The Person of the State: The Anthropomorphic Subject of the Law of Nations

Abstract

Abstract The analogy between the natural individual and the ‘person’ of the State has played an important role in the development of the law of nations. The early modern theorists of the law of nations have employed various anthropomorphic vocabularies in order to describe the State and to explain the functioning of international legal obligations. This article traces the role of anthropomorphic assumptions about the State in the writings of Hobbes, Pufendorf, Wolff and Vattel. It compares different conceptualizations of personhood of the State and traces the transition towards the view of the State as an autonomous subject of a distinct set of rights and duties under the law of nations. Finally, the article invites the audience in international law to re-examine our disciplinary conceptualizations of the person of the State as the subject of international legal obligations.