to the convention follow it. The convention's most important and sensible rule is that a treaty should be interpreted according to the plain meaning of its language, in the context of its purpose, and in good faith. This prevents much squabbling and unnecessary nit-picking. It also makes treaty authors spell out what they are trying to accomplish, to make interpretation easier, in a non-binding "preamble." In the modern world, international law is contested for its inability to enforce its rulings. See also Arbitration#History Jus gentium Jus naturale Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), providing an alternative account to the Eurocentric narrative above. Consulate of the Sea international law, (13th century), written in Catalonia Cities of Refuge, a set of independent city-states in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah Important experts 14th century Bartolus of Saxoferrato Baldus de Ubaldis Johannes Andreae Giovanni da Legnano 16th century Balthazar Ayala Francisco de Vitoria Jean Bodin Pierino Belli Sylvester Mazzolini 17th century Francisco Suarez Hugo Grotius Alberico Gentili Richard Zouche Samuel Pufendorf Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 18th century Jean Dumont Abbé de Saint-Pierre Cornelis van Bynkershoek Christian Wolff Emerich de Vattel Johann Jakob Moser Georg Friedrich von Martens 19th century Jeremy Bentham Johann Bluntschli Henry Wheaton Robert Phillimore Henry Sumner Maine 20th century William Howard Taft L. F. L. Oppenheim Hans Kelsen Carl Schmitt Georges Scelle Hersch Lauterpacht Martti Koskenniemi Universities and institutes Frankfurt am Main (Max-Planck Institute for the History of European Law) Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva (P. Haggenmacher) Tilburg University (R. Lesaffer, Research Group on the History of International Law) University of Paris (Panthéon-Sorbonne) Cambridge University (Law faculty) New York University School of Law (Program for History and Theory of International Law) The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy University of British Columbia (Law faculty) Harvard University (European Law Research Center) Institute of State and Law (Institute of State and Law, Russian Academy of Sciences) Leiden University (A. Wijffels) University of Utrecht (C.G. Roelofsen) Erasmus University Rotterdam (L. Winkel) University of Helsinki (Law faculty, Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights) University of St Andrews (School of International Relations) University of Turin, Faculty of Law University of New South Wales (Law faculty) London School of Economics (Law faculty) T.M.C. Asser Instituut, Centre for International and European Law]] References Bibliography B. Fassbender and A. Peters (eds.), S. Peter and D. Högger (assistant eds.), The Oxford Handbook