'
.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
DIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
AND
OFFICIAL COMMENTARY THEREON
OF THE
SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS
HELD IN WASHINGTON
DECEMBER 27, 1915 -JANUARY 8, 1916
EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTORY MATTER
BY
JAMES BROWN SCOTT
DIRECTOR
NEW YORK
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 WEST 32ND STREET
London, Toronto, Melbourne and Bombay
HUMPHREY MILFORD
1916
COPYRIGHT 1916
BY THE
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
BYRON 8. ADAM*. PRINTER
WASHINGTON. D. C.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA COLLEGE LIBRARY
PREFATORY NOTE
The present little volume contains recommendations of the Second
Pan American Scientific Congress relating to international law, as they
appear in the Final Act of the Congress, and they are accompanied by
that part of the official report, prepared by the undersigned, explain-
ing, interpreting, and justifying them, if perchance they need justifica-
tion. The last three resolutions can not in strictness be said to relate
to international law, and yet, as they are law and deal with legal mat-
ters, they have been retained.
The introduction to this portion of the official report states that the
articles are based upon the resolutions adopted by the Conference of
American Teachers of International Law, held at Washington, April
23-25, 1914, upon the invitation of the American Society of Interna-
tional Law, and it has been thought well to include these resolutions
in the little volume in order that the relation between them may be
noted. The Conference of Teachers directed that Mr. Root's article
on the need of popular understanding of international law, contributed
to the first number of the American Journal of International Law,
which appeared in 1907, and his address on opening the Conference as
its president, should be published with the resolutions. They are there-
fore prefixed to them and, together with the resolutions of the Con-
ference, form the introduction to the recommendations of the Pan
American Scientific Congress.
The preface to the proceedings of the Conference of American
Teachers of International Law states the aims and purposes of its
promoters to be
To consider what measures, if any, could properly be taken
to arouse a greater interest in international law where taught in
American institutions of learning; to secure its introduction in
American institutions of learning where it is not taught; to call
attention to its importance to lawyers in the practice of their pro-
fession ; and to suggest the advisability of a knowledge of its prin-
ciples for admission to the bar; and to show, finally, the necessity
of an understanding of the subject by the public at large, which
in a democracy such as ours determines in the ultimate resort the
foreign policy of the United States.
It was felt that none were more competent than the teachers of
international law to consider these various questions and to reach
wise conclusions upon them, and that any suggestions concerning
11 PREFATORY NOTE
the teaching of international law in American institutions of learn-
ing should properly come from the teachers themselves rather than
from those not engaged in the teaching of international law. It
was believed — and the proceedings of the conference show that
the belief was justified — that a conference of teachers of our lead-
ing colleges and universities, in which these subjects could be
carefully discussed and considered, would result in fruitful recom-
mendations, and that the teaching profession generally would be
able in conference to agree upon recommendations acceptable to
the teachers, because the recommendations in question were for-
mulated by the teachers themselves, and acceptable to the public,
because of the confidence which the public must necessarily have
in the results reached by experts.
The statements contained in the above extracts are believed to apply
to the American republics generally as well as to the particular one
of them in which the conference was held, and it was thought advis-
able to include in Section VI of the program of the Pan American
Scientific Congress, devoted to international law, public law, and juris-
prudence, topics which necessarily involve a consideration of increased
efficiency in the teaching of international law and the means whereby
its principles could be popularized in each of the American countries.
The following are the most important of these topics :
The study of international law in American countries and the
means by which it may be made more effective.
How can the people of the American countries best be impressed
with the duties and responsibilities of the state in international
law?
Are there specific American problems of international law?
The proceedings of the Conference of American Teachers of Inter-
national Law were translated into Spanish and laid before the members
of the section, with the result that these resolutions, of a general nature
and applicable to the American republics as a whole, were adopted by
the Congress with the recommendation that they be carried into effect.
These recommendations will not, it is believed, fall upon deaf ears, be-
cause the American Society of International Law approved in their
entirety the resolutions of the Conference of Teachers, agreed to comply
with some of them, and recommended others to the Division of Inter-
national Law of the Carnegie Endowment, in the hope that means
PREFATORY NOTE 111
would be found to render the resolutions effective. The action taken
by the American Society of International Law and by the Executive
Committee of the Carnegie Endowment to give effect to the resolutions
are thus stated by the Director of the Division of International Law in
the report of his Division for 1915:
The Society called a special meeting of its Executive Committee
to consider and take action upon the recommendations, and the
Committee met on November 7, 1914. The recommendations
were divided by the Executive Committee of the Society into four
classes: First, those which the Society was able and willing to
carry out upon its own account. This class included Resolutions
Nos. 2-c, 8, 9 and 11. Secondly, those which required detailed
consideration before action could be taken upon them. They in-
cluded Resolutions Nos. 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Thirdly,
those which the Executive Committee of the Society did not regard
as coming within its sphere as a purely scientific and professional
organization. This referred especially to Resolution No. 2-d.
Lastly, those which the Society approved, but which it was not able,
on account of the expense and labor involved, to undertake with
the limited means at its disposal. These included Resolutions Nos.
2-a, 2-b, 2-e and 5.
In compliance with the suggestion contained in Resolution No.
1 of the Conference, the Executive Committee of the Society ap-
pointed the following members as a Standing Committee on the
Study and Teaching of International Law and Related Subjects:
Chairman, Professor George G. Wilson of Harvard University
Professor Philip Brown of Princeton University
Professor Amos S. Hershey of Indiana University
Professor Charles Cheney Hyde of Northwestern University
Professor Harry Pratt Judson of the University of Chicago
Honorable Robert Lansing, Counselor for the Department of
State
Professor Jesse S. Reeves of the University of Michigan
Mr. Alpheus H. Snow of Washington, D. C.
Secretary ex officio, Mr. James Brown Scott, recording secretary
of the Society
To this Committee were referred for detailed consideration the
resolutions and recommendations mentioned in the second class
above referred to. As to the recommendations contained in the
first class, which the Society was able and willing to carry out
on its own account, the following action was taken: Resolution
No. 2-c to be carried out by printing the documents referred to
as far as possible in the Supplement to the American Journal of
International Law. Resolution No. 8 was directed to be carried
IT PREFATORY NOTE
out by the recording secretary of the Society, and he has since
carried out the direction by transmitting the opinion of the Con-
ference expressed in the resolution referred to every teacher of
political science, law, history, political economy and sociology in
the United States, accompanied by the remarks of the Honorable
Elihu Root on opening the Conference and a reprint of his article
entitled, "The need of popular understanding of international
law," which appeared in volume 1 of the American Journal of In-
ternational Law. As to Resolution No. 9, the recording secre-
tary of the Society was further directed to transmit a copy of the
said resolution to all law schools of the United States, and he has
since carried out the direction. The recording secretary was
further directed to transmit to the American Bar Association the
request of the Conference that that Association take appropriate
action toward including international law among the subjects
taught in law schools and required for admission to the bar. This
direction has also been complied with.
The foregoing action of the executive committee of the Society
was reported by the Director to the Executive Committee of
the Endowment at its meeting on January 9, 1915, and the Com-
mittee, after carefully considering the resolutions of the Confer-
ence and the recommendations of the Society thereon, took the
following action:
As to the recommendations which the Society approved, but
which it did not feel able, on account of the expense and labor in-
volved, to undertake itself, the Committee directed that these
projects be included in the work of the Division of International
Law of the Endowment and authorized the Director to report to
the Committee from time to time any sums which might be neces-
sary to carry out the said projects, which include the publication
of a bibliography of international law, an index-digest of inter-
national law, and a law reporter of international cases, referred
to in Resolution 2, sections a, b, and e. The time which has
elapsed since this action of the Executive Committee has been
so limited that it has not been practicable to work out the details
of these projects, and it is therefore impracticable to submit esti-
mates for carrying them out. If the sums included in the esti-
mates are appropriated by the Board, however, the Division will
have sufficient funds at its disposal at least to start these projects
during the next fiscal year should such action meet with the ap-
proval of the Executive Committee. The Director's report for
last year (Year Book, 1913-14, p. 167) contained a paragraph de-
voted to the proposition of the publication of a bibliography of
international law, showing its great usefulness and the care with
which it must be prepared. The proposition of establishing an in-
ternational reporter containing decisions of national courts in-
volving principles of international law was also dealt with in the
PREFATORY NOTE V
same report (Year Book, 1913-14, pp. 136-138) and the necessity
pointed out of devoting very great consideration to the details of
the project. The action of the Conference of Teachers in making
an independent recommendation on these two subjects is very
gratifying, as confirming the Director's previous recommenda-
tions, and it is hoped that it will be possible in the next report to
show considerable progress in the realization of the projects.
As to Resolution No. 5, which the Society also approved, but
which it was unable to carry out, namely, the recommenda-
tion for the establishment of fellowships at the Academy of In-
ternational Law at The Hague, the Committee requested the
Director of the Division of International Law to present at an
opportune time a practicable plan for the realization of the project,
and this will be done when conditions in Europe permit the open-
ing and operation of the Academy.
The recommendation of the Conference included in paragraph
d of Resolution No. 2, for the publication from time to time of
reliable information upon international questions, which the So-
ciety thought did not properly come within its sphere as a purely
scientific and professional organization, the Committee directed
be referred to the American Association for International Concilia-
tion, which is more immediately engaged in the work of propa-
ganda, to be carried out by that Association so far as may be
practicable.
The Committee further approved the recommendations con-
tained in Resolutions Nos. 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15, which
have been referred to the Standing Committee of the Society on
the Study and Teaching of International Law and Related Sub-
jects for detailed consideration, and expressed its willingness
to cooperate in carrying them into effect.
The Executive Committee at the same time expressed on behalf
of the Trustees, its cordial appreciation of and sincere thanks for
the cooperation of the Society in this matter, and, further, approved
as a whole the work of the Conference of Teachers and the full
set of resolutions and recommendations adopted by it.
