Rethinking the Legacy of the League of Nations

A legacy is a factual and historical account of something that has had a lasting impact on the present. The League of Nations has proved to be a milestone in the development of the international community: it shaped central features of international law today. Therefore, appraising the League of Nations and its legacies sheds light on the strengths and shortcomings of the contemporary international legal system. This special issue is inspired by and reflects some of the issues discussed atthe conference marking the centennial of the creation of the League of Nations (1919) hosted by the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation of the University of Leicester on 31 January 2019. [Opening paragraph]