New 2017 Spring Exhibit: "Rights Writ Large"

Hugo Grotius, Mare liberum (1633)

The University of Minnesota Law Library and Riesenfeld Rare Books Center are pleased to announce the 2017 spring exhibits:

“Rights Writ Large: Between the State and the Individual in International Law” together with “Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective”

“Rights Writ Large: Between the State and the Individual in International Law,” highlights the rich history of rights discourse in international law.  The rights of nations – primarily the right of war to maintain territory – were framed as the basis of their relations by Hugo Grotius and others in the early modern period.  At the same time, and drawing on the same sources, the rights of individuals began to play a larger role in national political movements, as the foundation of legitimate government.  In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the rights of individuals took on increasing importance in international law, first in the context of war, and finally as universal human rights defined by international conventions and protocols.

Sir Hersh Lauterpacht (1897-1960)

This exhibit, drawn from the rich Arthur C. Pulling Rare Books Collection, considers the historical “dialogue of rights” between states and individuals in international law, and sources that have influenced that dialogue, to highlight interrelated origins that still inform important questions in contemporary international law.

“Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective,” is also on display through the spring.  This exhibit explores a question as enduring as conflict itself: by what means, and how far, are deep violations of law and justice to be redressed in the wake of conflict?  The exhibit showcases volumes that touch on theories and moments of transitional justice and post-conflict reconciliation: from the first legal commentary on a peace treaty, to the trial of Charles I of England, and the notebook of a Dachau war crimes prosecutor, the exhibit invites visitors to consider transitional justice from its foundations in history and comparative practice. 

“Rights Writ Large: Between the State and the Individual in International Law,” and “Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective,” are on display from February 8 through June 2, 2017, in the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center.  For more information or directions, please contact Ryan Greenwood (rgreenwo@umn.edu; 612-625-7323).

The exhibits were designed and curated by Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections, Pat Graybill, Digital Technology Specialist, and Ian Moret, Special Collections Assistant. 

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections