Introduction to the Symposium on International Laws Public and Private

Abstract

This symposium explores the interrelation and juxtaposition of private and public registers in the logics and practices of private international law, public international law, and foreign relations law. It is inspired by the scholarly work of a brilliant scholar and much-missed friend: Karen Knop, Professor and Cecil A. Wright Chair at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (1960 – 2022). The symposium draws from and engages with Karen ’ s work in various ways. It also provides an opportunity to traverse scholarly ground covered extensively in the American Journal of International Law ( AJIL ), since its 1907 establishment, surrounding relations among private international law, public international law, and foreign relations law. The essay authors explore these perennial themes while making fresh use of the distinctive features of AJIL Unbound . As readers well know, AJIL Unbound provides for the online and open-access publication of short, original essays of international legal scholarship written in a readable style intended to be accessible to policy-makers, practitioners, transdisciplinary scholars, and students around the world. It seeks to broaden and diversify AJIL scholarly exchanges by introducing new interlocutors, insights, and modes of analysis. Karen was a critical force in the creation of AJIL Unbound . She was chair of the founding editorial committee of AJIL Unbound from its launch in 2014 until 2017, and a member of its editorial committee from 2017 until 2021. She was instrumental in devising and re fi ning the AJIL Unbound model: an online journal that combined the timeliness and accessibility of a blog with the seriousness and integrity of a peer reviewed scholarly journal. The extraordinary reach of AJIL Unbound today, re fl ected in both the diversity of its contributors and its global readership, owes a great deal to the publication ’ s early imprinting with Karen ’ s distinctive editorial style and approach to scholarly life and work. Karen had a unique gift for, and commitment to, engaging with scholarly voices of immense variety. She gave serious and unwavering attention to pluralism, power, and inequalities in the international legal fi eld, and she championed scholars working