Dutch jurist. Born 1673, died 1743.
Cornelis van Bynkershoek was both a judge and a legal theorist in a time when Dutch legal theory was commanding considerable respect throughout Europe. Practicing in the Hague, he was appointed to the Hoge raad, the supreme court of Holland and Zeeland, in 1703. In 1724, he became the president of the court.
Among his contributions to international law, van Bynkershoek is most remembered for his gunshot proposal, which advocated the range of a cannon as a reasonable limit on a state's territorial claims over the sea surrounding its shores, on the grounds that this was what could be reasonably controlled from land (compare this with today's more arbitrary and less practical limits).
Major works: