Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

A UNIQUE INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM. Robert Lansing..

763

THE INTERNATIONAL HIGH COMMISSION AND PAN-AMERICAN COÖPERATION.
W. G. McAdoo.....

772

SHALL THERE BE WAR AFTER THE WAR? THE ECONOMIC CONFERENCE AT
PARIS. John Bates Clark..

790

VIOLATION OF TREATIES: BAD FAITH, NONEXECUTION AND DISREGARD.
Denys P. Myers....

794

[blocks in formation]

The Kronprinzessin Cecilie and the Hague Convention VI. George Grafton
Wilson..

642

[blocks in formation]

CHRONICLE OF INTERNATIONAL EVENTS. Kathryn Sellers ......165, 424, 655, 857
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS RELATING TO INTERNATIONAL LAW. George A. Finch...
175, 440, 666, 867

JUDICIAL DECISIONS INVOLVING QUESTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW:

Costa Rica v. Nicaragua before the Central American Court of Justice...

The United States Supreme Court:

The Appam Case...

443

Salvador v. Nicaragua (Central American Court of Justice).

674

The Appam. (Imperial Prize Court at Hamburg)...

872

The Kronprinzessin Cecilie. (Supreme Court of the United States)......
Pearson v. Parson. (United States Circuit Court)....

874

877

Pearson v. Allis-Chalmers Co. (Circuit Court of Milwaukee County,
Wisconsin).

883

[blocks in formation]

Stowell and Monroe: International Cases, Arbitrations and Incidents

Illustrative of International Law as Practiced by Independent

States...

Bates: Les Traités Fédéraux et la Législation des États aux États-Unis.. 460

Baty and Morgan: War: Its Conduct and Legal Results....

PERIODICAL LITERATURE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. Kathryn Sellers. .246, 467,

747, 919

931

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW is supplied to all members
of the American Society of International Law without extra charge, as the member-
ship fee of five dollars per annum includes the right to all issues of the Journal
published during the year for which the dues are paid. (Members residing in foreign
countries pay one dollar extra per annum to cover foreign postage.)

The annual subscription to non-members of the Society is five dollars per an-
num (one dollar extra is charged for foreign postage), and should be placed with
the publishers, the Oxford University Press, American Branch, 35 West 32nd
Street, New York City.

Single copies of the JOURNAL will be supplied by the publishers at $1.25 per copy.
Applications for membership in the Society, correspondence with reference to
the JOURNAL, and books for review should be sent to James Brown Scott, Editor
In Chief, 2 Jackson Place, Washington, D. C.

CONFLICTS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW WITH NATIONAL

LAWS AND ORDINANCES

1

THE decision of the judicial committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain in the case of the Zamora will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the great triumphs of international law. In the midst of a war involving questions of national existence and, even more important, of the ideals which shall survive and determine the direction of the world's future political and social development, the law of nations has proved itself superior, in the courts of one of the belligerents, to a rule of military expediency promulgated in legal form by that belligerent government. In this case at least a British court has informed its government in unmistakable terms that Orders in Council governing the conduct of war must be in accord with international law or they will not be regarded as law for the prize courts.

2

This case again brings into prominence the perennial question of the relation of international to municipal law. Does it prove finally that international law is part of municipal law? It certainly shows that international law is regarded by the judicial committee as a body of rules and principles subject to judicial cognizance. But what reader of Triquet v. Bath, the Maria, the Charming Betsey, the Paquete Habana and West Rand Central Gold Mining Co. v. Rex can doubt that this has been an established rule of Anglo

3

1 The Zamora, L. R. 1916, 2 A. C. 77; this JOURNAL, 10; 427.

J. B. Scott and W. W. Willoughby, "The Legal Nature of Treaties," this JOURNAL, 1: 831, 2: 357; John Westlake, "Is International Law a part of the Law of England," Law Quar. Rev. 22: 14; C. M. Picciotto, The Relation of International Law to the Law of England and of the United States of America, N. Y., 1915; Quincy Wright, "The Enforcement of International Law through Municipal Law in the United States," Univ. of Ill. Studies in the Social Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1916, pp. 11, 219.

Triquet. Bath, 3 Burr. 1478 (1764); the Maria, 1 Rob. 340 (1799); the Charming Betsey, 2 Cranch 64 (1804); the Paquete Habana, 175 U. S. 677 (1899); West Rand Central Gold Mining Co. v. Rex, L. R. 1905, 2 K. B. 391, 407.

1

American jurisprudence for over a century? But the decision goes farther than this. It shows that international law is not only regarded as a source of law in British courts, but that, as compared with the law embodied in Orders in Council, it is a source of superior authority. Suppose, however, the text of the Order in Council had been embodied in an Act of Parliament. What then? The court in this case left no room for doubt that it would have applied the statute. The question whether international law is a part of municipal law, remains as it was before, a question of point of view and definition. The Austinian can still point out that in the Zamora the court was bound by the Prize Act of 1864,4 which specifically required it to apply international law, and hence the rule applied owed its authority, not to international law, but to an Act of Parliament inherently superior to an Order in Council. Hence he can conclude that the court did not apply international law per se, but only the rule of international law as commanded by the national sovereign.

On the other hand, the historical jurist can state that the authority of international law in British prize courts is of extremely complex origin, both historical and practical, and at any rate is beside the point at issue. The fact cannot be disputed that in this case international law was applied and not the Order in Council.

Define international and municipal law from the standpoint of the authorities which can repeal or amend their respective rules, and hence in a certain sense have commanded them, and they have nothing in common. Define them from the standpoint of the actual sources used in administering the two branches of law and they overlap. The first is the standpoint of the legislator, the second of the court. The legislator recognizes as law only that which he has made or at least can repeal. The judge recognizes everything as law which he can apply. The judge when applying principles deduced from a study of international practice does not doubt but that he is applying international law, but the legislator says "these principles cannot be international law, for I can compel the judge to apply others in their stead, and yet I have no authority to repeal or alter true international law."

27-28 Vict. Ch. 25, sec. 55, par. 5.

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »