Frieder Roessler devoted his professional career to international law and inter-governmental cooperation in international trade. He believed in cooperation, economic integration, and the international rule of law, as objectives for the promotion of world peace, justice, and prosperity. In the GATT Secretariat, he contributed importantly to improving the legal quality of GATT dispute settlement decisions and to strengthening the rule of law in the multilateral trading system. After 1995, he focused on international trade law being upheld towards and by developing countries. Frieder Roessler was an international civil servant who defended the highest standards of independence, impartiality, and integrity. His legacy is a deep understanding of GATT and WTO law, which he disseminated through his scholarship, and the quality and rigour of his lawyering. Frieder Roessler was a kind, approachable, warm person, committed, passionate, and faithful to his convictions. He generously shared his wisdom as interlocutor in stimulating legal discussions. All international trade lawyers can continue to learn enormously from him and his experiences.

In the opening chapter the volume editors reflect on the content of the book. They do so, by first touching upon the ideas the Editorial Board of the Netherlands Yearbook of International Law (NYIL) had in mind when opting for a volume on the issue of crisis, including such questions as: how international law reacts to crises and whether or not crises in daily realities also cause crises within separate international legal sub-disciplines. Next to that they summarize the eight chapters, followed by a reflection upon four topics and perspectives that come to the forefront when taking the contributions together and not reading them as reflections on separate trends in separate fields of international law. The four topics relate to: the role of crises in developing international law; do we do the things right or do we do the right things?; reconsidering and sharpening compliance; and the role of international lawyers.