Peace Palace Library
Encyclopedia
The Peace Palace Library is one of the oldest and most prestigious libraries specialized in international law
. Its principal objective is to service the institutions that reside in the Peace Palace
, including the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration
, and the Hague Academy of International Law
. But the Library is equally open to employees of all other international legal institutions in The Hague
, as well as to all scholars and students of international law
.
, which made the construction of the Peace Palace
possible. The Palace was finished in 1913, just before the start of the First World War
. In present times, the Carnegie Foundation is subsidized by the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs
. Since 1913, the Foundation has remained the owner of the Palace, and it still runs the Peace Palace Library. The Peace Palace
is located at the Carnegieplein in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Palace was built to accommodate the Permanent Court of Arbitration
, but Carnegie
insisted that room would be made available also for a legal library. In fact, the construction of a legal library, accessible to everybody, was the main motivation for Carnegie's gift. The Library opened its doors in 1913, and has served as the principal library for international law
ever since. The Peace Palace Library was situated in the Palace itself until 2007, when the Library expanded and moved, together with the Hague Academy of International Law
, into the brand-new Academy & Library Building just behind the Peace Palace
. In 2013, the Peace Palace
and its Library will celebrate their 100th anniversary.
. They deal with all topics of public international law, such as the law of State responsibility
, human rights
, international humanitarian law
, international criminal law
, law of international organizations, European law
, etc. The collection of the Palace further includes private international law
, international commercial law
, international bankruptcy law, and international law of procedure.
, domestic public and constitutional law
, criminal law
and criminal procedure
.
in the world. The collection includes a rare early edition of De Iure Belli ac Pacis
("On the Law of War and Peace"), his most famous work written in 1625.
Approximately twenty-eight people work at the Peace Palace Library. The current library director is Mr. Jeroen Vervliet. The staff further includes around ten reference librarians, five catalogue librarians, and three service librarians. These librarians together run a blog, the Peace Palace Library Blog. They have also set up, and maintain, the news service International Law News, and the Peace Palace Library Research Guides. This is a large network of wiki-pages, which introduce researchers to various topics of international law. The Library also has two acquisition librarians, a department which manages the digital library (including the website), and a stacks department.
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
. Its principal objective is to service the institutions that reside in the Peace Palace
Peace Palace
The Peace Palace is a building situated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is often called the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice , the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the extensive Peace Palace Library.In addition...
, including the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration
Permanent Court of Arbitration
The Permanent Court of Arbitration , is an international organization based in The Hague in the Netherlands.-History:The court was established in 1899 as one of the acts of the first Hague Peace Conference, which makes it the oldest institution for international dispute resolution.The creation of...
, and the Hague Academy of International Law
Hague Academy of International Law
The Hague Academy of International Law is a center for high-level education in both public and private international law housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands...
. But the Library is equally open to employees of all other international legal institutions in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, as well as to all scholars and students of international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
.
History and Relationship with Carnegie Foundation
In 1904, the Carnegie Foundation was created. This fund managed a generous financial donation by Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, which made the construction of the Peace Palace
Peace Palace
The Peace Palace is a building situated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is often called the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice , the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the extensive Peace Palace Library.In addition...
possible. The Palace was finished in 1913, just before the start of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In present times, the Carnegie Foundation is subsidized by the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs: it is occupied with the external relations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including European cooperation and International development...
. Since 1913, the Foundation has remained the owner of the Palace, and it still runs the Peace Palace Library. The Peace Palace
Peace Palace
The Peace Palace is a building situated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is often called the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice , the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the extensive Peace Palace Library.In addition...
is located at the Carnegieplein in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Palace was built to accommodate the Permanent Court of Arbitration
Permanent Court of Arbitration
The Permanent Court of Arbitration , is an international organization based in The Hague in the Netherlands.-History:The court was established in 1899 as one of the acts of the first Hague Peace Conference, which makes it the oldest institution for international dispute resolution.The creation of...
, but Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
insisted that room would be made available also for a legal library. In fact, the construction of a legal library, accessible to everybody, was the main motivation for Carnegie's gift. The Library opened its doors in 1913, and has served as the principal library for international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
ever since. The Peace Palace Library was situated in the Palace itself until 2007, when the Library expanded and moved, together with the Hague Academy of International Law
Hague Academy of International Law
The Hague Academy of International Law is a center for high-level education in both public and private international law housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands...
