Institute alumnus Dr León Castellanos Jankiewicz has been awarded the David D. Caron Prize by the American Society of International Law during the Society’s Annual Research Forum held at the University of California Los Angeles’ (UCLA) School of Law. The Prize recognises the best paper submitted to the Forum by a current student or recent graduate. The paper presented by Dr Castellanos-Jankiewicz, entitled ‘Nationality, Alienage and Early International Rights’, emphasises the role of private international law in the development of standards of individual protection during the nineteenth century, particularly as regards the treatment of aliens. According to Dr Castellanos-Jankiewicz, his paper’s originality resides in accounting for the fluid disciplinary boundaries between public and private international lawyers at the time.

David D. Caron (1952-2018) was President of the American Society of International Law from 2010-2012. He was a judge, lawyer and scholar who, at the time of his passing, was a member of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal in The Hague and served as a judge ad hoc on the International Court of Justice. Susan L. Spencer presented the Prize on behalf of the Caron family at the launch of the David D. Caron Fund, which has been established to support the professional development of young international lawyers and to expand the participation of non-US nationals in the Society.

Dr Castellanos-Jankiewicz is currently Researcher at the Asser Institute for International and European Law, The Hague, where he is member of the Memory Laws in European and Comparative Perspective (MELA) team. The MELA project is a four-nation, EU-sponsored consortium gathered to examine memory laws throughout Europe and the world. He holds  a Master and a PhD in International Law from the Graduate Institute, which he earned in 2010 and 2017, respectively.

Photo credit: T.M.C. Asser Institute for International and European Law, The Hague.