Ethical aspects of the activities of legal scientific communities (on the example of the Institute of International Law)

Abstract

This article, using the Institute of International Law as an example, explores the ethical issues within the activities of legal academic communities. It has been shown that already at the creation of the Institute in 1873, its program documents laid down the ethical principles of justice and humanity, which should guide relations between peoples, and ethics was primarily linked to an understanding of international law in the spirit of natural law theory. The ethical aspects of admission to the Institute were revealed, demonstrating adherence to the principle of representing all political forces in the international arena and enabling the overcoming of the 19th-century division between “civilized” and “uncivilized” peoples. The discussion of ethical issues at the sessions of the Institute of International Law, since its establishment, has been considered. It was revealed that, although the Institute’s founders initially believed a lawyer should be more of a moral philosopher than any other person, the Institute members largely overlooked ethical issues in their scholarly contributions prior to the First World War. The primary research areas of Russian and international scientists and practitioners over a 150-year period were outlined. Illustrative cases demonstrate that the trends in addressing ethical issues at the sessions of the Institute between the two world wars were multi-vector, ranging from recognizing states as moral entities fostering relations through the principle of universal friendliness to acknowledging political and economic interests as dominant. The ethical grounds of the post-World War II international law and order and the Institute members’ attitude to them were identified.