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Our History

Origins of the
World Jurist Association

The World Jurist Association was born in 1963, a moment in history marked y profound geopolitical tension, ideological confrontation, and renewed aspirations for peace after the devastation of the Second World War.

News bulletin of the creation of the World Jurist Association
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The world was navigating the complexities of the Cold War, decolonization movements, the formation of new states, and the rapid expansion of international institutions designed to promote stability and cooperation. Against this backdrop, global leaders increasingly recognized that dialogue and diplomacy were not sufficient on their own. What the world required was a stable, universal framework capable of guiding nations toward peaceful coexistence. That framework was the Rule of Law.

The founding of the World Jurist Association in the United States reflected this urgency. The organization emerged from the conviction that law must serve as a unifying force between nations with distinct political systems, cultural identities, and historical experiences. The World Jurist Association founders believed that, without legal structures capable of protecting rights and constraining power, peace would always remain fragile. The organization therefore sought to create a forum where jurists, judges, academics, political leaders, and members of civil society could converge to strengthen legal institutions and contribute to the advancement of global justice. The commitment articulated in its early documents, a world governed by law, not force, remains the guiding principle of the organization today.

The Association’s early development was shaped by influential figures whose leadership helped define the character and direction of the institution. Their contributions were not merely administrative. They provided moral authority, intellectual guidance, and a global vision that set the World Jurist Association apart from other legal organizations of its time. Among these individuals, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles S. Rhyne, and Earl Warren stand out as foundational voices.

The first major conferences of the World Jurist Association underscored the organization’s commitment to open, constructive dialogue among different legal traditions. In 1963, Athens hosted the inaugural World Conference on World Peace through Law. The event brought together justices, political leaders, and academics from around the globe, demonstrating the broad appeal of the idea that the rule of law should serve as the common language of peace. The presence of prominent leaders, including King Paul of Greece, Charles S. Rhyne, and Earl Warren, reflected the global resonance of the project and marked the beginning of a long tradition of biennial congresses.

The early conferences addressed themes that remain central to the World Jurist Association’s work today, such as judicial independence, constitutional stability, human rights, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. Participants approached these issues from diverse perspectives, yet they were united in their belief that law must guide political and social life. This early consensus laid the foundation for an institution capable of influencing global discourse for decades to come.

The phrase that encapsulates this founding philosophy appears prominently in contemporary World Jurist Association materials. A world governed by law, not force, is more than a motto. It is a declaration of principle and a statement of purpose, one that continues to guide the organization’s activities as it responds to new challenges and evolving global conditions.

Demonstration Trials

CHARLES S. RHYNE Founder & Past President, World Peace Through Law Center (World Jurist Association)

From the dim dawning of civilization in the often obscure pages of history until the present, it is clear that humankind’s greatest dream has been the hope for development and acceptance of a method for decision of disputes between individuals and nations to replace a battle to the death. As to disputes among individuals, every nation on earth now offers the alternative of battle in courts to replace battle to the death. In fact, duels to the death of individuals are outlawed universally. But even today, for all the advances in civilization, duels to the death (killing both soldiers and non-combat civilians) are the ultimate methods of decision for disputes between nations.

The relative military might for all nations determines their place in the constant power struggle for “security” via arms. Trillions of dollars are wasted on arms even as people die for lack of food. With humankind having developed the power to incinerate all peoples in a matter of minutes, the unreasonableness of continuing the current arms race should be obvious, but sadly it is not. So also should be obvious the lesson of history that every arms race has, sooner or later, by accident or design, exploded into war. So also should be the danger to all peoples of such an explosion in today’s world.

Yet the search for new and more terrible arms continues as a major area where rich and poor nations expend the assets of their people. Pennies are spent on arms control measures while billions of dollars go into arms and research on more destructive weapons.

No nation on earth directly budgets funds of consequence for translating of the ancient dream of development and acceptance of an obviously workable program of replacing decision by death for disputes among nations with a decision under the law in courthouses.

In every dispute between nations, each claims “the law” is on its side, but no nation has a consistent record of urging “let us go to the law in courthouses rather than using the ancient and archaic method of determining which of us can kill the most of the other’s people.”

Since the law in a courthouse does work universally on disputes between persons, there is no reason why the same concept cannot work universally on disputes between nations. These Demonstration Trials, and their predecessor at Belgrade, are designed to prove that regardless of differences in law systems, there are universal principles to which all nations adhere so that lawyers from many nations and judges from many nations’ courts can perform their function on international disputes between nations as they do on domestic disputes between persons. We hope by these Demonstration Trials to help hasten the day when the decision by death in the nation vs. nation disputes will be so universally condemned as to create an outcry, “go to court; not to war” so strong that at long last law methods will replace force methods. These trials demonstrate the utility of the law method. What is needed is such universal knowledge and support worldwide of the law methods that humankind’s most ancient dream will be realized before nuclear incineration is a lot of all peoples.

 The International Court of Justice is a tremendously outstanding forum with members who are great jurists, fully capable of deciding law disputes through nations. We who labor in the World Peace Through Law Center to strengthen law in the World are dedicated to increasing the use and usefulness of that tribunal.

This towering goal is the concept advanced by the World Peace Through Law Center and its component parts: The World Association of Judges, The World Association of Lawyers and the World Association of Law Professors.

Recognizing this is a long-term and difficult goal, we invite all men and women of good will to join us in this effort so that law rather than force will control the fate of humanity.
Demonstration Trials are a unique and exciting event at every World Jurist Congress. The Demonstration Trials were instituted by World Jurist Association Founder and Past President Charles S. Rhyne; click here to read Mr. Rhyne’s vision for the World Jurist Association and the Demonstration Trials.

Demonstration Trials

  • 2011 International Drug Trafficking
  • 2009 Nuclear Energy & Nuclear Weapons
  • 2005 International Airborne Pollution
  • 2003 Weapons of Mass Destruction
  • 2001 International Environmental Contamination
  • 1999 Capital Punishment
  • 1997 Water in the Desert
  • 1995 International Child Abduction
  • 1993 Mass Expulsion of a Minority Group by Forced Deportation
  • 1991 Discovery of Natural Resources by Satellite in Adjacent Nations
  • 1990 Title to Objects of Great Cultural Value Seized in War
  • 1987 Genetic Technology
  • 1985 Law of the Sea
  • 1983 Murderous Export Case
  • 1981 International Damage Implications of a Nuclear Accident
  • 1979 Legality of Unilateral Anti-Terrorist Rescue Operations
  • 1977 Legal Rights to Results of Deep Sea Mining Under International Waters
  • 1975 States Economically Damaging Other States
  • 1973 Airplane Hijacking
  • 1971 Liabilities of Governments Involved for Damages Caused by Crashed Space Vehicles