[2] Participants in a meeting held on December 9, 1905, at the residence of Oscar S. Straus agreed to establish the ASIL.

[3][4] Charles Evans Hughes was president from 1924 to 1929 when he became judge on the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague.

[3] The organization was chartered by the United States Congress in 1950 to foster the study of international law, and to promote the establishment and maintenance of international relations on the basis of law and justice.

ASIL holds Category II Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO),[5] and is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies.

[6] ASIL is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Until 1911, the offices were in the home of James Brown Scott, a key figure in the association.