The Academy is a prestigious international institution for the study and teaching of Public and Private International Law and related subjects. The work of the Hague Academy receives the support and recognition of the UN. Its purpose is to encourage a thorough and impartial examination of the problems arising from international relations in the field of law. The courses deal with the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject, including legislation and case law. All courses at the Academy are, in principle, published in the language in which they were delivered in the "Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law .

The Spirit of the Laws not only systematizes the foundational ideas of “separation of powers” and “balances and checks,” it provides the decisive response to the question of whether power in the nation-state can be limited in the aftermath of the Westphalian settlement of 1648. It describes a civilizational change through which power becomes domesticated, with built-in resistance to attempts to absolutize (or make total) political power. As such, it is the Bible of modern politics, now made more accessible to English readers than it ever has been.

Judge Shigeru Oda, having served since 1976 in three successive nine-year terms on the International Court of Justice, has helped to shape the Court's jurisprudence for over a quarter century. His influence on the law of the sea spans an even longer period, beginning with his doctoral dissertation at Yale Law school in the 1950s and continuing with his involvement in the First, Second and Third UN Conferences on the Law of the Sea. In a tribute to Judge Oda's significant contributions to international law, leading scholars on the law of the sea, international dispute settlement and the ICJ itself have produced a Festschrift in his honour that promises to be a standard reference work on these topics for years to come. This two volume work, containing over 95 articles, begins by examining the role of the international judge and the jurisdiction of international tribunals (including reservations to jurisdiction, the Optional Clause, the Special Agreement, and the power to indicate special measures). It contains a particularly lively debate regarding the proliferation of international tribunals and whether the potential for conflicting decisions is problematic or productive. Other areas of focus include the history and current development of the law of the sea; the first in-depth examination of the establishment and first decisions of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; and the ICJ's treatment of the development, doctrines and sources of international law. Further sections are devoted to International Litigation as analysed by leading practitioners; Land and Maritime Boundaries, International Watercourses and Other Waters; and Defence, the Use of Force and the Law of Armed Conflict. The composition of the editorial team - Nisuke Ando of Kyoto, Edward McWhinney of Ottawa and Rüdiger Wolfrum of Heidelberg - reflects Judge Oda's truly international career and the extent to which his work has drawn from and contributed to diverse legal traditions. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789041117908).