ANZSIL: A Short History

The Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL) has a history in two parts.

The first ANZSIL was established formally at a meeting held at the University of Sydney Law School on 21 February 1933 with an initial membership of 100, eight of whom came from New Zealand. At the time Australia and New Zealand were Dominions with ambiguous international legal personality. Under ANZSIL’s Constitution the elected officers of the first ANZSIL were to include representatives of the ‘Judiciary, the Law Schools, the Legal and Diplomatic Departments of Governments, and Practising Members of the Legal Profession’. Notable members included John Latham, HV Evatt, Owen Dixon, Kenneth Bailey and Robert Menzies.

The organisation’s primary purpose was to foster understanding of international law, with a focus on topics that affected or were likely to affect Australia or New Zealand. This focus was apparent in the papers in the Proceedings of the 1933 Meeting, published by Melbourne University Press in 1935, including ‘Separate Action by the British Dominions in Foreign Affairs’ (W Harrison Moore) and 'The Position of Consuls in Australia’ (Archibald Charteris). However, there was also evidence of wider concerns — Latham discussed ‘Some Recent International Problems’ and Aaron Patkin examined ‘The Soviet Union in International Law’. The first ANZSIL held two Meetings in 1933 and 1938 before quietly fading away.*

Prior to the establishment of the current ANZSIL, an International Law Weekend (ILW) was held annually in Canberra to enable an exchange on current matters of international law primarily between Australian Government and academic international lawyers. The participants of the May 1992 ILW agreed to establish the second iteration of ANZSIL. The Coordinating Committee led by Philip Alston, then foundation Director of the ANU Centre for International and Public Law, consciously aligned the name of the new society with that of its early 20th century counterpart.

The First Annual Meeting (later the Annual Conference) of the new society was held in Canberra a year later in May 1993. The keynote address at that meeting was given by Justice Elizabeth Evatt, then President of the Australian Law Reform Commission and Member of the UN Human Rights Committee. A diverse range of topics were discussed at the 1993 Meeting, including the rights of Indigenous Peoples, war crimes, proportionality and international law, the work of the International Court of Justice, the role of the Security Council, and sexuality and international law. The First Annual Meeting featured a Symposium for Teachers of International Law as well as a panel on government practice. Both features continue to be a part of ANZSIL Annual Conferences.

ANZSIL conferences have been held every year since 1993, with the first ANZSIL Annual Conference in Aotearoa New Zealand, hosted by Victoria University of Wellington, held in 2003. Since that date normally two conferences are held in succession in Australia followed by a conference in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021 the ANZSIL Annual Conference was held fully online for the first time.

Since 2004, prior to each conference a Postgraduate Research Students’ Workshop has been held to provide research students with an opportunity to present their research to their peers and to make academic and professional connections.

The Annual ANZSIL Meeting of 31 May 1997 adopted ANZSIL’s first Constitution. ANZSIL was subsequently incorporated in 2024, with the 1997 Constitution being replaced by the Constitution of Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law. The objects of ANZSIL, reflective of those in the earlier 1997 Constitution, are:

• increasing public awareness and understanding of international law;
• developing and promoting the discipline of international law;
• advancing the teaching of international law; and
• providing a forum for scholars, practitioners and students of international law to discuss research and issues of practice of international law.

ANZSIL is an independent organisation and, as such, is not subject to the direction of any outside body.

The successive Presidents of the current ANZSIL since its inception are:

• Professor Hilary Charlesworth (now Judge Charlesworth of the International Court of Justice) (1997–2001)
• Professor Donald Rothwell, Australian National University (2001–2005)
• Professor Campbell McLachlan, Victoria University of Wellington (2005–2009)
• Professor Andrew Byrnes, University of New South Wales (2009–2013)
• Professor Anne Orford, University of Melbourne (2013–2015)
• Professor Tim Stephens, University of Sydney (2015–2019)
• Professor Karen Scott, University of Canterbury (2019–2023)
• Professor Alison Duxbury, University of Melbourne (2023–)

The presidency and membership of ANZSIL is very much reflective of its bilateral base in Australia and New Zealand.

Over the years, ANZSIL has developed into an organisation with many different activities. A range of Interest Groups has been established providing for in-depth discussion and an exchange of ideas on specific areas of international law. ANZSIL has ties with other international law societies, including the International Law Association, the American Society of International law, the Japanese Society of international law and the Canadian Council of International Law. ANZSIL is a founding member of the Four Societies of International Law initiative. In 2000, ANZSIL held a joint conference with the American Society of International Law in Sydney and Canberra. ANZSIL has also co-hosted events with the Korean Society of International Law and the Asian Society of International Law and has participated in meetings of the Global Network of International Law Societies.

Through its Annual Conference, meetings, workshops, seminars and publications, ANZSIL continues to fulfil its purpose of increasing awareness of international law and developing the discipline in this region and beyond.