The 1880s saw a unique confluence of means, motives, and opportunities which led the British and their agents on African frontiers to enter into hundreds of pre-printed form treaties with local groups. By treating indigenous groups as interchangeable counterparties to their agreements, the new tools carried by these diplomats in canoes carried both the benefits of expediency and the problems of alienation. The mass production of international law – made by relatively unskilled labour, in bulk, with limited variation – had arrived. This practice connects the emerging modernity of the cultures of international law, diplomacy, printing technology, and domestic law.

1880年代独特的手段，动机和机会融合在一起，促使英国及其在非洲边界的特工与当地团体订立了数百种预印制的条约。通过将土著群体视为其协定的可互换对手方，这些外交官在独木舟中所携带的新工具既带来了权宜之计，也带来了疏远的问题。大规模生产国际法的工作已经到来了，国际劳动是由相对不熟练的劳动者进行的，这些劳动是散装的，数量不多，变化很小。这种做法将国际法，外交，印刷技术和国内法文化的新兴现代性联系起来。