The fascist mimesis of Spanish international law and its Vitorian aftermath, 1939-1953

Abstract

The figure and works of Francisco de Vitoria, the father of international law, have fascinated generations of non Spanish international legal scholars - past and present. These range from classic figures as diverse as the founder of the American Society of International Law, James Brown Scott, or the Crown Jurist of the Third Reich, Carl Schmitt, to the recent post-colonial approaches to international law proposed by Antony Anghie or the most recent inquiries of Martti Koskenniemi on the private law underpinnings that for the universal ordering of international relations were contained in the work of the Spanish Scholastics of the sixteenth century. In this work, which is part of an on-going series, I examine how a climate of severe intellectual repression and organically nationalist-directed scientific work in Spain and the nationalist reaffirmation of a culture grounded in Catholic conservatism and traditionalism fostered the adoption of a marked thematic orientation towards natural law and the reinstatement of the Siglo de Oro’s Salamanca School among Spanish international lawyers after the Fascist Mimesis of Spanish International Law.