Originally published by Hersch Lauterpacht in 1947, this book presents a detailed study of recognition in international law, examining its crucial significance in relation to statehood, governments and belligerency. The author develops a strong argument for positioning recognition within the context of international law, reacting against the widely accepted conception of it as an area of international politics. Numerous examples of the use of law and conscious adherence to legal principle in the practice of states are used to give weight to this perspective. This paperback re-issue in 2012 includes a newly commissioned Foreword by James Crawford, Whewell Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.

The Function of Law in the International Community, first published in 1933, is one of the seminal works on international law. Its author, Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, is widely considered to be one of the great international lawyers of the 20th century. It continues to influence those studying and working in international law today. This republication once again makes this book available to scholars and students in the field. It features a new introduction by Professor Martti Koskenniemi, examining the world in which the Function of Law was originally published and the lasting legacy of this classic work.

Hersch Lauterpacht, of whom this book is an intimate biography by his son, Elihu, was one of the most prolific and influential international lawyers of the first half of the twentieth century. Having come to England from Austria in the early 1920s, he first researched and taught at the London School of Economics before moving to Cambridge in 1937 to become Whewell Professor of International Law. He did valuable work to enhance relations with the United States during the Second World War and was active after the war in the prosecution of William Joyce and the major Nazi war criminals. For ten years he was also involved in various significant items of professional work and in 1955 he was elected a judge of the International Court of Justice. The book contains many extracts from his correspondence, the interest of which will extend to lawyers, historians of the period and beyond.

First published in 1945, this is one of the seminal works on international human rights law, written by a legendary scholar in the field. This republication, featuring a new introduction by Professor Philippe Sands, QC, once again makes this book available to scholars and students.

While some have argued that neutrality has become irrelevant, this volume asserts that neutrality continues to be a key concept of the law of armed conflict. Neutrality in Contemporary International Law details the rights and duties of neutral states and demonstrates how the rules of neutrality continue to apply in modern day conflicts.