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The Papers of Louis B. Sohn

 Series

Scope and Contents

The papers of Louis B. Sohn pertained working files from his work as rapporteur of the Private Group on Settlement Disputes. Professor Sohn was part of the U.S. Delegation to UNCLOS. At the end of the second session of the Caracas Conference, in 1974, some delegations asked Sohn to organize a private group to hold discussions on the settlement of disputes.@ In 1975, at the third session of the Conference the informal group was reorganized as the Settlement of Disputes Group (SD.Gp.) and from then on they work together on how to settle dispute matters. [For detailed information see: United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 A Commentary, Dordrecht, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1985, v.1, pp.110-112 and v.5, pp. 5-15]

These papers consist working papers, notes and annotated documents of his work as member of the U.S. delegation to the Law of the Sea Conference. The papers were organized in chronological and alphabetical order. Duplicates were taken away and some folders were re-titled.

Dates

  • Creation: 1967-1995

Creator

Biographical / Historical

Prof. Sohn was born in Poland in 1914. He came to the U.S. in 1939 and became a U.S. citizen in 1943. He has a LLM, Diplomatic ScM? from John Casimir University (1935); LLM (1940, SJD (1958) from Harvard University. Sohn worked as assistant to judge M.O. Hudson (1941-1948); he worked as a teaching fellow (1946-1947), lecturer (1947-1951), assistant professor of law (1951-1953), John Harvey Gregory lecturer in world organization (1951-1981), professor of law (1953-1961), Bemis professor of international law (1961-1981) at Harvard University. From 1981 to 1991 he was the Woodruff professor of international law at University of Georgia.

He was counsel to U.S. ACDA (1960-1970); to the Office of International Affairs of the Department of Defense (1963-1970); executive secretary of the legal subcommittee on atomic energy: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1946); assistant reporter on progressive development international law American and Canadian bar associations (1947-1948); counselor of international law at the Department of State (1970-1971); member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1974-1984); head of the U.S. delegation to the Athens Conference on Settlement of International Disputes (1984).

He is member of the ABA and has been author of many books and articles, and recipient of numerous international awards.

Extent

3.6 Linear Feet (9 boxes)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This addition was donated to the Law Library in December of 1999.

Repository Details

Part of the Arthur J. Morris Law Library Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Arthur J. Morris Law Library
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University of Virginia
Charlottesville Virginia 22903 United States