Sir Elihu Lauterpacht (13 July 1928 – 8 February 2017) was a British academic and lawyer, who specialized in

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. The son of Sir

Hersch Lauterpacht Sir Hersch Lauterpacht (16 August 1897 – 8 May 1960) was a British international lawyer, human rights activist, and judge at the International Court of Justice. Biography Hersh Lauterpacht was born on 16 August 1897 to a Jewish family in t ...

, he was founder of the

Lauterpacht Centre for International Law The Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL) at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, England, was founded in 1983 by Sir Elihu Lauterpacht under the name The Research Centre for International Law. It was renamed in 1997 "to honour the ...

at the Law Faculty in

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

Early life and education

Lauterpacht was born on 13 July 1928 in Cricklewood,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, to Rachel and

, and was educated at King's College School, Cambridge. As the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

broke out, Professor Hersch Lauterpacht was invited by the

Carnegie Endowment The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded i ...

to take a visiting professorship in the United States, so with the approval and encouragement of the British Foreign Office, the Lauterpacht family left for America in September 1940. For a year Lauterpacht attended the private

Horace Mann School , motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails , address = 231 West 246th Street , city = The Bronx , state = New York , zipcode = 10471 , countr ...

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

before joining the Phillips Academy in

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

. After graduating in June 1944 Lauterpacht returned to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. After returning to England Lauterpacht entered

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

in 1945, initially reading history, before switching to the law

tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

Career

In 1950 he was called to the Bar from

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

. In 1953 he became a Fellow of

. In 1970 he became a QC. From 1975 to 1977 Lauterpacht served as legal advisor to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. Lauterpacht was also an active academic at Cambridge University, where he was successively Lecturer,

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

and Honorary Professor. In 1983 the Research Centre for International Law was founded by Lauterpacht at Cambridge, and he was its director until 1995. In 1996 the Centre was renamed the Lauterpacht Centre in honour of Sir Elihu and his father, Sir Hersch. He continued to teach courses at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

(in 1995) and

The Hague Academy of International Law The Hague Academy of International Law (french: Académie de droit international de La Haye) is a center for high-level education in both public and private international law housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Courses are taugh ...

(1996). During his time at the Bar, he was a member o
20 Essex Street Barristers' Chambers
before retiring late in 2015.

International Court of Justice

During his career Lauterpacht appeared before the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

in various cases — including: *

Timor Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-wes ...

v. Australia (The Case Concerning Questions relating to the Seizure and Detention of Certain Documents and Data), *

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

v. Guatemala ( the Nottebohm case), *the

North Sea Continental Shelf cases ''Germany v Denmark and the Netherlands'' [1969ICJ 1(also known as ''The North Sea Continental Shelf cases'') were a series of disputes that came to the International Court of Justice in 1969. They involved agreements among Denmark, Germany, and ...

, *Belgium v. Spain (Barcelona Traction case), * Australia v.

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

(the Nuclear Tests case), *

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(1995 request for an examination following the Nuclear Tests case), *

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(

Atlantique Incident Pakistan Navy Atlantic shootdown happened on 10 August 1999, when a Breguet Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft of the Pakistan Naval Air Arm was shot down by a MiG 21 fighter of the Indian Air Force over the Rann of Kutch, on the border between ...

case), * El Salvador v. Honduras, *

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

(

Kasikili Sedudu Island (known as Kasikili Island in Namibia) is a fluvial island in the Chobe River, in Botswana adjacent to the border with Namibia. The island was the subject of a territorial dispute between these countries, resolved by a 1999 ruling o ...

case), *

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

(the Avena case), * Qatar v. Bahrain case, *

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

(a territorial dispute over Sipadan and

Ligitan Ligitan ( ms, Pulau Ligitan) is a small island in Tawau, Sabah, located east of the island of Borneo, in the Celebes Sea. In the past, the island was at the centre of a territorial dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia. The matter was brough ...

islands), * Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro (Application of the

Genocide Convention The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was ...

- he was a judge ''ad hoc'' for Bosnia).

Honours

*1989, appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

. *1994, appointed an Honorary Professor of International Law at

. *1997, the Research Centre for International Law at was renamed to Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law in honour of both Sir Elihu Lauterpacht and his father Sir Hersch Lauterpacht to mark their contribution to the research of international law at the University of Cambridge. *1998, knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Lectures

*''The Role of the International Judge'' in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauterpacht, Elihu 1928 births 2017 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge English Jews International law scholars The Hague Academy of International Law people English legal scholars Members of Gray's Inn People from Cricklewood Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor