Peace: 1904

Institute of International Law (IIL) is a private, unofficial association devoted to the study and development of international law. It carries out its work by means of a number of activities. These include formulating general legal principles that conform to civilized moral standards; cooperating in the drafting of international laws; and winning official recognition or acceptance of principles that reflect the needs of modern societies. The Institute of International Law also seeks to help preserve peace and ensure that countries abide by the laws of war; offers judicial advice in controversial or doubtful cases; and promotes the success of justice and humanity as the chief guiding principles of international law through publications, public education, and other means. The IIL was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize for peace.

The IIL was founded in 1873 by an international group of jurists headed by Gustave Rolin Jaequemyns, a Belgian legal expert. The institute quickly proved itself a valuable and influential body when several international treaties of the 1880's embodied its recommendations on the Suez Canal and on submarine communications cables. The Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 also drew on the IIL's studies of the laws of war, notably those on land war drawn up in 1880 at Oxford and known as the Oxford Manuals.

The people who make up the IIL are drawn from all nations of the world. They are selected on the basis of their academic achievements in law, their services to international law, and their ability to remain free from political pressures. The members of the IIL meet every two years, and these sessions take the name of the town in which they are held.

The Bureau of the Institute of International Law is the executive body of the IIL. It is made up of one president, three vice presidents, a secretary-general, and a treasurer. The bureau is elected by, and answers to, the assembly, which is the IIL's decision-making body. The IIL has no power to help settle international disputes and its resolutions are not binding on any country. It has, however, proved to be an influential organization. Both the League of Nations and the United Nations have considered its recommendations. The IIL is funded from an endowment built up over the years from gifts, awards, and bequests.