, into the brand-new Academy & Library Building just behind the Peace Palace
Peace Palace
The Peace Palace is a building situated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is often called the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice , the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the extensive Peace Palace Library.In addition...
. In 2013, the Peace Palace
Peace Palace
The Peace Palace is a building situated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is often called the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice , the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the extensive Peace Palace Library.In addition...
and its Library will celebrate their 100th anniversary.
Collection
The Peace Palace Library has collected publications since 1913. The collection of the Library now includes over a million volumes. A large part of this collection is searchable through the Peace Palace Library’s online catalogue. This catalogue is unique because it classifies not only books and (journal) articles according to their subject, but also book items. In its classification of all books, book items, journal articles and other types of publications, the Library tries to remain faithful, as much as possible, to the famous Catalogue de la bibliothèque du Palais de la paix, designed in 1916 by Elsa Oppenheim, daughter of the famous international lawyer Jacques Oppenheim. At the same time, the Library also uses a more modern classification system, which consists of around 6,000 keywords. In order to help visitors make the most of these classification systems, the staff of the library offers a monthly Peace Palace Library Introduction Course.International law
Most of the publications of the Library are about public international lawInternational law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
. They deal with all topics of public international law, such as the law of State responsibility
State responsibility
The laws of state responsibility are the principles governing when and how a state is held responsible for a breach of an international obligation. Rather than set forth any particular obligations, the rules of state responsibility determine, in general, when an obligation has been breached and the...
, human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, international humanitarian law
International humanitarian law
International humanitarian law , often referred to as the laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus that comprises "the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law." It...
, international criminal law
International criminal law
International criminal law is a body of international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. Principally, it deals with genocide, war crimes, crimes against...
, law of international organizations, European law
European Union law
European Union law is a body of treaties and legislation, such as Regulations and Directives, which have direct effect or indirect effect on the laws of European Union member states. The three sources of European Union law are primary law, secondary law and supplementary law...
, etc. The collection of the Palace further includes private international law
Conflict of laws
Conflict of laws is a set of procedural rules that determines which legal system and which jurisdiction's applies to a given dispute...
, international commercial law
International commercial law
International commercial law is the body of law that governs international sale transactions. A transaction will qualify to be international if elements of more than one country are involved....
, international bankruptcy law, and international law of procedure.
National law
It further collects books on topics of national law, such as comparative lawComparative law
Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law of different countries. More specifically, it involves study of the different legal systems in existence in the world, including the common law, the civil law, socialist law, Islamic law, Hindu law, and Chinese law...
, domestic public and constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
, criminal law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
and criminal procedure
Criminal procedure
Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated criminal law.-Basic rights:Currently, in many countries with a democratic system and the rule of law, criminal procedure puts the burden of proof on the prosecution – that is, it is up to the...
.
Special collections
The library houses a few special collections, of which the Grotius Collection and the Peace Movement collection are the most important. The Library in fact has the largest collection of works by Hugo GrotiusHugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius , also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law...
in the world. The collection includes a rare early edition of De Iure Belli ac Pacis
De jure belli ac pacis
De jure belli ac pacis is a 1625 book in Latin, written by Hugo Grotius and published in Paris, on the legal status of war. It is now regarded as a foundational work in international law....
("On the Law of War and Peace"), his most famous work written in 1625.
Practical information
The Reading Room of the Peace Palace Library is open 5 days a week. On Monday, it is open between 13.00 and 17.00, on other weekdays from 10.00 to 17.00.Approximately twenty-eight people work at the Peace Palace Library. The current library director is Mr. Jeroen Vervliet. The staff further includes around ten reference librarians, five catalogue librarians, and three service librarians. These librarians together run a blog, the Peace Palace Library Blog. They have also set up, and maintain, the news service International Law News, and the Peace Palace Library Research Guides. This is a large network of wiki-pages, which introduce researchers to various topics of international law. The Library also has two acquisition librarians, a department which manages the digital library (including the website), and a stacks department.