ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the history of the concepts ‘civilization’ and ‘civilized’ (and its ‘other,’ the ‘barbarian’) in order to elucidate the intellectual history of the wording of Articles 9 and 38 of the PCIJ-Statute. Its first part sets out the present-day political uses and the academic critique of the term ‘civilization(s)’ as they evolved over the last 20-odd years. Part two analyzes the arguments brought forward by international law scholars to justify or criticize Articles 9 and 38. Parts three and four examine the historical uses and interpretations of the term ‘civilization’ as they influenced legal scholarship over the 18th and 19th century towards a greater awareness of cultural relativism, arguing that the insights of anthropology opened the possibility to recognize a plurality of civilizations or ‘civilizational diversity’.
