Institute of International Law (IIL) is a private, unofficial association devoted to the study and development of international law. The work of the IIL includes developing general legal principles. The organization also makes recommendations on international laws. The IIL tries to help preserve peace and to ensure that countries abide by the laws of war. It promotes justice and humanity as the chief guiding principles of international law through publications, public education, and other means. The IIL was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize for peace.
The IIL was founded in 1873 by an international group of jurists (law experts) headed by Gustave Rolin Jaequemyns, a Belgian legal expert. The institute quickly proved its value. Several international treaties of the 1880’s followed its recommendations on the Suez Canal and on submarine communications cables. The Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 also drew on the IIL’s studies of the laws of war.
The people who make up the IIL are drawn from nations throughout the world. They are selected on the basis of their learned achievements in law, their services to international law, and their ability to remain free from political pressures. The members of the IIL meet every two years at sessions that take the name of the town in which they are held.
The Bureau of the Institute of International Law is the executive body of the IIL. Its members are elected by, and answer to, the assembly. The assembly is the IIL’s decision-making body. The IIL has no power to help settle international disputes, and its resolutions are not binding on any country. It has, however, proved to be an influential organization. The IIL is funded from an endowment built up over the years from gifts, awards, and bequests.
