Acknowledgements

Fitting for a book that thematises the iterative nature of writing, this book has been long in the making. I am grateful to so many colleagues in Australia and in Europe for enriching discussions, questions, generosity, advice and friendship during the life of this project. Academic life can be isolating, but over many years I have had warm support and cups of tea in abundance, and I am thankful for the big and small kindnesses which have been bestowed on me, especially during difficult times.

This book began life as a PhD thesis at the University of Melbourne, and I would like to thank my two supervisors, Peter Rush and Shaun McVeigh, for their generosity of conversation as well as endless encouragement. Ann Genovese and Lee Godden served as academic advisors at different stages and Bill MacNeil and Jeanne Gaakeer examined the thesis and I thank them all for their helpful and perceptive comments. My thanks also to Tobias Ginsburg and everyone at Cambridge University Press, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and references, which have improved the book.

I am particularly grateful for the generous and supportive communities created by the Law Literature and Humanities Association of Australasia, the Institute of International Law and Humanities at Melbourne Law School, the International and Comparative Law Cluster at La Trobe Law School, various cross-institutional reading groups, and my current institutional home, the wonderful lake-side Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies at the University of Lucerne. My thanks especially to Olivia Barr, Kathleen Birrell, Shane Chalmers, Maria Elander, Steven Howe, Marett Leiboff, Kobi Leins, Antoinette Maget Dominicé, Desmond Manderson, Alice Palmer, Sophie Rigney and Valeria Vázquez Guevara. Thank you to Julia Volmer-Naumann for the copy of the Peter Holstein cartoon.

For their unfailing support, I would like to thank my parents, Mark and Kaye Petersen, and my brother Alex, as well as my extended family, especially DLP and Klaus and Irmtraud Lorenz. My aunty, Kerry Petersen, was an inspiration to me in different ways, and I am sad that she will not see these words in print. For their lovely friendship, I am sending hugs to Anna Avonlea, Elke Cummins, Tessa Fluence, Belinda Hill, Laura Mahoney, Julie McNamara, Josephine Struck and Dian Turner. Also thanks to Josie and Rachele (and Alex) for much-needed laughter amongst lunges and deadlifts. Finally, I cannot thank Gert enough for his incredible love, help and patience, and my love, always, to Elodie and Ottilia.

This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship, and a research grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) which enabled my stay at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. My thanks also for visiting fellowships funded by the University of Wollongong and the University of Lucerne and travel funding received from the University of Melbourne. The open access version was published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation.