Imperialism, international law, and war are not strange bedfellows but as the historical record suggests can be natural allies. While Anthony F. Lang, Jr in his chapter sheds light on the European discourse of just war, Siddharth Mallavarapu engages with various critical perspectives on the relationship between ‘empire’, ‘law’, and ‘war’: Mediated through questions of race, colonial difference, and ‘standards of civilization’, his contribution seeks to reverse the ‘gaze’ and view this compact not from the victor’s perspective often presented as neutral and disinterested but from the consciously partisan perspective of those who have been recipients of the violence inherent in the imperial way of law-making. It goes on to examine truncations or abridgements of classical sovereignty and shadow invocations of ‘responsibility’ with regard to ‘human shields’, drones and politico-legal responses to assassinations. Ultimately, it poses the question of what might help rehabilitate international law and avoid the logjams of bureaucratic rationality when it comes to dealing with conflict within and between states. © the many contributors 2021.