The Standing Committee on the Study and Teaching of Interna-
tional Law and Related Subjects, of which Dr. George G. Wilson,
professor of international law at Harvard University, is chairman, has
during the past year carefully considered the steps to be taken to carry
into effect the resolutions of the Conference of Teachers and will re-
port its recommendations to the tenth annual meeting of the Ameri-
can Society of International Law, to be held in Washington in April,
1916; and it is both hoped and expected that a serious beginning
will be made during the course of the present year to carry into effect
VI PREFATORY NOTE
the resolutions of the Teachers' Conference. It is also believed that
the recommendations of the Standing Committee will be of value to
American countries other than the United States, inasmuch as the
recommendations of the Congress are for the most part identical in
substance, if slightly differing in form, with the resolutions of the
Conference of Teachers; and, just as the American Society of Inter-
national Law, under whose auspices the Conference of Teachers of
International Law was held, stands ready to cooperate with the Car-
negie Endowment in such measures as may seem calculated to render
these resolutions effective, so the American Institute of International
Law, composed of five publicists of each of the twenty-one American
republics and the national societies of international law founded and
already existing in the twenty republics to the south of us, stands
ready to cooperate and to carry into effect the resolutions of the Con-
ference of Teachers and the recommendations of the Congress as far
as it may be possible in their respective countries.
The need of a knowledge of international law and its application in
the affairs of nations was never greater than now, and the language
of a recent report presented to the American Institute of Interna-
tional Law, although addressed by the new to the old Institute, appeals
with even greater force, to the Old World. Thus it is said:
When, at a tragic moment in the history of the world, the
Institut de Droit International, largely composed of those who are
at present belligerents, is silent, it is for our Institute, composed of
neutrals, in the name of neutrals, to make the voice of the Law
heard, not with that prestige perhaps which will come to it later
with age and experience, but with all the authority that springs
from the impartial inspiration of science and of the universal
juridical conscience.
The present volume will be issued in Spanish, Portuguese, and
French, as well as English, and will be widely circulated in the Ameri-
can republics where these different languages are spoken, so that the rec-
ommendations relating to international law contained in the Final Act
of the Second Pan American Scientific Congress will be brought within
the reach of all who may care to read them and who, having read,
may, in the interest of our common humanity, be minded to put them
into effect
JAMES BROWN SCOTT,
Director of the Division of International Law.
WASHINGTON, D. C,
February 28, 1916.
CONTENTS
Page
Prefatory Note i
The Need of Popular Understanding of International Law, by
Elihu Root 1
Opening Address of the Honorable Elihu Root at the Conference
of Teachers of International Law and Related Subjects. ... 4
Resolutions and Recommendations of the Conference of Teachers
of International Law and Related Subjects 7
Recommendations on International Law adopted by the Second
Pan American Scientific Congress 17
Official Commentary on the Recommendations on International
Law of the Second Pan American Scientific Congress 22
THE NEED OF POPULAR UNDERSTANDING OF
INTERNATIONAL LAW1
BY
ELIHU ROOT
The increase of popular control over national conduct, which marks
the political development of our time, makes it constantly more im-
portant that the great body of the people in each country should have
a just conception of their international rights and duties.
Governments do not make war nowadays unless assured of general
and hearty support among their people; and it sometimes happens
that governments are driven into war against their will by the pressure
of strong popular feeling. It is not uncommon to see two governments
striving in the most conciliatory and patient way to settle some matter
of difference peaceably, while a large part of the people in both coun-
tries maintain an uncompromising and belligerent attitude, insisting
upon the extreme and uttermost view of their own rights in a way
which, if it were to control national action, would render peaceable
settlement impossible.
One of the chief obstacles to the peaceable adjustment of inter-
national controversies is the fact that the negotiator or arbitrator who
yields any part of the extreme claims of his own country and concedes
the reasonableness of any argument of the other side is quite likely
to be violently condemned by great numbers of his own countrymen
who have never taken the pains to make themselves familiar with the
merits of the controversy or have considered only the arguments on
their own side. Sixty-four years have passed since the northeastern
boundary between the United States and Canada was settled by the
Webster-Ashburton treaty of 1842; yet to this day there are many
people on our side of the line who condemn Mr. Webster for sacrificing
'Our rights, and many people on the Canadian side of the line who
blame Lord Ashburton for sacrificing their rights, in that treaty. Both
sets of objectors can not be right ; it seems a fair inference that neither
of them is right; yet both Mr. Webster and Lord Ashburton had to
endure reproach and obloquy as the price of agreeing upon a settle-
Reprinted from the American Journal of International Law, vol. 1, 1907,
2 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
ment which has been worth to the peace and prosperity of each country
a thousand times as much as the value of all the territory that was
in dispute.
In the great business of settling international controversies without
war, whether it be by negotiation or arbitration, essential conditions
are reasonableness and good temper, a willingness to recognize facts
and to weigh arguments which make against one's own country as
well as those which make for one's own country; and it is very im-
portant that in every country the people whom negotiators represent
and to whom arbitrators must return, shall be able to consider the
controversy and judge the action of their representatives in this in-
structed and reasonable way.
One means to bring about this desirable condition is to increase the
general public knowledge of international rights and duties and to pro-
mote a popular habit of reading and thinking about international
affairs. The more clearly the people of a country understand their
own international rights the less likely they are to take extreme and
extravagant views of their rights and the less likely they are to be
ready to fight for something to which they are not really entitled. The
more clearly and universally the people of a country realize the inter-
national obligations and duties of their country, the less likely they will
be to resent the just demands of other countries that those obligations
and duties be observed. The more familiar the people of a country are
with the rules and customs of self-restraint and courtesy between
nations which long experience has shown to be indispensable for pre-
serving the peace of the world, the greater will be the tendency to re-
frain from publicly discussing controversies with other countries in
such a way as to hinder peaceful settlement by wounding sensibilities
or arousing anger and prejudice on the other side.
In every civil community it is necessary to have courts to determine
rights and officers to compel observance of the law ; yet the true basis
of the peace and order in which we live is not fear of the policeman ;
it is the self-restraint of the thousands of people who make up the
community and their willingness to obey the law and regard the rights
of others. The true basis of business is not the sheriff with a writ of
execution; it is the voluntary observance of the rules and obligations
of business life which are universally recognized as essential to business
success. Just so while it is highly important to have controversies
between nations settled by arbitration rather than by war, and the
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW 3
growth of sentiment in favor of that peaceable method of settlement
is one of the great advances in civilization to the credit of this genera-
tion ; yet the true basis of peace among men is to be found in a just
and considerate spirit among the people who rule our modern democra-
cies, in their regard for the rights of other countries, and in their
desire to be fair and kindly in the treatment of the subjects which give
rise to international controversies.
Of course it can not be expected that the whole body of any people
will study international law ; but a sufficient number can readily become
sufficiently familiar with it to lead and form public opinion in every
community in our country upon all important international questions
as they arise.
OPENING ADDRESS OF THE HONORABLE ELIHU ROOT
AT THE
CONFERENCE OF TEACHERS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
AND RELATED SUBJECTS1
Gentlemen : It gives me very great pleasure to welcome you to par-
ticipation in this, the Conference of Teachers of International Law
and Related Subjects, held in connection with the Eighth Annual
Meeting of the American Society of International Law, and to express
the grateful appreciation of the officers and members of the Society
to the instructors in international law who have left their customary
duties, to come here for the purpose of taking part in this conference.
The invitation which led to this meeting had its origin in a resolu-
tion which was offered by that honored and admired leader in Ameri-
can education, Mr. Andrew D. White, at a meeting of the Trustees of
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. One of the divi-
sions of work established under that trust is the Division of Inter-
national Law, of which Dr. James Brown Scott is the head; and
Mr. White, responding to the double impulse of his old enthusiasm
as a teacher and organizer of education and as a diplomatist, as the
representative of his country at the court of Germany, and as the
first delegate of his country to the First Hague Conference, offered
this resolution:
Resolved, That the Executive Committee be directed to propose
and carry out, subject to the approval of this Board, a plan for
the propagation, development, maintenance and increase of sound,
progressive and fruitful ideas on the subject of arbitration and in-
ternational law and history as connected with arbitration, es-
pecially through addresses or courses of lectures delivered before
the leading universities, colleges and law schools of the United
States, and to report on the same at the next regular meeting of
the Board, or, should the Committee think best, at a special meet-
ing to be called for that purpose.
In taking the first steps in compliance with this resolution, the Ex-
ecutive Committee found it desirable to ascertain, as a basis of action,
1The Conference of Teachers was held under the auspices of the American
Society of International Law, and the above address is reprinted from the
Proceedings of the Society for 1914, p. 250.
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW 5
what was already being done in the United States along the lines indi-
cated by the resolution; and, accordingly, an inquiry was set on foot
and prosecuted, in which was developed the state of education upon
this subject in all the leading colleges and universities and law schools
of the country, and a very full report was made upon that subject.
The consideration of the facts developed by that report led to the
conclusion that the program, the method of procedure, the scope of
enterprise and activity in the spirit of Mr. White's resolution, were
something that no individual and no committee organized for any other
purpose, as was the Executive Committee of the Peace Endowment,
could properly handle, could adequately deal with; and, accordingly,
the suggestion was made that the American Society of International
Law, which deals specifically with the subject-matter of the resolution,
should take it up, and that the men who know best what is needed and
how that shall be done and can be done, should come together and
confer upon the subject. So you see that the initial impulse which
brings you here is a source which must be respected by every Ameri-
can educator, and has a purpose which is certified to by the highest
ability and the broadest experience.
I will detain you from the practical work which lies before you in
organizing the conference, by only a single suggestion. The putting of
instruction in international law in American educational institutions on
a broader basis, giving it a wider scope and greater efficiency, is not a
mere matter of book learning. It is not a mere matter of science. It
is a matter of patriotic duty.
More and more, as the years follow one another with the swiftness
of our modern life, democracy is coming to its own. More and more
the people, the men on the farms and in the shops, the men with the
pick and shovel in their hands, are assuming the direction of the oper-
ations of government, both internal and external. More and more
they are directly responsible for the operations of government. Presi-
dents and Congresses more and more look for immediate response
from constituencies upon the most difficult and intricate questions in
the foreign relations of the country, questions the right solution of
which requires broad knowledge, which can not be solved by the im-
pressions of the moment, which can not be solved by emotional re-
sponse to oratory.
