In Memoriam: Hugo Llanos Mansilla

Abstract

On August 12, 2024, the international legal community and particularly Chile's International Law recieved the sad news of Professor Hugo Llanos Mansilla's death. This has not only meant the loss of a brilliant and committed scholar, but also of an exceptional human being, whose life and legacy have left an indelible mark on generations of lawyers, students and colleagues. Throughout his life, Prof. Hugo Llanos Mansilla stood out because of his key role developing and spreading International Law in  Chile and Latin America. A lawyer who graduated from Universidad de Chile following the dissertation entitled “Chile's parliamentary governments” and who obtained a Master's degree in International Law from Harvard University (1963), Hugo Llanos devoted over five decades to teaching, researching and writing in the field. With more than 15 books and 120 published articles, his academic legacy is monumental. He is one of the most prolific Chilean scholars in the field of International Law. His seminal work, “Teoría y Práctica del Derecho Internacional Público” [Theory and Practice of Public International Law], a treaty made up of six volumes in five subject areas, is a must-read for students and anyone interested in the field. This work afforded him the Andrés Bello Prize by the Consejo de Rectores de Universidades Chilenas in 1981, for the best work on International Law, consolidating his position as one of the most highly respected voices in the discipline.