Louis Henkin, former professor of law at Columbia University, passed away on October 14. He was 92.

Henkin effectively created the field of human rights law through a series of careful and forceful arguments that nations are bound by law to treat their citizens in accordance with certain internationally accepted standards. His influence undoubtedly extends to anyone with even a passing academic or practical interest in human rights.

As the Columbia Law School’s obituary succinctly put it:

Henkin was known for his abiding and unwavering drive to ensure that there was a framework to protect the integrity and dignity of individuals. He advocated universal human rights and made it clear that his views had no borders.

As the obituary in the New York Times points out, Henkin also didn’t pull any punches when it came to the divergence between the role he felt the U.S. played and the role he felt it ought to play with regard to international human rights:

“In the cathedral of human rights,” he wrote in a well-known passage in a 1979 article, “the United States is more like a flying buttress than a pillar — choosing to stand outside the international structure supporting the international human rights system, but without being willing to subject its own conduct to the scrutiny of that system.”

To my mind, the best place to get started on Henkin’s work is his book, How Nations Behave. After that, check out The Age of Rights.

I also recommend reading the two obituaries to which I’ve linked, above, as they contain some fantastic stories from Henkin’s remarkable life.

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