I think no one can study the movement of the times without real-
izing that the democracy of the world — for it is not alone in this
country — is realizing its rights in advance of its realization of its
duties. And that way lies disaster. That way lies hideous wrong.
6 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
That way lies the exercise of the mighty powers of modern democracies
to destroy themselves, to destroy the vitality of the principles upon
which they depend. And there is no duty more incumbent to-day upon
the men whose good fortune has made it possible for them to acquire
a broader knowledge upon the subjects with which democracy deals,
than to become themselves leaders of opinion and teachers of their
people. Unless the popular will responds to the instructed and com-
petent leadership of opinion upon the vital questions of our foreign
relations, the worst impulses of democracy will control. At the bottom
of wise and just action lies an understanding of national rights and
national duties. Half the wars of history have come because of mis-
taken opinions as to national rights and national obligations, have come
from the unthinking assumption that all the right is on the side of one's
own country, all the duty on the side of some other country. Now I
say the thing most necessary for the good of our country in the foreign
relations which are growing every year more and more intricate and
critical, is that there shall be intelligent leadership of opinion as to
national rights and national obligations; and nobody can bring that
about as the educators of America can bring it about. It is in the hope
that you will be able to organize, to give direction and wise guidance
to a systematic movement to accomplish this good service for our
country, that I take the deepest interest in this conference, and bid you
God-speed in your labors.
RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
OF THE
CONFERENCE OF TEACHERS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
AND RELATED SUBJECTS1
WHEREAS, The American Society of International Law, founded
for the purpose of fostering the study of international law and of
promoting the establishment of international relations upon the basis
of law and justice, desiring the more effectually to further these
objects, decided to call a Conference of Teachers of International
Law and Related Subjects, to consider the present position and steps
for the future development of that study, and, to that end, invited
leading educational institutions of the United States to send dele-
gates to take part in such conference; and
WHEREAS, Forty-one colleges and universities accepted the afore-
said invitation and sent representatives to take part in the conference
as follows:
Boston University:
Brown University:
University of California:
University of Chicago:
Clark University:
Cornell University:
Dartmouth College :
Dickinson College:
George Washington University:
University of Georgia:
Hamilton College:
Harvard University:
University of Illinois:
John Hopkins University:
University of Kansas :
Lafayette College:
Lehigh University :
JAMES F. COLBY
JAMES C. DUNNING
ORRIN K. MCMURRAY
ERNST FREUND
GEORGE H. BLAKESLEE
SAMUEL P. ORTH
f JAMES F. COLBY
1 FRANK A. UPDYKE
EUGENE A. NOBLE
J CHARLES NOBLE GREGORY
(.C. H. STOCKTON
H. A. Nix
FRANK H. WOOD
( EUGENE WAMBAUGH
j GEORGE G. WILSON
JAMES W. GARNER
JAMES BROWN SCOTT
F. H. HODDER
E. D. WARFIELD
JOHN L. STEWART
1Reprinted from the Proceedings of the American Society of International
Law, 1914, pp. 315 et seq.
8
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
Louisiana State University :
University of Michigan:
University of Minnesota :
University of Missouri:
University of Nebraska:
College of the City of New York :
New York University:
Northwestern University:
University of Notre Dame:
Oberlin College:
University of Pennsylvania:
University of Pittsburgh:
Princeton University:
Swarthmore College:
Syracuse University :
University of Texas:
Tufts College:
Union College:
University of Virginia :
Washington University:
Western Reserve University :
University of West Virginia :
University of Wisconsin:
Yale Universitv:
ARTHUR T. PRESCOTT
JESSE S. REEVES
WILLIAM A. SCHAPER
JOHN D. LAWSON
EDWIN MAXEY
WALTER E. CLARK
F. W. AYMAR
CHARLES CHENEY HYDE
WILLIAM HOYNES
KARL F. GEISER
LEO S. ROWE
FRANCIS N. THORPE
PHILIP BROWN
WILLIAM I. HULL
EARL E. SPERRY
WILLIAM R. MANNING
ARTHUR I. ANDREWS
CHARLES J. HERRICK
RALEIGH C. MINOR
EDWARD C. ELIOT
FRANCIS W. DICKEY
JAMES M. CALLAHAN
STANLEY K. HORNBECK
GORDON E. SHERMAN ;
and
WHEREAS, The said representatives, duly accredited, convened in
the city of Washington, District of Columbia, and at a series of
meetings held on Thursday, April 23, 1914, Friday, April 24, 1914,
and Saturday, April 25, 1914, considered the following questions:
1. Plans for increasing the facilities for the study of inter-
national law ; for placing the instruction on a more uniform
and scientific basis ; and for drawing the line between under-
graduate and graduate instruction.
2. The question of requiring a knowledge of the elements of
international law for candidates for advanced degrees.
3. The advisability of urging all institutions with graduate
courses in law to add a course in international law where
not already given.
4. The advisability of calling the attention of the State bar
examiners to the importance of requiring some knowledge
of the elements of international law in examinations for
admission to the bar.
5. The advisability of requesting the American Bar Associ-
ation, through its appropriate committee, to consider the
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW 9
question of including the study of international law in its
recommendations for a deeper and wider training for ad-
mission to the bar.
6. The desirability and feasibility of plans for securing the
services of professors or of lecturers on international law to
whom can be assigned definite lecture periods in institutions
where international law is not now taught or is inadequately
taught — the services to rotate between institutions where
they will be acceptable.
7. The advisability of requesting universities which now have
summer schools to include among the subjects offered
courses on the elements of international law, and, if there
be occasion for it, to offer advanced courses of interest and
profit for advanced students and instructors.
Now THEREFORE, The Conference of Teachers of International
Law and Related Subjects, after careful consideration and detailed
examination in committee and thorough discussion in the full sessions
of the Conference, unanimously adopts the following resolutions, in
the belief that the recommendations contained therein, if carried into
effect, will maintain, develop, and increase sound, progressive and
fruitful ideas on international law and related subjects:
RESOLUTION No. 1
Resolved, That the Conference of Teachers of International Law
and Related Subjects hereby recommends to the American Society
of International Law the appointment of a Standing Committee of
the Society on the Study and Teaching of International Law and
Related Subjects, upon lines suggested by the recommendations of
the Conference.
RESOLUTION No. 2 [ARTICLE 231]
Resolved, That, in order to increase the facilities for the study of
international law, the Conference hereby recommends that the follow-
ing steps be taken to improve and enlarge library and reference
facilities :
(a) That a carefully prepared bibliography of international law
and related subjects be published, with the names of publishers and
prices so far as these may be obtainable, with especial reference to
the needs of poorly endowed libraries.
1 Articles on the same subject adopted by the Second Pan American Scientific
Congress are indicated in brackets.
10 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
(b) That there be published likewise a carefully prepared index
or digest of the various heads and sub-heads in international law,
with references to all standard sources of authority upon each head.
(c) That there be published in a cheap and convenient form all
documents of state, both foreign and domestic, especially Latin
American, bearing upon international law, including treaties, docu-
ments relating to arbitration, announcements of state policy, and
diplomatic correspondence, and that the aid of the Department of
State be solicited in securing copies of such documents for publication.
(d) That at short intervals a bulletin be published, containing
excerpts from the Congressional Record and other current sources,
giving reliable information upon international questions arising from
time to time and the final disposition of such questions.
(e) That a law reporter of international cases be issued.
RESOLUTION No. 3 [ARTICLE 24]
Resolved, That, in order further to increase the facilities for the
study of international law, the Conference recommends that steps be
taken to extend the study of that subject by increasing the number
of schools at which courses in international law are given, by increas-
ing the number of students in attendance upon the courses, and by
diffusing a knowledge of its principles in the community at large, and,
more particularly:
(a) That, as the idea of direct government by the people grows,
it becomes increasingly essential to the well-being of the world that
the leaders of opinion in each community be familiar with the rights
and obligations of states, with respect to one another, as recognized
in international law. Hence, it has become a patriotic duty, resting
upon our educational institutions, to give as thorough and as extensive
courses as possible in this subject.
(b) That a course in international law, where possible, should
consist of systematic instruction extending over at least a full aca-
demic year, divided between international law and diplomacy.
(c) That prominent experts in international law be invited from
time to time to lecture upon the subject at the several institutions.
RESOLUTION No. 4 [ARTICLE 25]
Resolved, That, with a view of placing instruction in international
law upon a more uniform and scientific basis, the Conference makes
the following recommendations:
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW 11
(a) In the teaching of international law emphasis should be laid on
the positive nature of the subject and the definiteness of the rules.
Whether we regard the teaching of value as a disciplinary subject
or from the standpoint of its importance in giving to the student a
grasp of the rules that govern the relations between nations, it is im-
portant that he have impressed upon his mind the definiteness and
positive character of the rules of international law. The teaching
of international law should not be made the occasion for a universal
peace propaganda. The interest of students and their enthusiasm for
the subject can best be aroused by impressing upon them the evolu-
tionary character of the rules of international law. Through such a
presentation of the subject the student will not fail to see how the
development of positive rules of law governing the relations between
states has contributed towards the maintenance of peace.
(b) In order to emphasize the positive character of international
law, the widest possible use should be made of cases and concrete facts
in international experience.
The interest of students can best be aroused when they are convinced
that they are dealing with the concrete facts of international experi-
ence. The marshaling of such facts in such a way as to develop or
illustrate general principles lends a dignity to the subject which can
not help but have a stimulating influence.
Hence, international law should be constantly illustrated from those
sources which are recognized as ultimate authority, such as: (a) cases,
both of judicial and arbitral determination; (b) treaties, protocols,
acts, and declarations of epoch-making congresses, such as Westphalia
(1648), Vienna (1815), Paris (1856), The Hague (1899 and 1907),
and London (1909) ; (c) diplomatic incidents ranking as precedents
for action of an international character; (d) the great classics of
international law.
(c) In the teaching of international law care should be exercised
to distinguish the accepted rules of international law from questions
of international policy.
