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F. P. Veselovskii and the Law of Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2016

W. E. Butler
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Extract

The early Russian literature on international law was largely produced by diplomatic practitioners in the course of, or in supplementation of, their official duties. The most celebrated example, regarded as the first original Russian work on international law in the Russian language, is P. P. Shafirov's discourse on the just causes of the war between Sweden and Russia, Razsuzhdenie kakie zakonnye prichiny ego Tsarskoe velichestvo Petr Pervym…k nachatiiu voiny protiv Korolia Karola 12, Shvedskogo 1700 godu imel… (Spb., 1717). Translated into English and German, the Tsar intended that all Europe should understand Russia's legal pretensions against Charles XII of Sweden through Shafirov's book and himself edited the final text and contributed the conclusion. At Imperial behest two further Russian editions were printed in 1719 and 1722 in thousands of copies.

Type
Articles
Information
Israel Law Review , Volume 20 , Issue 2-3 , Spring–Summer 1985 , pp. 167 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and The Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1985

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References

1 The first Russian edition and a previously unknown contemporary English translation are reproduced in facsimile with an extensive introduction by the present writer. Sec W. E. Butler (intro.), Shafirov, P.P., A Discourse Concerning the Just Causes of the War Between Sweden and Russia 1700–1721 (1973)Google Scholar.

2 Biographical data is drawn from Fursenko, V., “Veselovskie”, Novyi entsiklopedicheskii slovar', (1904) vol. X, p. 300Google Scholar; “Veselovskie”, Entsiklopedicheskii slovar', (1892) vol. XI, pp. 97–98; “Veselovskii”, Bol'shaia entsiklopediia, (1896) vol. IV, pp. 716–720; Bantysh-Kamenskii, N.N., Obzor vneshnikh snoshenii Rossii po 1800 god (1894–1902)Google Scholar.

3 See F. P. Veselovskü, Memoire presenté à Sa Majesté Britannique par M. Weselowsky Ministre de Sa Majesté Czarienne (n.p., 1717), with texts in French and English; A Memorial Presented to His Britannick Majesty, by Monsieur Weselowsky (London, J. Roberts, 1717) 15 p. The former is held by The British Library and the latter by the Library of Congress.

4 Memoire presenté au roi de la Grande Bretagne de la part de S. M. Czarienne (n.p., 1720) 8 p. The only copy traced is held by the Folger Shakespeare Library.

5 Quoted from the copy in the author's possession. Four copies are recorded in the United States.

6 Berkov, P.N. (ed.), Opisanie izdanii grazhdanskoi pechati 1708-ianvar' 1725 g. (1955) 298Google Scholar.

7 Pekarskii, P.P., Nauka i literatura v Rossii pri Petre Velikom (1862), vol. II, p. 487Google Scholar.

8 Berkov, supra n. 6 at 298.

9 Memorial des Herrn Wesselofski, Residenten Sr. Czaarischen Majestät zu London. Nebst einer umstandlichen Relation des jenigen was seit Anno 1715 bis 1720 in denen Nordischen Negotiationen sich zugebragen … (Hamburg, 1720). The only copy located is held by the Folger Shakespeare Library; the “umstandlichen Relation” is not present.

10 Berkov, supra n. 6 at 494–495.

11 Memoire de monsieur Bestuchef, resident de Sa Majesté Czarienne à Londres: présenté le 17 Octobre 1720 à la cour Britannique. Servant de réplique aux réponses données par la Chancelerie de la Grande-Bretagne, et par celle de Brunswic-Lunebourg, sur le précédent Memoire du resident Wesselofski (n.p., 1720). A copy is held by the Folger Shakespeare Library.

12 Quoted in Grabar, V.E., Materialy k istorii literatury mezhdunarodnogo prava v Rossii, 1647–1917 (1958) 69Google Scholar.

13 An English version appeared under the title: The Memorial of M. Bestuchef, His Czarish Majesties Resident in London, Presented Oct. 17, 1720, to the Court of Great Britain, being a reply to the two answers given by the British and Brunswick Ministers to a Former Memorial Presented by the Resident Weselowski ([London] 1721). Copies are held by The British Library and the Library of Congress.

14 Aleksandrenko, V. N., Russkie diplomaticheskie agenty v Londone v xviii v. (1906), vol. II, p. 32, note 1Google Scholar.