Julius Stone

The life of international legal academic, Julius Stone, was marked by distinguished scholarship and recurrent controversy. This intellectual biography combines a study of Stone's work against a background of contemporary legal theory, with a rich portrait of the man as he lived his life across three continents and among shifting social, political and religious attitudes. Born in England in 1907 and educated at Oxford, Leeds and Harvard universities, Stone spent most of his working life as Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the University of Sydney. His immigrant, economically-deprived upbringing in Leeds and his early contact with anti-Semitism influenced Stone's lifelong commitment to justice. Through his writings on jurisprudence and international law, and his teaching in major universities, Stone brought into vivid outline his often idiosyncratic, but always intellectual, view of the law. The effect he and his work had on others was extreme - he was either revered or vilified. Stone's life was punctuated by a series of disputes, the most significant occurring on his appointment to the University of Sydney in the 1940s. Stone's vigorous support of Zionism and the state of Israel resulted in accusations of bias, although his positions were always based on traditional international law and were consistent with his concept of justice. This biography presents an absorbing portrayal of the man, his work, and the influences which helped shape his life.