ABSTRACT
It is impossible to fix a precise date or a period in history to mark the beginning of international law as it predates recorded history! It began when a politically organised group came into contact with another group and was prepared to treat that group as equal and, at the same time, felt the need to develop a system of rules to regulate their relations. Evidence of rules and procedure regarding international law dates back over 5,000 years. Around 2100 BC a solemn treaty was signed between the rulers of Lagash and Umma (small city states in Mesopotamia) which defined boundaries between them. In 1400 BC the Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II concluded a Treaty of Peace, Alliance and Extradition with the King of Cheta, which recognised territorial sovereignty over certain areas of each ruler and provided for the extradition of refugees and the exchange of ambassadors: C Fenwick, International Law, 4th ed, New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 1965, pp56. The grand empires of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Assyria and Chaldea, as well as small Hebrew monarchies and the Phoenician city states, concluded treaties based on the equality of signatories and the principle ‘pacta sunt servanda’ (agreements are to be kept). Ancient Greece adopted two institutions from the oriental civilisations-the technique of treaties and the art of diplomacy-and added its own: international arbitration.
