Carol Morse, age 9, of Hibbing, Minn., for her question:
WHEN DID INTERNATIONAL LAW START?
For most of the years of recorded history, there was no such thing as international law. It wasn't until the 1600s that a Dutch lawyer and statesman named Hugo Grotius expressed the idea that all nations should follow certain international rules of conduct.
Grotius is now often called the father of international law.
The first important conferences attempting to set up international rules of conduct weren't held until the mid 1800x, however. In 1864, an International Red Cross was established following a conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Only 12 nations signed the first Geneva Convention which outlined rules for the humane treatment of the wounded in war and the safeguarding of the noncombat personnel who cared for them.
Although many nations have exchanged foreign ambassadors with other nations for almost 2,000 years, international law didn't really become completely launched until the League of Nations was established in 1920.
Under the Covenant of the League of Nations, members were not allowed to go to war until three months after an arbitration court or the Council of the League had tried to end a dispute. But after Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, the League could only condemn the invasion as a breach of international law.
Japan withdrew from the League and continued to attack China. Then Italy followed Japan's example in 1935 when Italian troops invaded Ethiopia. International law was definitely not working.
After World War II, international law had a new birth when the United Nations was formed as an organization to preserve the peace.
Today great efforts are being made in all parts of the world to make the United Nations succeed where the League of Nations had failed.
Most of the United Nations members now feel the U.N. should have the power to enforce international laws.
Efforts by the U.N. and direct negotiations among nations have helped lessen the danger of war. But man has still failed to create a true system of international law that prevents nations from using force to achieve their aims.
While the U.N. has continued its efforts to resolve conflicts in disturbed regions with international law, many nations have increasingly tended to favor direct negotiations with one another instead of discussion through the U.N.
International law also involves many conditions, including the sanctity of treaties and the safeguarding of foreign ambassadors.
International law also involves agreements between two or a few nations on trade treaties.