Herb Brandt, age 15, of Baltimore, Md., for his question:
WHEN DID INTERNATIONAL LAW START?
For most 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 conference attempting to set up international rules of conduct weren't held until the mid 1800s, 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 noncombatants who cared for them.
Although many nations have exchanged foreign ambassadors for almost 2,000 years, international law didn't really become completely launched until the League of Nations was established in 1920 at the end of World War I.
Under the Covenant of the League of Nations, members were not permitted 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 do nothing more than 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 failed.
Most U.N. members now feel the organization should have more power to enforce international law. 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 a nation from using force in an attempt to achieve its 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 covers many situations, including the sanctity of treaties and the safeguarding of foreign ambassadors.