About the British Institute of International and Comparative Law

What does the British Institute of International and Comparative Law do?

  • The British Institute of International and Comparative Law exists to advance the understanding of international and comparative law, and to promote the rule of law in international affairs.
  • Its mission is to be a leading research institute of international and comparative law and to promote its practical application by the dissemination of research through publications, conferences and discussion.

The Institute was created by the merger in 1958 of the Society of Comparative Legislation (founded in 1895) and the Grotius Society (founded in 1915).

At a remarkable conference of worldwide lawyers and legislators in 1895, the Lord Chancellor was elected the first President of the Society of Comparative Legislation, with the object of 'promoting knowledge of the course of legislation in different countries'. The aim was to learn from the diversity of legal roots throughout the world - English, Hindu, and Muslim; French, Roman-Dutch, and Spanish - in which courts such as the Privy Council had to adjudicate.

The Institute's international law origins come from the Grotius Society, created precisely because the European war had nullified the work that bodies such as the International Law Association and Institut de Droit International had sought to deliver. Established as a 'British' society, its aims were self-consciously international:

It is the welfare of the Commonwealth of Nations..., not of any one nation or group of nations that the Society will seek to secure. For International Law, if it is to have any enduring authority, must be based on the fundamental principles of human rights and must give effect to the common welfare of nations.

One can hardly conceive of a more relevant message for our own times.

The basic organization of the Institute has been maintained from these early origins. It is a charity and a membership organization, with a broad membership of academic, judicial, and practising lawyers, together with companies and law firms. Under the Board of Trustees, specialist Advisory Panels oversee the work of the Institute.

The Institute's first Chairman was Lord Denning. Our second Chairman and current President was Lord Goff of Chieveley, who has now been succeeded by Lord Bingham of Cornhill. Hazel Fox QC, Judge Rosalyn Higgins DBE of the International Court of Justice and Sir David Edward KCMG, formerly of the European Court of Justice, are Vice-Presidents. The Institute's first Director was appointed in 1960. Professor Robert McCorquodale, who joined the Institute in January 2008, is the seventh.

A brief history of the Institute was prepared by its former Director, Norman Marsh CBE QC, to celebrate the Institute's 40th Anniversary in 1998.

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