Birthday anniversary of F. Martens, professor of St. Petersburg University, Russian lawyer and diplomat, specialist in the international humanitarian law

27 August 1845

On August 5 (27), 1845 in the town of Parnu, the Province of Livonia, was born Friedrich Fromhold Martens (also known as Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens), Russian lawyer and diplomat, corresponding member of St. Petersburg Academy of Science, professor of St. Petersburg University, delegate of Russia at the international conferences of 1874-1907 on the issues of military and international law, member of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Council, vice-president of the European Institute of the International Law, member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague, author of the “Modern International Law of the Civilized Nations”, the fundamental work in the field of the international law.

In 1855 F. F. Martens entered the Orphanage under the General German School of St. Peter. For great progress in his studies Martens was transferred from the Orphanage school to the School of St. Peter. Having graduated from it, he continued studying at St. Petersburg University Law Department. During his study in the university Martens got carried away by criminal law, but his final work “About relations between Russia and Ottoman Empire in the reign of Empress Catherine II” covered the issues of the international law. Having defended his thesis of master in 1869, Martens started to work at the International Law sub-department of St. Petersburg University. Soon after that he started teaching at the Imperial Science of Law School and at the Imperial Lyceum of Alexander I.

In January of 1871 Martens became the warden of St. Petersburg Education District in the status of staff associate professor. In 1873 he defended the doctoral thesis ‘About consuls and consular expeditions to the East’. Three years later he was appointed a staff professor of the University.

In 1873 Alexander II charged F. Martens with developing a collection of all international contracts which Russia had ever concluded with other states. In order to fulfill this task, the professor was provided with the access to all archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The research resulted in a 15-volume “Collection of treaties and conventions concluded by Russia with foreign states”.

In 1879 Martens was appointed official at large under the State Chancellor A. M. Gorchakov. Two years later he became a full member of the Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1886 he became a member of the Russian Society of the Red Cross. Fyodor Fyodorovich attended Brussels Conference on trade and sea law (1889), the Conference on combat slavery (Brussels, 1889-1890) and also was a delegate of Hague Conference convoked by the Netherlands government to elaborate the principles of the international individual right.

One of the outstanding services that F. Martens had rendered to the country was his participation in Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 organized on the initiative of Russia which gave rise to establishment of the rules of conduct of war and peaceful settlement of the international conflicts. For his merits in the field of humanitarian law and his services of mediator in the international conflicts Martens was repeatedly nominated for the Noble Peace Prize.

His life stopped abruptly on June 7 (20), 1909 on his way to St. Petersburg. He died at Valka railway station of the Province of Livonia from a sudden cardiac arrest. Martens was buried at Volkov Lutheran cemetery in St. Petersburg on June 11 (24), 1909.

Lit.: Лесмент Л. Новые сведения из жизни Ф. Ф. Мартенса [Электронный ресурс] // Юридическая Россия. 2002-2006.; Мартенс Ф. Ф. Об отношениях между Россией и Оттоманской империей в царствование императрицы Екатерины II. СПб., 1867; Мартенс Ф. Ф. О консулах и консульской юрисдикции на Востоке. СПб., 1873; Мартенс Ф. Ф. Восточная война и Брюссельская конференция 1874 г. СПб., 1879; Мартенс Ф. Ф. Египетский вопрос и международное право. СПб., 1882; Мартенс Ф. Ф. Современное международное право цивилизованных народов. СПб., 1882-83; Пустогаров В. В. Фёдор Фёдорович Мартенс — юрист, дипломат. М., 1999.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Мартенс Ф. Ф. О праве частной собственности во время войны. СПб., 1869;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 1. СПб., 1874;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 2. СПб., 1875;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 3. СПб., 1876 ;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 4. СПб., 1878;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 5. СПб., 1880;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 6. СПб., 1883;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 7. СПб., 1885;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 8. СПб., 1888;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 9 (10). СПб., 1892;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 11. СПб., 1895;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 12. СПб., 1898;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 13. СПб., 1902;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 14. СПб., 1905;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Собрание трактатов и конвенций, заключённых Россией с иностранными державами. Т. 15. СПб., 1909;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Россия и Англия в Средней Азии. СПб., 1880;

Мартенс Ф. Ф. Россия и Китай: историко-политическое исследование. СПб., 1881;

Ульяницкий В. А. Дарданеллы, Босфор и Чёрное море в XVIII веке. Очерки дипломатической истории восточного вопроса // Рец. проф. Имп. С.-Петерб. ун-та Ф. Ф. Мартенса. СПб., 1886;

Таубе М. А. Ф. Ф. Мартенс (1845-1909): Некролог. СПб., 1909.