Symposium : Assessing the Work of the International Law Commission on State Responsibility

• Nolte, Georg

Abstract

The writings of the twentieth‐century protagonists of the law of state responsibility, Anzilotti and Ago, represent two conceptually opposed theories. Both authors have had their predecessors since Grotius and their approaches are likely to remain influential in the future. Taking into account the political and legal context in which Anzilotti and Ago developed their theories, both Anzilotti's bilateral conception of state responsibility and Ago's recognition that the violation of certain fundamental norms creates a legal injury to all states, should be perceived as legitimate. The persistent influence of their theories even beyond the context in which they were developed appears due to the reasons which led international lawyers to lean more towards a positivistic or to a natural law/policy‐oriented jurisprudence. In this respect, the work of Hersch Lauterpacht marks an important turning point.