Ernest Nys

Ernest Nys (March 27, 1851, Kortrijk, Belgium-September 4, 1920, Brussels, Belgium) was a Belgian lawyer and a professor of Public International Law at the University of Brussels. He also served as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Life

Ernest Nys was born in 1851 in Kortrijk, Belgium and studied law at the Universities of Ghent, Heidelberg, Leipzig and Berlin. He then worked as a lawyer in Antwerp and Brussels. He succeeded Alphonse Rivier as Professor of International Law at the University of Brussels, following the death of Professor Rivier in 1898. Nys also acted as dean from 1898 to 1900.

Nys was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. He was particularly interested in the historical development of international law and translated works of English legal scholars James Lorimer and John Westlake. He died in 1920 in Brussels.

Awards

Nys was a member of the Institut de Droit International from 1892 to his death. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize from 1906 through 1916 and again in 1919 for his commitment to international arbitration. He was awarded honorary doctorates at the University of Oxford, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow (LL.D 1901).^[1] He was an honorary member of the American Society of International Law.

Works

• The Papacy Considered in Relation to International Law London, 1879
• Les origins du droit international (The Origins of International Law), Brussel and Paris 1894
• Les politiques et le droit international theories de siècle France jusqu'au XVIII (Political theory and international law in France until the 18th century ), Paris 1899
• Researches in the History of Economics, London 1899
• The Independent State of the Congo and International Law Brussel 1903
• Idées modern: droit international et franc-maçonnerie (Modern ideas: International law and Freemasonry), Brussel 1908

References

• Hershey, Amos (July 1921). "Ernest Nys". American Journal of International Law (American Society of International Law) 15 (4): 560–61. doi:10.2307/2188291. ISSN 0002-9300. 
• Manfred Lachs: The Teacher in International Law: Teachings and Teaching. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Den Haag 1982, ISBN 90-247-2566-6, S. 80/81