International Judicial Monitor
Published by the International Judicial Academy, Washington, D.C., with assistance from the
American Society of International Law
Fall 2012 Issue
 

Leading Figures in International Law

 

Sir Ian Brownlie (United Kingdom) (1932 – 2010)

Ian Brownlie

By: James G. Apple, Editor-in-Chief, International Judicial Monitor and President, International Judicial Academy

It does not frequently happen that a law professor or practicing lawyer produces even one seminal written work in his or her field during a lifetime, especially the kind of work that is influential over a period of 30 to 40 years. Sir Ian Brownlie, who died a tragic death in an automobile accident in Egypt in 2010 while vacationing with his family, produced two such books, both on international law and both of which are now classics. One, International Law and the Use of Force by States, was written first as his doctoral thesis and published as a text in 1963. The second, Principles of Public International Law, now it its 7th edition, was first published in 1966.

Ian Brownlie was both a distinguished academic and a distinguished practitioner of international law, at different stages in is career. In his obituary that appeared in The Guardian, written by Philip Sands, QC, himself an eminent international lawyer, he was justly described as “one of the world’s leading international lawyers, making his mark in both litigation and scholarly writings.”

Brownlie was born in Lancashire, England on September 19, 1932. He was the son of an insurance company employee and attended high school in Liverpool. He was too young to serve in the military during World War II. While still living in Liverpool he was exposed to the German nightly  bombings of that city, which perhaps explains his life long anathema to the use of force by nations.

Upon graduating from high school, he was awarded a scholarship to Hertford College, Oxford. Two significant events occurred while he was at Oxford. He won the Vinerian Scholarship and graduated with first class honors. The Vinerian Scholarship is a scholarship given to the University of Oxford student that "gives the best performance in the examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Civil Law." After Oxford he studied for his Ph.D. degree during a tenure at King’s College, Cambridge. It was during this period that he joined the Communist Party. He later left the CP after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. While at Cambridge he was a member of a very select group of students studying under Sir Robert Jennings who gathered for monthly evening seminars with Sir Robert and sometimes Sir Hersch Lauterpacht. The group included Hans Blix, Stephen Schwebel, Ted Meron, Rosalyn Higgins and Hisashi Owada, all of whom have made recent significant contributions to international law.

After earning his doctorate at Cambridge, the subject of his thesis being the use of force by states, Brownlie was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1958. He then moved into academic life as a professor, first at the University of Nottingham and then Wadham College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow and Tutor in Law. In 1976 he moved to the London School of Economics under an appointment as professor of international law. In 1980 he moved back to Oxford where he held the Chichele Chair in Public International Law at All Souls College. The same year as his appointment to the Chichele Chair he was made a Distinguished Fellow at All Souls  College. His tenure in such distinguished academic posts is at odds with his intentions for a career when he graduated from high school in Liverpool. When asked by the headmaster of the high school about his future career plans, he replied “Not teaching.” Brownlie remained linked to academe until 1999 when he retired from his academic posts, although he returned to All Souls College in 2004 as a Distinguished Fellow.

  

Sir Ian began practicing law as a barrister even while holding his various academic appointments. He began his practice in 1967 and blossomed into full flower in 1976, the same year he became Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics. It took him only three years to become Queen’s Counsel (take silk). In 1983 he joined what was to become Blackstone’s Chambers in London, one of the legal powerhouses in the English legal world.

His practitioner’s career was truly extraordinary. At the Peace Palace in The Hague, he appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice in more than 40 cases. He was lead counsel in the famous 1984 case of Nicaragua vs. United States, arising out of the Iran-Contra scandal in the U.S., and Nicaraguan allegations of U.S. violations of international law through the illegal use of force and interference in its internal affairs. His arguments led to the ICJ to accept jurisdiction of the case, which was one of the contentious issues that had to be decided before the Court could consider the case on the merits. He had previously advised U.S. President Jimmy Carter about the freeze of assets following the Iranian takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, but his decision to represent Nicaragua five years later put him at distinct odds with the United States Government.

Brownlie represented other unpopular parties before the ICJ, most notably Serbia in the case involving alleged genocide against the civilian populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he also won for his clients. He took these unpopular cases under the British principle of practice known as the cab-rank rule. This rule states that it is the “obligation of a barrister to accept any work in a field in which he professes himself to be competent to practice, at a court at which he normally appears and at his usual rates.” (see paragraph 602 of the Code of Conduct of the Bar of England and Wales). Thus Ian Brownlie, by accepting these representations, was acting in the highest traditions of English barristers and supports a general view of him as a man of great principle, and one of impeccable character and courage.

One of his later representations, not before the ICJ, but before the English courts and the English House of Lords, involved the question of the extradition from Britain of Augusto Pinochet, former dictator of Chile. Brownlie represented Amnesty International in that famous proceeding.

Aside from his work as a barrister Brownlie was also active in promoting international law. He was elected to the International Law Commission sitting in Geneva, three times, serving as its President in 2007. He was also a member of the International Law Association, the Institut de Droit International and a Fellow of the British Academy. In 2009 Queen Elizabeth included him in her Honors List and knighted him as a Commander of the British Empire (CBE).

Brownlie, a man of exceptional talent which was recognized almost continually throughout his career, was nevertheless a much admired tutor and mentor by his students, known not only for his insistence on high caliber of performance but also for his kindness, understanding and consideration of those he instructed. He kept in touch with many of his students and assisted them in their careers when he could.

He was also a man of certain personal attributes which some of his colleagues viewed with humor. He was a great believer in a good lunch, and he could leave a good noonday repast and return to his work in chambers without any adverse effects. He also distinctly did not like being referred to as “professor” or worse “doctor,” preferring the more pedestrian title of “Mr.”

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© 2012 – The International Judicial Academy
with assistance from the American Society of International Law.

Editor: James G. Apple.
IJM welcomes comments, suggestions, and submissions.
Please contact the IJM editor at ijaworld@verizon.net.