This week at its annual meeting, the American Society of International Law (ASIL) is honoring the incomparable Edith Brown Weiss (pictured at left) with the prestigious Manley O. Hudson Medal, an award bestowed for "pre-eminent scholarship and achievement in international law." Through her prolific scholarship on trade, sustainable development, human rights and the environment, and compliance with multilateral environmental agreements, Professor Brown Weiss has shaped the development of international environmental law and profoundly influenced the next generation of scholars and policy-makers. As noted by the ASIL Honors Committee: Her ideas, scholarship and practical contributions to the policy world have forever shifted the way people think about environmental law.
Her path-breaking work, In Fairness to Future Generations: International Law, Common Patrimony and Intergenerational Equity (1984) has been published in English, French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. The recipient of the Certificate of Merit Award from the ASIL, the book set out a conceptual framework for intergenerational equity that launched new thinking in environmental law.
Professor Brown Weiss has been a leader not only in her scholarship but also in public service. She established the International Environmental Law Office at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and headed it for two years; has served on several committees of the US National Academy of Sciences; was Special Legal Advisor to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation; and served a five-year term on the three-member Inspection Panel of the World Bank (2002-2007) including four years as the Chair of the Panel, an appointment at the Vice-Presidential level. She is a past President of the American Society of International Law and serves on the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law.Professor Brown Weiss, the Francis Cabell Brown Professor of International Law at Georgetown University Law Center, will deliver her Hudson Medal Lecture, "On Being Accountable in a Kaleidescopic World," at the ASIL Annual Meeting tomorrow, 26 March, at 4:15 PM.
Anyone who knows her also knows of her deep dedication to students and colleagues. Her generous and caring spirit is legendary. Her open and inclusive approach years ago when I was a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown made a lasting impression on me.
Thank you, Edie, for your commitment to the planet and those inhabiting it -- and congratulations on an honor richly deserved!
