Drawing on the works of Alexandrowicz and Grewe this paper intends to shed some light on the role played by colonialism in the genesis of present international law. The central question is whether the international law of the imperial era (which culminated in the late 19th century) must be regarded an anomaly in the evolution of international relations, a temporary “accident” that was eventually overcome by the formation of an universal community of States half a decade later or whether colonialism, right on the contrary, has to be seen as a time of transition thanks to which an until thence regional order, referred to as the Ius Publicum Europaeum, and later as the Droit public de l’Europe, evolved to a universal one. Alexandrowicz’ and Grewe’s answers to these questions appear to be diametrically opposed. Even more important than to assert who of them proved to be right is to understand why these scholars arrived at such conflicting conclusions, which is the focus of this contribution.

中文翻译：

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国际法起源中的帝国殖民主义-反常还是过渡时期？

本文旨在借鉴Alexandrowicz和Grewe的著作，以期阐明殖民主义在当前国际法起源中的作用。中心问题是，是否必须将帝国时代的国际法（在19世纪末期达到顶峰）视为国际关系演变中的反常现象，这是一个暂时的“事故”，但最终由于建立了一个普遍的国际社会而得以克服。五十年后的国家，或者相反，是否必须将殖民主义视为过渡时期，在此之前，直到那个区域秩序才被称为Ius Publicum Europaeum，后来被称为Droit public de l'Europe ，演变为通用的。Alexandrowicz和Grewe对这些问题的回答似乎是截然相反的。