© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/15718050-12340002 Journal of the History of International Law 15 (2013) 25–52 brill.com/jhil JHIL The So-Called Right of Civilisation in European Colonial Ideology, 16th to 20th Centuries Jo-Anne Claire Pemberton University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Introduction Over the course of the nineteenth century a distinctive set of legal criticisms concerning the colonial domination of overseas peoples emerged in conti- nental Europe, drawing inspiration from natural law thinking, the moral philosophy of Kant and notions of scientific reason. As the century pro- gressed, arguments condemning either the manner of European colonisa- tion or the practice of colonialism itself widened in scope and sharpened in tone. Indeed, in the latter years of the nineteenth century some critics of the practice of colonialism became quite explicit in their expressions of contempt for the main pillar of its defence: the right of civilisation. Com- mentators questioned the legal status of this alleged right, variously dismiss- ing it as mere pretext for spoliation, a product of cultural blindness and a sign of intellectual confusion. Nor were critics unaware of the dangers posed by the assertion of such a right to the sanctity of borders in Europe. Drawing on a range of British and European commentaries, this article examines the development of the idea of the right of civilisation (droit de civilisation) during the age of imperialism. Most importantly, it examines the various responses to past assertions of such a right, drawing mainly on nineteenth century legal materials. The focal point of the controversy con- cerns the fact that the effect of the assertion of this right was to render as terra nullius not simply land that was in William Blackstone’s strict defini- tion of the term “desert” and “uninhabited”, but also land which was “inhab- ited by uncivilized or disorganized groups”.1 Blackstone himself expressed 1) Gerry Simpson, “Mabo, International Law, Terra Nullius and the Stories of Settlement: