Unconventional Dispute Settlement in the Finnish Question (1899 to World War I): The Power of Cultural and Historical Argument in International Law

Abstract

The world comes to the international lawyer in forms less perfect than the ordered categories of law. The lawyer stands at a point of making a difference through devising arrangements, managing complex transactions, striking conventions, predicting outcomes, and wringing out settlements even if no clear legal recipe exists. This situation seems familiar in the contemporary global framework, but it is more general and, in this study, the author uses a historical case to illustrate it. The author shows how international lawyers make sense of wide cultural and historical contexts and negotiate their different implications in bringing about a new international legal personality, complex dispute settlement, and peaceful governance even without the benefit of a clear set of available legal procedures.

Tsar de Russie, […] Tu peux venir quand tu voudras: le lac repose silencieux et tu peux dormir dans l'archipel de Finlande en toute securité [mais] tu ne pourras jamais retrouver l'anneau magique qui fait aimer: l'océan s'est refermé à jamais sur lui.