Belgian lawyer and scholar
Ernest Nys (27 March 1851 – 4 September 1920) was a Belgian lawyer and a professor of Public International Law at the University of Brussels. He also served as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Life.
Ernest Nys was born in 1851 in Kortrijk, Belgium and studied law at the Universities of Ghent, Heidelberg, Leipzig and Berlin. He then worked as a lawyer in Antwerp and Brussels. He succeeded Alphonse Rivier as Professor of International Law at the University of Brussels, following the death of Professor Rivier in 1898. Nys also acted as dean from 1898 to 1900.
In 1909, Nys helped the anarchist Peter Kropotkin with the research for the book "The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793", particularly the seemingly unusual relationship between revolutionists of renown and freemasonry, writing that revolutionaries were drawn to it "by its humanitarian tendencies, its firm belief in the dignity of man, and by its principles of liberty, equality and fraternity."
In the first half of the 20th century Nys was appointed member of the King's Leopold "Conseil Supérieur de l'État Indépendent du Congo", namely the governing body of the Belgian monarchy private and industrial interests on the Republic of Congo.
Nys was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. He was particularly interested in the historical development of international law and translated works of English legal scholars James Lorimer and John Westlake. He died in 1920 in Brussels.
Awards.
Nys was a member of the Institut de Droit International from 1892 to his death. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize from 1906 through 1916 and again in 1919 for his commitment to international arbitration. He was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1908. He was awarded honorary doctorates at the University of Oxford, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow (LL.D 1901). He was an honorary member of the American Society of International Law.
References.
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