This article uses the metaphor of turntablism to shed light on the confinement of international lawyers’ engagement with history to the terms, vocabularies, and categories of the very historical narratives they seek to evaluate, disrupt, or displace. For the sake of this article, turntablism is understood here as the art of creating new music and sound effects by using one or several turntables on which a record is placed. This article argues that twenty-first century international lawyers engaging with the history of international law are talented turntablists in that the many historiographical works of international lawyers produced since the so-called ‘historical turn’ have remained confined to the very terms, categories, and vocabularies of the histories whose creation they have been discoursing and theorising. This article ultimately shows that turntablism is not the inevitable fate of international lawyers engaging with history, and that a radical historical critique is possible and should be promoted.

本文使用转盘式的比喻来阐明国际律师与历史的接触仅限于他们试图评估，破坏或取代的非常历史性叙事的术语，词汇和类别。为了本文的目的，转盘式在这里被理解为通过使用一个或多个放置有唱片的转盘来创建新的音乐和声音效果的艺术。本文认为，从事国际法历史的二十一世纪国际律师是才华横溢的转盘专家，因为所谓的“历史性转折”以来产生的许多国际律师的史学著作都仅限于术语，类别和范围。不鼓励和理论化其历史的词汇。