This is particularly true of the teaching of international law in
American institutions. There is a tendency to treat as rules of inter-
national law certain principles of American foreign policy. It is im-
portant that the line of division be clearly appreciated by the student.
Courses in the foreign policy of the United States should therefore be
12 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
distinctly separated from the courses in international law, and the
principles of American foreign policy, when discussed in courses of
international law, should always be tested by the rules which have
received acceptance amongst civilized nations.
(d) In a general course on international law the experience of no
one country should be allowed to assume a consequence out of propor-
tion to the strictly international principles it may illustrate.
RESOLUTION No. 5 [ARTICLE 26]
Resolved, That the Conference recommends that a major in inter-
national law in a university course leading to the degree of doctor
of philosophy be followed, if possible, by residence at The Hague
and attendance upon the Academy of International Law which is to
be established in that city; that it is the sense of the Conference that
no better means could possibly be devised for affording a just appreci-
ation of the diverse national views of the system of international
law or for developing that "international mind" which is so essential
in a teacher of that subject ; and that therefore as many fellowships
as possible should be established in the Academy at The Hague,
especially for the benefit of American teachers and practitioners of
international law.
RESOLUTION No. 6 [ARTICLE 27]
Resolved, That it is the conviction of this Conference that the
present development of higher education in the United States and the
place which the United States has now assumed in the affairs of the
Society of Nations justify and demand that the study of the science
and historic applications of international law take its place on a plane
of equality with other subjects in the curriculum of colleges and uni-
versities and that professorships or departments devoted to its study
should be established in every institution of higher learning.
RESOLUTION No. 7
Resolved, That, in order adequately to draw the line between under-
graduate and graduate instruction in international law, the Conference
makes the following recommendations:
Assuming that the undergraduate curriculum includes a course in
international law, as recommended in Resolution No. 6, the Confer-
ence suggests that graduate instruction in international law concerns
three groups of students :
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW 13
(a) Graduate students in law;
(b) Graduate students in international law and political science;
(c) Graduate students whose major subjects for an advanced
degree are in other fields, for example, history or economics.
The first two groups of students have a professional interest in
international law, many having in view the teaching of the subject,
its practice, or the public service. Therefore, as to them, the Con-
ference recommends that the graduate work offered be distinctively
of original and research character, somewhat as outlined in Resolu-
tion No. 4, following a preliminary training in the fundamental prin-
ciples of the subject, as pursued in the undergraduate course or
courses.
As to those of the third group, having less professional interest
in international law, a broad general course in the subject is recom-
mended.
RESOLUTION No. 8
Resolved, That this Conference directs that a letter be sent to
teachers of political science, law, history, political economy and soci-
ology throughout the country calling attention to and emphasizing
the essential and fundamental importance of a knowledge of inter-
national law on the part of students in those branches, which letter
shall state the opinion of this Conference that every college of liberal
arts, every graduate school and every law school, should have or
make provision for courses in international law and urge that all
graduate students working in the above mentioned fields be advised
to include this subject in their courses of study.
Resolved, That, in accordance with the preceding resolution, there
be prepared and sent out with this letter reprints of Senator Root's
article entitled "The need of popular understanding of international
law," which appeared in vol. 1 of the American Journal of Inter-
national Law, and of his address delivered at the opening of this
Conference.
Resolved, That the Recording Secretary of the American Society
of International Law attend to the drafting, printing and distribution
of the above specified letter and reprints and that he is hereby au-
thorized, if he sees fit, to send out additional literature therewith.
RESOLUTION No. 9 [ARTICLE 28]
Resolved, That, in recognition of the growing importance of a
knowledge of international law to all persons who plan to devote
14 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
themselves to the administration of justice, and who, through their
professional occupation, may contribute largely to the formation of
public opinion and who often will be vested with the highest offices
in the State and nation, this Conference earnestly requests all law
schools which now offer no instruction in international law to add
to their curriculum a thorough course in that subject.
Resolved further, That a copy of this resolution be sent to all law
schools in the United States.
RESOLUTION No. 10
Resolved, That the Conference hereby calls the attention of the
State bar examiners and of the bodies whose duty it is to prescribe
the subjects of examination, to the importance of requiring some
knowledge of the elements of international law in examinations for
admission to the bar, and urges them to make international law one
of the prescribed subjects.
RESOLUTION No. 11
Resolved, That the Conference hereby requests the American Bar
Association to take appropriate action toward including international
law among the subjects taught in law schools and required for ad-
mission to the bar.
RESOLUTION No. 12 [ARTICLE 29]
Resolved, That the Conference hereby adopts the following recom-
mendations :
(a) That it is desirable, upon the initiative of institutions where
instruction in international law is lacking, to take steps toward pro-
viding such instruction by visiting professors or lecturers, this instruc-
tion to be given in courses, and not in single lectures, upon sub-
stantive principles, not upon popular questions of momentary interest,
and in a scientific spirit, not in the interest of any propaganda ;
(b) That members of the American Society of International Law,
qualified by professional training, be invited by the Executive Council
or the Executive Committee of the Society to give such courses, and
that provision be made, through the establishment of lectureships
or otherwise, to bear the necessary expenses of the undertaking;
(c) That the Standing Committee on the Study and Teaching of
International Law and Related Subjects of the American Society of
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW 15
International Law, the appointment of which was recommended in
Resolution No. 1, be requested to ascertain what institutions are in
need of additional instruction in international law and endeavor to
find means of affording such assistance as may be necessary to the
teaching staff of the said institutions or of supplying this additional
instruction by lecturers chosen by the said Committee and approved by
the Executive Council or Executive Committee;
(d) That steps be taken to bring to the attention of every college
at present not offering instruction in international law the importance
of this subject and the readiness of the American Society of Inter-
national Law, through its Standing Committee on the Study and
Teaching of International Law and Related Subjects, to cooperate
with such institutions in introducing or stimulating instruction.
RESOLUTION No. 13
Resolved, That this Conference hereby requests and recommends
that universities having summer schools offer summer courses in inter-
national law.
Resolved further, That the American Society of International Law,
through its Standing Committee on the Study and Teaching of Inter-
national Law and Related Subjects, is hereby requested to endeavor
to stimulate a demand for courses in international law in summer
schools.
RESOLUTION No. 14 [ARTICLE 30]
Resolved, That the Conference recommends the establishment and
encouragement in collegiate institutions of specialized courses in prep-
aration for the diplomatic and consular services.
RESOLUTION No. 15 [ARTICLE 31]
Resolved, That the Conference recommends that the study of inter-
national law be required in specialized courses in preparation for
business.
RESOLUTION No. 16
Resolved, That a Committee of Revision, consisting of ten mem-
bers, of which Mr. James Brown Scott shall be chairman ex officio,
be appointed by the Chair for the revision in matters of form of
the various resolutions and recommendations made to this Conference
by the different committees and subcommittees and adopted by it.
16 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
the said Committee of Revision to send a copy of the said resolutions
and recommendations to every law school, college and university in the
United States and to the American Society of International Law,
through its Executive Council or Executive Committee, for such
action as will serve to effectuate the recommendations of the Con-
ference.
The undersigned, members of the Committee of Revision, duly
appointed in accordance with Resolution No. 16, having carefully
considered the resolutions and recommendations referred to them by
the Conference, have prepared them in the foregoing form, and
direct that they be transmitted by the Chairman of the Committee
to the institutions and Society mentioned in Resolution No. 16.
JAMES BROWN SCOTT, Chairman,
ROBERT BACON,
GEORGE H. BLAKESLEE,
PHILIP BROWN,
JAMES F. COLBY,
EDWARD C. ELIOT,
JOHN W. FOSTER,
WILLIAM I. HULL,
JOHN D. LAWSON,
WILLIAM R. MANNING
ELIHU ROOT.
WASHINGTON, D. C., April 25, 1914.
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
ADOPTED BY THE SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC
CONGRESS1
ARTICLE 23 [RESOLUTION No. 22]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends, in order
to increase the study of international law, to popularize its just prin-
ciples, and to secure its observance and application in the mutual rela-
tions of the Americas, that steps be taken to improve and to enlarge
library and reference facilities:
(a) By preparing and publishing a bibliography of international law
and related subjects, furnishing the names of publishers and prices so
far as these are obtainable, with special reference to the needs of
poorly endowed libraries ;
(b) By preparing and publishing a carefully prepared index or
digest of the various heads and subheads of international law, with
references to standard sources of authority under each head and sub-
head thereof;
(c) By collecting with the aid wherever possible of ministries of
foreign affairs and publishing from official copies thus secured, in
cheap and convenient form, all official documents, both foreign and
domestic, bearing upon international law, including therein treaties,
information relating to arbitration, announcements of national policy,
and diplomatic correspondence;
(d) By issuing in the form of law reports judgments of national
courts involving questions of international law, the sentences of arbitral
tribunals and the awards of mixed commissions.
ARTICLE 24 [RESOLUTION No. 3]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress is of the firm con-
viction that, as the idea of direct government by the people grows, it
becomes increasingly essential to the well-being of the world that the
leaders of opinion in each community be familiar with the duties and
obligations as well as with the rights of states, as recognized in inter-
at Washington, December 27, 1915-January 8, 1916.
Resolutions on the same subject adopted by the Conference of Teachers are
indicated in brackets.
18 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
national law, and that it has become a patriotic duty resting upon our
educational institutions to give as thorough and as extensive courses
as possible in international law and related subjects. The Congress
therefore recommends:
I. That steps be taken to extend the study of the subject:
(a) By increasing the number of schools and institutions in which
international law and related subjects are taught;
(b) By increasing the number of students in attendance upon the
courses; and
(c) By diffusing a knowledge of its principles in each American
republic.
II. That a course in international law, where possible, should con-
sist of systematic instruction during at least a full academic year,
divided between international law and diplomacy; and
III. That prominent experts in international law and diplomacy be
invited from time to time to lecture upon these subjects in the insti-
tutions of learning of the American republics.
