Sovereign equality is one of the great utopias of international law, but also one of its great deceptions. Just like the equality of individuals, the principle of sovereign equality of States embodies a far-reaching promise – a promise to abolish all unjustified privileges based on power, religion, wealth, or historical accident, a promise to transcend the blatant injustices of the international system. This utopian aspiration has always been one of the most appealing aspects of international law, has contrasted it to the blunt realities of international politics, and has helped raise the hope that international law can serve as a “gentle civilizer” of nations. But its contrast to the reality of power made sovereign equality also seem empty and unreal, and made international lawyers often appear – as they did to Kant – as “sorry comforters.” Torn between aspiration and reality, sovereign equality came to occupy an uneasy place: although international law has embodied the aspiration of sovereign equality since the sixteenth century, it consistently interprets it in a very restrictive way. When it comes to concrete rules, sovereign equality has for the most part been reduced to a few norms ensuring some degree of formal equality – mainly the requirement of consent for lawmaking, and freedom from other States' jurisdiction.