The first civilian academic at the college, James R. Soley was appointed in 1885 to lecture on international law.
From 1946 to 1953, Professor Manley Hudson of Harvard regularly came from Cambridge to give the college's International Law lectures.
On 11 July 1951, the Chief of Naval Personnel approved the formal establishment of a full-time professorship to replace the part-time position.
On 6 October 1967, the Secretary of the Navy designated the academic post as the Charles H. Stockton Chair of International Law in honor of Rear Admiral Charles Stockton, President of the Naval War College (1891 and 1898–1900), who had been the US Navy's first uniformed expert in international law.
At that time, the Naval War College established the position of Charles H. Stockton Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, to be held by visiting scholars of the international academic distinction.