ARTICLE 25 [RESOLUTION No. 4]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, in order to place
instruction in international law upon a more uniform and scientific
basis, recommends that:
(a) In the teaching of international law emphasis be laid upon the
positive nature of the subject and the definiteness of the rules, for
whether the teaching of international law be regarded as of value as
a disciplinary subject or from the standpoint of its importance in giving
to the student a grasp of the rules that govern the relations of nations,
it is equally important that he have impressed upon his mind the
definiteness and positive character of the rules of international law;
that the teaching of international law be not made the occasion for a
universal peace propaganda ; that the interests of the students in and
their enthusiasm for the subject can best be aroused by impressing
upon them the evolutionary character of the rules of international law,
for through such a presentation of the subject the student will not
fail to see that the development of positive rules of law governing the
relations of states has contributed toward the maintenance of peace.
(b) In order to emphasize the positive character of international
law the widest possible use be made of cases and the concrete facts of
international experience, for the interest of students can best be
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW 19
aroused when they are convinced that they are dealing with such con-
crete facts, and that the marshaling of such facts in such a way as to
develop or illustrate general principles lends dignity to the subject,
which can not help but have a stimulating influence ; that international
law should be constantly illustrated from the sources recognized as
ultimate authority, such as cases both of judicial and arbitral deter-
mination; treaties, protocols, acts, and declarations of epoch-making
congresses, such as Westphalia (1648), Vienna (1815), Paris (1856),
The Hague (1899 and 1907), and London (1909); diplomatic inci-
dents ranking as precedents for action of an international character;
and the great classics of international law.
(c) In the teaching of international law care be exercised to distin-
guish the accepted rules of international law from questions of inter-
national policy.
(d) In a general course on international law the experience of no
one country be allowed to assume a consequence out of proportion to
the strictly international principles it may illustrate.
ARTICLE 26 [RESOLUTION No. 5]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, in order still further
to advance the cause of international law and the development of
international justice, recommends that a major in international law in
a university course, leading to the degree of doctor of philosophy, be
followed if possible by residence at The Hague in attendance upon the
Academy of International Law, installed in 1914 in the Peace Palace
in that city ; and that, as no better means has been devised for afford-
ing a just appreciation of the diverse and conflicting national views
concerning international law or for developing that "international
mind" which is so essential in a teacher of that subject, as many fel-
lowships as possible should be established in the Academy at The
Hague and put at the disposition of advanced students of international
law in the different American republics.
ARTICLE 27 [RESOLUTION No. 6]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress expresses the opinion
that the present development of higher education in the American
republics and the place which they have now assumed in the affairs
of the society of nations justify and demand that the study of the
science and historic applications of international law be treated on a
20 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
plane of equality with other subjects in the curriculum of colleges and
universities, and that professorships or departments devoted to its
study be established where they do not exist in every institution of
higher learning.
ARTICLE 28 [RESOLUTION No. 9]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, recognizing the
growing importance of a knowledge of international law to all persons
who intend to devote themselves to the administration of justice, and
who, through their professional occupation, may contribute largely
to the formation of public opinion and who may often be vested with
the highest offices in the state and nation, earnestly requests all law
schools which now offer no instruction in international law to add to
their curriculum a thorough course in that subject.
ARTICLE 29 [RESOLUTION No. 12]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress regards it as highly
desirable, upon the initiative of institutions where instruction in inter-
national law is lacking, to take steps toward providing such instruc-
tion by visiting professors or lecturers, this instruction to be given in
courses, and not in single lectures, upon substantive principles, not
upon popular questions of momentary interest, and in a scientific spirit,
not in the interest of any propaganda.
ARTICLE 30 [RESOLUTION No. 14]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends the
establishment and encouragement In institutions of specialized courses
in preparation for the diplomatic and consular services.
ARTICLE 31 [RESOLUTION No. 15]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress advises that the
study of international law be required in specialized courses in prepa-
ration for business.
ARTICLE 32
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress urges that in the
study and teaching of international law in American institutions of
learning special stress be laid upon problems affecting the American
republics and upon doctrines of American origin.
RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW 21
ARTICLE 33
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress extends to the Ameri-
can Institute of International Law a cordial welcome into the circles
of scientific organizations of Pan America, and records a sincere wish
for its successful career and the achievement of the highest aims of
its important labors.
ARTICLE 34
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends to all
educational establishments of America the special study of the con-
stitutions, laws, and institutions of the republics of this continent.
ARTICLE 35
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends to the
various universities of the American republics that a comparative
study of judicial institutions be undertaken in order —
(a) To create special interest therein in the several countries of the
continent ;
(b) To facilitate the knowledge and solution of problems of private
international law in the American countries; and
(c) To bring about as far as possible uniformity in jurisprudence
and legislation.
ARTICLE 36
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, in order to broaden
the outlook and to bring into closer contact the members of the legal
profession, urges that the bar association exchange among themselves :
(a) Law books and publications affecting the legal professions and
the practice of law.
(b) New codes of law and rules of procedure as they are hereafter
published.
OFFICIAL COMMENTARY ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS
ON INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SECOND
PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS1
Article 23 [Resolution No. 2?\
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends, in
order to increase the study of international law, to popularize its
just principles, and to secure its observance and application in the
mutual relations of the Americas, that steps be taken to improve
and to enlarge library and reference facilities:
(a) By preparing and publishing a bibliography of interna-
tional law and related subjects, furnishing the names of pub-
lishers and prices so far as these are obtainable, with special ref-
erence to the needs of poorly endowed libraries;
(b) By preparing and publishing a carefully prepared index or
digest of the various heads and subheads of international law,
with references to standard sources of authority under each head
and subhead thereof;
(c) By collecting with the aid wherever possible of ministries
of foreign affairs and publishing from official copies thus secured,
in cheap and convenient form, all official documents, both foreign
and domestic, bearing upon international law, including therein
treaties, information relating to arbitration, announcements of na-
tional policy, and diplomatic correspondence;
(d) By issuing in the form of law reports judgments of na-
tional courts' involving questions of international law, the sen-
tences of arbitral tribunals and, the awards of mixed commissions.
The subject of the study of international law was considered in very
great detail at a conference of American teachers of international law,
held at the City of Washington in the month of April, 1914, under the
auspices of the American Society of International Law. Forty-one
institutions of learning of the United States accepted the invitation to
be present and sent accredited representatives to take part in the pro-
ceedings.
The result was a series of recommendations, unanimously adopted
by the conference, which form the basis of the present articles relating
to the study of the law of nations, with omissions and other modifica-
tions in order to make the recommendations apply to the republics of
in Washington, December 27. 1915-January 8, 1916.
'Resolutions on the same subject adopted by the Conference of Teachers are
indicated in brackets.
23
the American continent instead of applying solely to the republic of
the North in which the conference of teachers was held.
In an article written by the Honorable Elihu Root when Secretary
of State, and published as the introduction to the first number of the
American Journal of International Law in 1907, he called attention to
the conditions required for the settlement of international disputes
without resort to war, stating that the people of the countries involved
should be able to weigh the controversy and to appreciate the action
of their representatives in an instructed and reasonable way, stating
also that one means of bringing about this instructed and reasonable
way was by means of a wider and broader knowledge of the principles
of international law and by the creation of an international habit on the
part of the people of reading and thinking about international matters.
The language of Mr. Root on this point is, if possible, the more im-
portant, as when uttering it he was speaking under the responsibility of
office, shortly after his return from his visit to Latin America. It
therefore seems advisable to quote two paragraphs from the article as
a general introduction to this section of the report :
In the great business of settling international controversies with-
out war, whether it be by negotiation or arbitration, essential con-
ditions are reasonableness and good temper, a willingness to recog-
nize facts and to weigh arguments which make against one's own
country as well as those which make for one's own country ; and
it is very important that in every country the people whom negotia-
tors represent and to whom arbitrators must return, shall be able
to consider the controversy and judge the action of their repre-
sentatives in this instructed and reasonable way.
One means to bring about this desirable condition is to in-
crease the general public knowledge of international rights and
duties and to promote a popular habit of reading and thinking
about international affairs. The more clearly the people of a
country understand their own international rights the less likely
they are to take extreme and extravagant views of their rights and
the less likely they are to be ready to fight for something to which
they are not really entitled. The more clearly and universally the
people of a country realize the international obligations and duties
of their country, the less likely they will be to resent the just de-
mands of other countries that those obligations and duties be ob-
served. The more familiar the people of a country are with the
rules and customs of self-restraint and courtesy between nations
which long experience has shown to be indispensable for preserv-
ing the peace of the world, the greater will be the tendency to re-
frain from publicly discussing controversies with other countries
24 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
in such a way as to hinder peaceful settlement by wounding sensi-
bilities or arousing anger and prejudice on the other side.
At the Conference of Teachers of International Law, under the
presidency of Mr. Root, he delivered an address in which, while dwell-
ing upon the importance of international law, he called attention to the
fact that more and more democracy was coming to its own and that
unless democracy were educated in its duties as well as in its rights it
would not render the services which could properly be expected of it
and which would justify its existence. On this particular point he said :
I think no one can study the movement of the times without
realizing that the democracy of the world — for it is not alone in
this country — is realizing its rights in advance of its realization
of its duties. And that way lies disaster. That way lies hideous
wrong. That way lies the exercise of the mighty powers of mod-
ern democracies to destroy themselves, to destroy the vitality
of the principles upon which they depend. And there is no duty
more incumbent to-day upon the men whose good fortune has
made it possible for them to acquire a broader knowledge upon the
subjects with which democracy deals, than to become themselves
leaders of opinion and teachers of their people. Unless the
popular will responds to the instructed and competent leadership
of opinion upon the vital questions of our foreign relations, the
worst impulses of democracy will control. At the bottom of
wise and just action lies an understanding of national rights and
national duties. Half the wars of history have come because of
mistaken opinions as to national rights and national obligations,
have come from the unthinking assumption that all the right is
on the side of one's own country, all the duty on the side of some
other country. Now I say the thing most necessary for the good
of our country in the foreign relations which are growing every
year more and more intricate and critical, is that there shall be
intelligent leadership of opinion as to national rights and national
obligations.
These quotations have been made, both from the article and the
address of Mr. Root because they justify of themselves the recom-
mendations made by the Congress in regard to international law. The
recommendations are twofold: first, to broaden and deepen instruc-
tion in international law in American seats of learning; and second,
to reach the peoples of the American continent, impressing them with
their duties in matters international and instructing them in their inter-
national rights.
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 25
The four headings of Article 23, numbered respectively (a), (b),
(c), and (d), are meant to furnish teacher and student with necessary
information concerning the books and treatises dealing with inter-
national law ; to supply the references to standard sources of authority
on the different headings of international law ; to secure the official
documents, both foreign and domestic, issued by the various govern-
ments bearing upon international law, relating to treaties, arbitrations,
and the international policy of the different governments ; and to
place at the disposal of teacher and student decisions of national and
of international courts involving questions of international law. Ex-
perience shows that it is difficult to keep abreast of treatises and mono-
graphs dealing with international law, issued from time to time in
different countries and in various languages, and that it is no easy
matter to obtain these books and monographs unless the prospective
purchaser has relations with the libraries or publishers of the different
foreign countries in which they appear. The Congress felt that the
publication of a carefully prepared bibliography of international law
and related subjects, giving the names of publishers and prices, would
tend greatly to popularize international law and bring the items con-
tained in the bibliography not only to the notice of the libraries where
the books in question were not to be found, but also exert indirect but
substantial pressure upon these libraries to procure the publications for
the benefit of their readers.
It often happens that the reader of a newspaper becomes so inter-
ested in the subject of which he is reading that he would like to obtain
additional information if he had at hand a ready-reference manual.
This is particularly the case at the present day, when questions of in-
ternational law are uppermost in the minds and thoughts of men and
when they occupy such a prominent place in the daily press. A manual
or treatise of international law is not always at hand, and in the chang-
ing conditions of international life and experience many topics which
were unknown a decade ago and which are unmentioned in recent
works of authority are of the utmost importance at the present day.
An index or digest, brought up-to-date and kept up-to-date of the
various heads and subheads in international law, with references to
standard sources of authority upon each head, would be of no little
service in enabling journalists to create a correct public opinion and in
enabling the readers to follow up a subject which interested them, and
26 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
by so doing to take part in creating the enlightened public opinion
upon which the administration of justice is so largely founded.
The importance placed upon public opinion by countries which are
unfortunately at war is evidenced by the fact that each of them has
published the telegrams and other documents, either in whole or in
part, exchanged by them before the outbreak of the great war in the
summer of 1914, and it is a fact that these documents are issued by the
belligerent governments not only in their own but in foreign languages,
which can only mean that the appeal is made not merely to their
citizens or subjects but also to enlightened and instructed opinion in
foreign countries in the hope of winning its support.
The Congress recognized the importance of a knowledge of the dip-
lomatic correspondence bearing upon international law, of treaties
and of the authoritative statements of national policy issued by gov-
ernments, by recommending that copies of such documents be secured
from ministries of foreign affairs, and that they be published in cheap
and convenient form, so that they may not only reach the hands of
professional students but that they may also fall under the eye of the
general, and indeed of the casual, reader. Knowledge of this kind is
especially valuable to democracies where in last resort the people pass
upon the acts of the government and where the issues of war and of
peace depend upon the enlightenment or ignorance of the public. It is
not enough that documents of this kind be made public ; they must be
circulated if the actions of the government are to be weighed with in-
telligence; and unless they are issued in cheap and convenient form
they will not be circulated and will be little better than secret docu-
ments preserved in archives beyond the reach of the public.
It is common knowledge that international law has a preferred
position in the jurisprudence of the American republics; that, whether
by constitution, statute or custom, it is regarded as a part of the law of
each country and is administered as national law in cases depending
upon its application. This is believed to be the case in varying de-
grees in other civilized countries. This being so, it is natural that
many and important principles of international law are to be found in
domestic judgments, and as an illustration of this it may be said that
upon calculation, there are some twenty-eight hundred cases, decided
by the Supreme Court of the United States since the organization of
the Supreme Court in 1789, which involve in a larger or lesser degree
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 27
principles of international law. It is therefore of very great impor-
tance for the future of international relations to understand clearly
that international law is thus susceptible of judicial interpretation (be-
cause it has been interpreted and applied judicially not only in one
country but in the countries generally) and that there already exists
a large body of judicial precedent, not merely in prize cases but in all
justiciable cases involving questions of international law, for the guid-
ance of that international court which will one day administer justice
between the nations, as national courts administer justice between man
and man in every country making a pretense to civilization.
These judgments, although not gathered together in any one place,
are nevertheless to be found in the reports of judicial proceedings,
and it would be a very great service if these decisions were collected
in appropriate volumes and placed at the disposal of professed students
of international law. But it is of equal if not of greater importance
that the sentences of arbitral tribunals and the awards of international
commissions be collected and published, in addition to the judgments
of national courts involving questions of international law, in order
that the students of any one country may have before them the ad-
judged cases dealing with international law, whether they be decided
by national courts, arbitral tribunals, or mixed commissions.
The Congress therefore recommended that a law reporter of in-
ternational cases be issued. To explain exactly the meaning of this
recommendation, it should be borne in mind that the judgments of the
Supreme Court of the United States are issued in official reports and
that the decisions of the Federal and the State courts are likewise
published serially in permanent form. It is proposed that an inter-
national reporter should do for the decisions of international and na-
tional courts turning upon questions of international law what the
various reports issued in the United States have done for the decisions
of Federal and State courts. It is difficult to overestimate the service
which collections of the older decisions and of the future holdings
of national and international courts would render to the cause of
international justice, and the very great impetus which such collections
would give to the establishment of an international court of justice, by
showing that international law can be interpreted and applied judicially
in the future because it has been so interpreted and applied in times
past as well as in the immediate present.
28 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
Article 24 [Resolution No. j]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress is of the firm
conviction that, as the idea of direct government by the people1,
grows, it becomes increasingly essential to the well-being of the
world that the leaders of opinion in each community be familiar
with the duties and obligations as well as ivith the rights of states,
as recognised in international law, and that it has become a
patriotic duty resting upon our educational institutions to give as
thorough and as extensive courses as possible in international law
and related subjects. The Congress therefore recommends:
I. That steps be taken to extend the study of the subject:
(a) By increasing the number of schools and institutions in
which international law and related subjects are taught;
(b) By increasing the number of students in attendance upon
the courses; and
(c) By diffusing a knowledge of its principles in each Ameri-
can republic.
II. That a course in international law, where possible, should
consist of systematic instruction during at least a full academic
year, divided between international law and diplomacy; and
III. That prominent experts in international law and diplomacy
be invited from time to time to lecture upon these subjects in the
institutions of learning of the American republics.
The recommendation in Article 24 is general in its nature and is
aimed to supply not only professional students but the general public
with information useful to both in forming what Dr. Nicholas Murray
Butler has aptly termed "the international mind." The recommenda-
tions under this article are specific in their nature and aim to increase
instruction in American institutions of learning where courses of in-
ternational law are given, and to secure the introduction of courses on
international law and diplomacy in institutions where they unfortu-
nately are not given at present. The purpose of this section is not so
much to scatter the principles of international law broadcast among
the people as to impress students at American institutions of learning
with the importance of international law and its principles, so that the
leaders of opinion, who may have studied in American institutions of
learning, may, while they are still open to conviction, be impressed
with the necessity of a knowledge of international law and of inter-
national relations.
The Congress regarded knowledge of international law as not merely
useful but as essential, and declared it to have become, by reason of
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 29
the democratic control everywhere existing in the western continent,
a patriotic duty.
In prescribing that systematic instruction which should be offered
during a full academic year and that the course should include inter-
national law and diplomacy, the Congress did not mean that only one
year should be devoted to international law and that the course should
be devoted only to international law, in the technical sense of the term,
and to diplomacy. The Congress had in mind the minimum, not the
maximum, of instruction, and declared its opinion that, to be effective,
the course of instruction should not be confined merely to the principles
of international law in the abstract but that instruction should be
given in diplomacy and in the fundamental principles of foreign policy,
so that the student might understand the agency by which the prin-
ciples of international law are applied in the relations between countries
and the policies which nations pursue among themselves. No maxi-
mum of instruction is stated, as that must necessarily depend upon the
universities and upon the students, but it is clear from the recom-
mendations already cited, and to be referred to later, that the Congress
fully appreciated the importance of careful and thorough training in
the principles of international law and of an adequate understanding
of the workings of diplomacy, both by the public generally and es-
pecially by those whose good fortune it may be to create and to guide
public opinion.
The Congress recognized the fact, familiar to all who have had to
do with the class room, that students like to hear those who have had
experience in international law discourse upon its principles and its
application. The professor without experience in the actual conduct
of affairs may be more deeply versed in what is called book learning
than the international lawyer or the professional diplomatist, and yet
the latter create an interest and an enthusiasm by virtue of their ex-
perience and the confidence which they create beyond the reach of the
academician. The Congress therefore recommended that international
lawyers, termed experts in international law, and that preferred diplo-
mats to be invited from time to time to lecture upon the subject at the
several institutions.
Article 25 [Resolution No. 4]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, in order to
place instruction in international law upon a more uniform and
scientific basis, recommends that:
30 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
(a) In the teaching of international law emphasis be laid upon
the positive nature of the subject and the definiteness of the rules,
for whether the teaching of international law be regarded as of
value as a disciplinary subject or from the standpoint of its im-
portance in giving to the student a grasp of the rules that govern
the relations of nations, it is equally important that he have im-
pressed upon his mind the definiteness and positive character of
the rules of international law; that the teaching of international
law be not made the occasion for a universal peace propaganda;
that the interests of the students in and their enthusiasm for the
subject can best be aroused by impressing upon them the evolu-
tionary character of the rules of international law, for through
such a presentation of the subject the student will not fail to see
that the development of positive rules of law governing the rela-
tions of states has contributed toward the maintenance of peace.
(b) In order to emphasise the positive character of interna-
tional law the widest possible use be made of cases and the con-
crete facts of international experience, for the interest of students
can best be aroused when they are convinced that they are deal-
ing with such concrete facts, and that the marshaling of such facts
in such a way as to develop or illustrate general principles lends
dignity to the subject, which can not help but have a stimulating
influence; that international law should be constantly illustrated
from the sources recognised as ultimate authority, such as cases
both of judicial and arbitral determination; treaties, protocols,
acts, and declarations of epoch-making congresses, such as West-
phalia (1648}, Vienna (1815}, Paris (1856), The Hague (1899
and 1907}, and London (/pop); diplomatic incidents ranking as
precedents for action of an international character; and the great
classics of international law.
(c) In the teaching of international law care be exercised to
distinguish the accepted rules of international law from questions
of international policy.
(d) In a general course on international law the experience of
no one country be allowed to assume a consequence out of pro-
portion to the strictly international principles it may illustrate.
Just as Article 24 urged an increase of the instruction in interna-
tional law and diplomacy, so Article 25 urges that the instruction itself
be more thorough, be more detailed, and be more efficient than here-
tofore.
Section (a) recommends that the positive nature of international
law and the definiteness of its rules be emphasized — and wisely, be-
cause if international law is not law but a system of morality, of
ethics, of philosophy or of history, it has no place in positive juris-
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 31
prudence, and it can make no claim to a standard of conduct by which
the rights and duties of nations are to be measured. If the definiteness
of the rule be not impressed upon the student, he is left with the erro-
neous conception that international law is a loose and disjointed sys-
tem, if system it is to be called, instead of a system of law whose rules
are definite as far as they go, and whose imperfections are due to the
fact that it is a growing not a completed system as is the case with
municipal law.
In stating that the teaching of international law should not be made
the occasion for a universal peace propaganda, the Congress meant
to convey the idea that through the application of the principles of
justice to the relations of nations, peace necessarily results, just as
the peace of the community depends upon the existence of principles
of justice and their application to the disputes that arise among the
people composing the community. International law should, in the
opinion of the Congress, be taught as a system of jurisprudence, as
a means of realizing justice, and not perverted to the advocacy of
peace as such, although the highway to peace does undoubtedly run
through justice.
That the Congress had in mind the services which international law
could render to the cause of peace is seen in the recommendation that
the evolutionary character of the rules of international law should be
impressed upon the student, showing how, with the development of
rules of law, order and equilibrium have resulted. The Congress, how-
ever, felt that the influence of rules of law, governing the relations
of equal but interdependent nations, would best be seen by a study of
the development of the rules and their consequences; and it therefore
stated that such a presentation was best calculated to show how "the
development of positive rules of law governing the relations between
states has contributed toward the maintenance of peace." In a word,
the study of international law should be scientific, it should not be
propagandistic.
The Congress was exceedingly anxious that international law should
not be studied as an abstract system of rights and duties, but that it
should take note of the concrete facts of international experience. It
therefore recommended in Section (b) that the widest possible use
be made of actual cases and incidents, in order that the positive charac-
ter of international law be demonstrated, and that it be held up as the
measure of international right and of international duty. It appre-
32 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
ciated that the enthusiasm of the students should be aroused and that
their interest could best be sustained if they dealt with actual not with
hypothetical cases, and if they saw that they were dealing with a prac-
tical not with a theoretical science. It was felt that such a point of ap-
proach was calculated to lend dignity to the subject and to stimulate
and to maintain the interest of the student.
The Congress, advocating the concrete, dealt in the concrete, and
specified the sources which should be used in order to create and to
stimulate interest, and which it ventured to call the ultimate sources of
authority. In the first place, it called attention to the judgments of
courts and to sentences of arbitral tribunals, and although judgments
of courts and arbitral awards are not usually given the first place
among the sources of international law, it is believed that the Congress
was right in assigning them this unusual rank, because the judgment
of a court is decided by professional judges without interest in the
subject in dispute and according to principles of law which have
stood the test of time; and in the same way, although perhaps in a
lesser degree, the award of arbitral tribunals and of mixed commissions
are the holdings of persons of different countries, and the decision is
reached at least by a majority of disinterested persons, bringing to the
performance of their task an international outlook. The same can
not be said of diplomatic incidents, which figure so prominently among
the sources and which are often the concessions of the weak to the
strong, rather than the passionless application of principles of justice.
They can not, however, be ignored, for, right or wrong, they are mile-
stones in the evolution of international law.
In the next place, treaties, protocols, acts and declarations of epoch-
making congresses are recommended as a source of authority and as a
means of illustration. Naturally the congresses mentioned are those
of Westphalia, Vienna and Paris, and it is especially encouraging to
observe that a Congress composed of American delegates ventured
to proclaim the Hague Conferences as sources of international law and
to confess their faith in them at a time when many partisans of inter-
national organization are discouraged at the present and despondent
of the future.
Finally, the classics of international law are recommended, for the
great writers on international law have not only expounded the law of
nations but they have also made and enlarged the law which they pro-
fessed to expound. By a study of their masterly productions, begin-
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 33
ning with the philosophers and canonists of the Middle Ages, including
Francisco Victoria, Ayala, Gentilis, and Suarez, the predecessors of
Grotius, the immortal three books on the right of war and peace by
the illustrous Grotius himself, and the works of his successors, we see
how the little stream, fed by many sources, has grown into a mighty
torrent, colored it may be by the soil over which it flows but reaching
with irresistible force the ocean.
The Supreme Court of the United States, declared in the case of the
Paquete Habana (176 U. S., 677), decided in 1899, that "interna-
tional law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered
by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction, as often as ques-
tions of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determi-
nation." The opinion, delivered by a very learned judge, the late
Mr. Justice Gray, then proceeded to enumerate the sources of authority
as follows:
For this purpose, where there is no treaty, and no controlling
executive or legislative act or judicial decision, resort must be
had to the customs and usages of civilized nations; and, as evi-
dence of these, to the works of jurists and commentators, who
by years of labor, research and experience, have made themselves
peculiarly well acquainted with the subjects of which they treat.
Such works are resorted to by judicial tribunals, not for the
speculations of their authors concerning what the law ought to
be, but for trustworthy evidence of what the law really is.
Supplementing the enumeration of sources of authority which the
Congress ventured to make by the decision of the learned justice of the
Supreme Court in deciding the case of the Paquete Habana we have
a firm and a sure measure of international right and of international
duty, and of the means of ascertaining it in almost any case.
The Congress, it will be recalled, recommended that particular stress
should be laid upon the positive nature of international law and the
definiteness of its rules. This recommendation appears in a slightly
different form in Section (c), where the Congress advises that the
lines be clearly drawn between the accepted rules of international law
on the one hand and questions of international policy on the other
hand.
It is not difficult to illustrate what the Congress had in mind in this
recommendation, and it is perhaps neither necessary to cite an illustra-
tration nor to enlarge upon the importance of the recommendation.
34 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
The distinction is between law and policy, a distinction which citizens
of a particular country are apt to forget in their eagerness to justify
the contentions put forward by their country on any and every occa-
sion. The test of law is not policy, rather the test of policy is law.
Much is lost by their confusion; everything is gained by separating
them and, when separating them, by discussing them in their various
elements and in all their bearings.
And finally, in dealing with this phase of instruction, the Congress
advised that the experience of no one country should be dwelt upon
to the exclusion of the experience of other countries. For if interna-
tional law be in reality the law of nations it is universal and it should
be studied in its universal applications, although it may often be most
entertainingly if not best illustrated by examples taken from the ex-
perience of the home country. In so doing, however, great care should
be exercised, in the present unsatisfactory state of affairs, because,
while international law is universal, it is interpreted by each nation and
is not infrequently perverted in the process. In any event, the prece-
dents of no one country should be studied to the exclusion of prece-
dents from other countries ; otherwise a belief is likely to grow up in
the mind of the student that his country is the favorite home of inter-
national law and the international is likely to yield to the national
aspect.
Article 26 [Resolution No. 5]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, in order still
further to advance the cause of international law and the develop-
ment of international justice, recommends that a major in inter-
national law in a university course, leading to the degree of doctor
of philosophy, be followed if possible by residence at The Hague
in attendance upon the Academy of International Law, installed
in 1914 in the Peace Palace in that city; and that, as no better
means has been devised for affording a just appreciation of the
diverse and conflicting national views concerning international law
or for developing that "international mind" which is so essential
in a teacher of that subject, as many fellowships as possible should
be established in the Academy at The Hague and put at the dis-
position of advanced students of international law in the different
American republics.
In addition to courses of international law in national institutions
the Congress recommends the advantage of studying international law
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 35
in what may be called an international institution, in order that the
conception of international law may, as it were, be internationalized.
A distinguished teacher of the law of nations has said:
It is to be deplored that many writers on the law of war and
neutrality should take every opportunity of displaying their politi-
cal sympathies and antipathies, and should confound their own
ideas of justice, humanity, and morality with the universally recog-
nized rules of warfare and neutrality. French books often contain
denunciation of the Germans and the English ; English books —
Hall's classical treatise furnishes at once an illustration and a
warning — frequently condemn the Germans and the Russians;
and the Germans on many occasions retaliate by reproaching the
French and the English.1
This tendency to defend the policy of one's own country is the more
insidious because it is often unconscious, and the best way, it is be-
lieved, to overcome this tendency seems to be to come into contact
with teachers of reputation of different countries in some international
institution, where the bias of one, if it exist, may be offset by the views
of another teacher of equal repute and of a different nationality.
On the 12th day of January, 1914, the Academy of International
Law was founded at The Hague, and arrangements had been made for
its formal opening on the 1st day of October, 1914. It was not opened
on that date, for reasons which need not be mentioned in this connec-
tion. It should be said, however, that arrangements had already been
made for courses of instruction by distinguished teachers and pro-
fessors of international law drawn from different countries, as it is a
fundamental rule of the Academy that no two instructors should be
chosen during one and the same period from the same country. The
student body was to be drawn from advanced students of different
foreign countries, and it was believed by the most distinguished pub-
licists that, by the presence of professors selected from different coun-
tries and by the intercourse of students, likewise coming from differ-
ent countries, the horizon of the professors would be broadened and
their views, as well as the views of the students, internationalized.
