About The Stockton Center
The Stockton Center for International Law (SCIL) is a department in the Center for Naval Warfare Studies that produces original research and analysis of both international law and military operations to educate and inform military leaders, national decision makers, and international law practitioners and scholars. The results of this analysis shapes legal interpretations affecting U.S. and partner nation forces throughout the world.
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Join our mailing listInternational Law Studies Journal
International Law Studies (ILS) is the journal for international law published by the U.S. Naval War College. It was first published in 1895 and is the oldest international law periodical in the United States.
Each year, the journal publishes faculty peer-reviewed articles and analysis from the world’s leading experts and practitioners in the law of the sea, the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law, the law of naval operations, and the international law of conflict in the airspace, outer space, and cyberspace.
Questions about ILS may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief, Professor James Kraska.
Explore ILS JournalOur Support, Domestically and Abroad
Our program provides international law research, analysis, and teaching to support the development of the Navy’s future strategy, the education and training of Navy leadership, and the conduct of fleet, joint, and combined operations. We also provide legal support to wargames and advice to the Fleet and other Department of Defense entities on a variety of international and operational law issues.
We serve as the Primary Review Authority for the Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, and have participated in the Tallinn Manual, the San Remo Manual, the Woomera Manual, the Harvard Air and Missile Warfare Manual, and other influential publications.
Annually, the Stockton Center hosts legal research workshops on emergent issues drawing many of the world’s leading international law experts, including the annual Alexander C. Cushing International Law Conference.
Conference on Oceans Law & Policy
Through the annual Conference on Oceans Law & Policy (established and formerly administered by the Center for Oceans Law & Policy, University of Virginia School of Law) the Stockton Center for International Law promotes interdisciplinary interaction with ocean-related legal and public policy issues at all levels, addressing international, national, regional, and state concerns.
The 44th annual Conference on Oceans Law & Policy (COLP) scheduled in Tokyo will now be held via Zoom rather than in person and will be held on 10-12 May 2021. COLP Tokyo is scheduled to take place in the evening in Tokyo, the morning in the United States, and the afternoon in Europe. Further details will soon be forthcoming.
Explore COLP ConferencesMore on 2021 COLP ConferenceStockton Center for International Law Faculty
The Stockton Center has civilian and military professors of international law that teach courses on the law of armed conflict, the law of naval warfare and maritime security law, and the law of airspace, outer space and cyberspace operations.
Discover International Law Faculty Charles H. Stockton Professor
Click to Open The Secretary of the Navy established the Charles H. Stockton Chair of International Law on October 6, 1967 in honor of Rear Admiral Charles H. Stockton, president of the Naval War College from 1898-1900, a recognized authority on international law. Stockton was also president of George Washington University and he wrote the first code of the Law of Naval Warfare. From its inception, the Chair has attracted an exceptional array of international law scholars to the College, including such giants in the field as Manley O. Hudson (1951-1953), Hans Kelsen (1953-54), Leo Gross (1954-55), Howard S. Levie (1971-72), Leslie C. Green (1996-1997), Hays Parks (1984-85), Ruth Wedgwood (1998-99), Yoram Dinstein (1999-00), Ivan Shearer (2000-01), Charles Garraway (2004-05), Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg (2003-04 and 2012-13), Michael N. Schmitt (2014-18).
Click here for more information on Stockton Chairs and their history.
Current Charles H. Stockton Professor
Professor James Kraska is the Chair of the Stockton Center for International Law and the Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Maritime Law.
Howard S. Levie Professor
Click to Open The Levie chair is named for retired Col. Howard S. Levie, who served as a U.S. Army judge advocate during World War II and the Korean War. He reviewed Japanese war crimes tribunals and was the principle draftsman for the Korean War Armistice. After military service, Colonel Levie joined the faculty at Saint Louis University School of Law where he went on to become one of the world's leading scholars on international law, publishing some twenty books on the law of armed conflict. Levie’s long association with the Center was acknowledged by the President of the Naval War College in 1994 with the creation of the Levie Chair.
Current Howard S. Levie Professor
Professor Raul “Pete” Pedrozo is the Howard S. Levie Professor of the Law of Armed Conflict.
The Stockton Center Emeriti Professors
Click to Open Professor Michael N. Schmitt, J.D., D.Litt
Stockton Distinguished Scholar in Residence
Michael Schmitt is professor emeritus and the Stockton Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the U.S. Naval War College's Stockton Center for International Law. He is also Professor of International Law at the University of Reading, the Francis Lieber Distinguished Scholar at the U.S. Military Academy’s Lieber Institute, and Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar and Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Texas.
Professor Richard J. Grunawalt
Richard J. “Jack” Grunawalt is Professor Emeritus of International Law. Following a distinguished career as a Navy judge advocate, retired Capt. Grunawalt came to the Naval War College as the Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law and held that Chair until becoming the first Director of the Oceans Law and Policy Department, the predecessor of the Stockton Center for International Law. Under his leadership of its international law program, during his tenure the Naval War College regained its historic stature as the world’s preeminent military institution for the study and articulation of the rules of law governing the world’s oceans, both in time of peace and in time of war.
Stockton Center Visiting Research Scholar Program
The Stockton Center invites eminent international law scholars, as well as exceptional younger scholars, to share their knowledge and varied perspectives with the U.S. Naval War College through its Visiting Research Scholar Program.
Interested applicants can find more information and details on how to apply here.
Visiting Fellows
Click to Open Visheh Bhatia, National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University
Peter Bowers, Royal Australian Navy Reserve
Douglas Burnett, Department of Transportation
Camilla Cooper, Norwegian Defence Command and Staff College
John Dehn, Loyola University School of Law
Gloria Gaggioli, University of Geneva
Koichi Ishii, Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Academy
Suk Kyoon Kim, Korea Coast Guard
Keiko Kono, National Institute of Defense Studies (Japan)
Masahiro Kurosaki, National Defense Academy of Japan Ministry of Defence
Tim McCormack, University of Melbourne (Stockton Distinguished Visiting Scholar)
Young-Kil Park, Korea Maritime Institute
Sasha Radin, University of Melbourne
Vishaka Ramesh, National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University
Yusuke Saito, Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Academy
Nicholas Tsagourias, University of Sheffield
Bart van den Bosch, Royal Netherlands Army
René Värk, University of Tartu (Estonia)