This article recovers James Brown Scott’s conviction in American exceptionalism, a belief that underlay both his institutional work as well as his understanding of the origins and trajectory of international law. In the first section, we discuss Scott’s interpretation of Hugo Grotius as part of his tactic to make US foreign affairs policies and perspectives more compelling by presenting them as universal. In the second section, we argue that Scott’s writings on the Spanish origins of international law were in fact meant to protect Anglo-American hegemony and US influence in the Americas in the face of rapidly changing geopolitical pressures. In the final section we suggest that Scott’s US exceptionalism is reflected in his use of the United States Constitution and Supreme Court as a model for key international organizations. We conclude that Scott reframed Vitoria not to redress American bias but to enshrine it.

本文重述了詹姆斯·布朗·斯科特（James Brown Scott）对美国例外主义的信念，这一信念不仅奠定了他的机构工作，而且他理解了国际法的起源和轨迹。在第一部分中，我们讨论斯科特对雨果·格罗蒂乌斯（Hugo Grotius）的解释，这是他通过使美国外交政策和观点具有普遍性而使之更具吸引力的策略的一部分。在第二部分中，我们认为，斯科特关于国际法西班牙起源的著作实际上旨在保护英美霸权和面对迅速变化的地缘政治压力的美国在美洲的影响。在最后一节中，我们建议斯科特在美国的特殊性体现在他使用美国宪法和最高法院作为主要国际组织的榜样上。