John Westlake

John Westlake (4 February 1828 – 14 April 1913) was an English law scholar.

He was born at Lostwithiel, Cornwall, the son of a Cornish wool-stapler. He was educated at Lostwithiel and, from 1846, at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA (6th Wrangler and 6th Classic) in 1850. He was a fellow of Trinity from 1851 to 1860, called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1854, and became a bencher of the Inn in 1874. In 1885 he was elected to Parliament as Liberal member for the Romford Division of Essex; from 1888 to 1908 he held the Whewell Chair as professor of international law at Cambridge; in 1900-06 he was a member for Great Britain of the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

In 1864 he married Alice Hare (1842–1923), artist and key supporter of the women's suffrage movement.

He was connected with the Christian Socialist Movement, being a member of the Committee of Teaching and Publication. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Working Men's College in 1854, where he taught mathematics for many years. He was an honorary president of the Institute of International Law.

His works, of the highest importance in their field, include:

• A Treatise on Private International Law (1858; second edition, rewritten, 1880; fifth edition, 1912)
• Chapters on the Principles of International Law (1894)
• International Law (two volumes, 1904–07; second edition, 1910–13)

His Collected Papers on Public International Law were edited by L. Oppenheim in 1914.