 0-19-927058-9.

External links