The great experiment remains to be tried, as the Academy is to be
opened in the Peace Palace at The Hague at no distant date, and the
students will, it is to be hoped, press in increasing numbers to this-
Mecca of internationalism.
1Oppenheim, International Law, 1st ed., vol. ii, p. vii.
36 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
Arrangements were in contemplation and indeed well under way to
establish one or more fellowships in all countries parties to the Hague
Conventions, so that young men planning to engage in the practice of
international law or to devote themselves to diplomacy might perfect
their studies at this international center. For the time being the
process is delayed and the doors of the Academy are closed, but it is
not too much to hope that they will swing open on a happier morrow,
and that in the Peace Palace at The Hague, where justice is admin-
istered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration between nation and
nation, the principles of international law will be taught by accredited
teachers thereof drawn from the various countries of the world to
a student body, likewise coming from afar.
Article 27 [Resolution No. 6]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress expresses the
opinion that the present development of higher education in the
American republics and the place which they have now assumed in
the affairs of the society of nations justify and demand that the
study of the science and historic applications of international law
be treated on a plane of equality with other subjects in the cur-
riculum of colleges and universities, and that professorships or
departments devoted to its study be established where they do not
exist in every institution of higher learning.
The Congress calls attention to the development of the higher edu-
cation in the American republics and to the place which these repub-
lics assume in the affairs of the society of nations. It squarely states
its measured judgment that international law is a science; that in its
historic applications it should stand upon a plane of equality with other
studies in the curriculum of American institutions of learning, and
that professorships or departments devoted to the study of interna-
tional law of international relations should be created in every higher
institution of learning in the American continent where they do not
already exist.
It has long been the habit of a certain type of mind to question the
existence of such a thing as international law. This type of mind,
however, does not appear to have been represented in the Congress,
and it is authoritatively stated in this article by accredited representa-
tives of the governments of the American republics that international
law does in fact exist and that it should regulate their mutual inter-
course; and in the passage previously quoted from the Paquete
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 37
Habana, the Supreme Court of the United States solemnly declared
international law to be a part of the law of the United States and
that it should be applied in the decision of cases properly involving it.
The judges of this august tribunal are not ordinarily regarded as
idealists but as men of affairs and leaders of the bar who have achieved
distinction in their chosen profession.
For the western continent the law of nations therefore exists. As
democracy comes to its own the knowledge of international law be-
comes more essential. The participation of the American republics
in the Hague Conference is assured, and to render their influence
effective their delegates must be versed, in the principles of international
law. The future leaders of opinion, here or elsewhere, should have
opportunities in their university days of perfecting themselves in the
knowledge of international law and of international relations which
are based upon the law of nations, and international law should not be
lowered in the opinion of the student by being placed upon a lower
plane than any other branches of law or of political science. Profes-
sorships of international law should exist in every institution of higher
learning in the American continent, and departments thereof should, in
the opinion of the Congress, be created in every such institution.
Article 28 [Resolution No. p]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, recognizing the
growing importance of a knowledge of international law to all
persons who intend to devote themselves to the administration of
justice, and who, through their professional occupation, may con-
tribute largely to the formation of public opinion and who may
often be vested with the highest offices in the state and nation,
earnestly requests all law schools which now offer no instruction
in international law to add to their curriculum a thorough course
in that subject.
Article 28 specifically considers the advisability of offering courses
on international law in the law schools of the American countries and
the necessity of having lawyers thoroughly grounded in the principles
of international law. Given the fact that lawyers are members of the
congresses of the different American countries, that they are very
often members of the cabinets and presidents of the American repub-
lics ; that in their various public offices they are called upon to interpret
the principles of international law, and in many instances to apply them
as interpreted to the foreign relations of their country, it needs no
38 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
argument that persons entering congress and the higher service of
the governments require a knowledge of international law to enable
them to perform successfully or even acceptably the duties of their
offices. All members of the diplomatic service must needs be trained
in international law and in a lesser, but nevertheless to a marked degree,
journalists, whose business it is to guide and to mould public opinion,
should be trained in the law of nations.
As the result of an elaborate investigation it has been ascertained
that international law is not taught universally in law schools, and
indeed that it is omitted from the courses of many of them. The Con-
gress therefore supplements its general recommendations as to the
value and advisability of an adequate knowledge of international law
by earnestly recommending that courses of international law be offered
in law schools which at present do not have thorough courses in that
subject.
Article 29 [Resolution No. 12}
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress regards it as
highly desirable, upon the initiative of institutions where instruc-
tion in international law is lacking, to take steps toward providing
such instruction by visiting professors or lecturers, this instruc-
tion to be given in courses, and not in single lectures, upon sub-
stantive principles, not upon popular questions of momentary
interest, and in a scientific spirit, not in the interest of any propo-
ganda.
It is of course one thing to know the defect and another to provide
the adequate remedy. In previous recommendations the Congress
has urged that international law be taught in the universities of the
Americas, and more especially in the law schools thereof, that interna-
tional law be placed upon a plane of equality with other branches of
law and of political science and that special departments be created for
its teaching and study.
But it may be difficult or embarrassing to provide courses of instruc-
tion in the way previously recommended. Therefore the Congress,
looking through the form to the substance, recommended it as par-
ticularly desirable that instruction should be given in international law
by visiting professors or lecturers, when for one reason or another it
should be found inconvenient or impossible to establish professorships
and departments of international law. The Congress, however, recog-
nizes the fact, patent to all persons interested in education, that single
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 39
lectures on isolated subjects upon matters of momentary interest are
not calculated to impart a knowledge of or to create an interest in the
law of nations. Therefore, the Congress urges that courses of lec-
tures, instead of single lectures, be given and that these courses be de-
voted to the exposition of substantive principles of international law,
not to the elucidation, however interesting, of popular questions of
passing interest. Above and beyond all, the Congress urges that the
courses of instruction be permeated with the scientific spirit and not
conceived in the interest of any propaganda, which, it is feared, would
be detrimental to a scientific method and would fail of its purpose to
incline the minds and the hearts of the students to the propaganda even
if it were attempted so to do.
Article 30 [Resolution No. 14]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends
the establishment and encouragement in institutions of specialized
courses in preparation for the diplomatic and consular services.
The need of international law for the diplomatic service has already
been mentioned, although briefly and in passing, but the Congress felt
that this subject was one of such grave importance that it should not
be passed over in silence. Therefore, Article 30 deals with prepara-
tion for the diplomatic and consular services and urges the establish-
ment and encouragement of specialized courses to render the services
more valuable, both to those who make of them a career and to the
countries to which they belong.
The place which international law occupies in the outfit of a diplo-
mat and in the daily duties of a consul is evident upon the merest
consideration of their functions, so evident indeed as not to require
special mention. And yet, in view of the fact that international law
is largely a thing of usage and custom, that diplomatic incidents have
entered into and form such a large part of the system, and that the
question of peace and of war has so often depended upon the mastery
of international law by diplomats and ministers of foreign affairs, it
seems necessary to enlarge upon the importance of the subject, even
although it be unnecessary to enter into details. And what has been
said of the diplomatic applies in no less a degree to the consular
service; for as the diplomatist deals largely with what may be called
political questions pending between the different countries, the consul
40 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
handles the great commercial questions which so intimately concern
the prosperity of nations.
The Congress did not feel justified in recommending that training
in international law should be a prerequisite to admission to the diplo-
matic and consular services, because this is a political question and
one which each country must necessarily determine for itself. In
recommending, however, specialized courses in preparation for the
services in question, it expressed in no uncertain terms the advisability
of a thorough knowledge of international law for any and all persons
in the Americas who might think of making of the diplomatic or con-
sular service a career.
Article 31 [Resolution No. 15]
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress advises that the
study of international law be required in specialised courses in
preparation for business.
Perhaps the Congress stated most unequivocally its appreciation
and conviction of the advantages of a training in international law in
the present paragraph, which is the shortest of the articles dealing
with this topic, and which, looking away from the special uses which
might be made of international law, declares that "the study of in-
ternational law be required in specialized courses in preparation for
business."
Article 32
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress urges that in the
study and teaching of international law in American institutions
of learning special stress be laid upon problems affecting the
American republics and upon doctrines of American origin.
Heretofore the desirability of a training in international law has
been stated in general and with reference to particular callings in terms
applicable alike to Europe and Asia as well as to the Americas, but in
Article 32 the Congress recognizes, without attempting to enter into
detail or to specify them, that there are problems affecting the Ameri-
can republics which do not of necessity affect other countries, or
which do not affect them in the same way or to the same extent. At
the same time it recognizes, without stating or defining them, that
there are what may be called doctrines of American origin.
Regarding these problems and these doctrines the Congress makes
a very simple, a very specific and a very wise recommendation, namely,
that, by reason of the effect which these problems have upon American
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 41
countries and by reason of the American origin of certain doctrines,
special stress should be laid upon them in all courses of international
law offered in American institutions.
The recommendation of the Congress accords with the views of
American publicists as expressed in the Constitution of the American
Institute of International Law, which is the object of the next article,
and in the constitutions of the societies of international law which
happily exist in every American republic. A single example will suf-
fice. Thus, Article 2 of the Constitution of the American Institute of
International Law states the purpose of this body to be "to study
questions of international law, particularly questions of an American
character, and to endeavor to solve them, either in conformity with
generally accepted principles, or by extending and developing them,
or by creating new principles adapted to the special needs of the Amer-
ican continent."
This article has the advantage of stating the point of approach to
American problems and questions and proposes a method of solving
them.
Article 33
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress extends to the
American Institute of International Law a cordial welcome into
the circles of scientific organizations of Pan America, and records
a sincere wish for its successful career and the achievement of
the highest aims of its important labors.
The welcome extended by the Congress to the American Institute of
International Law was the culmination of a remarkable series of
resolutions adopted by legal, political, and scientific assemblies offi-
cially representing all of the American republics, because, as will be
seen, the Pan American Union tendered a vote of commendation and
encouragement shortly before the meeting of the Congress to the
founders and members of the Institute, and the Commission of Ameri-
can Jurists, assembled at Rio de Janeiro to consider the codification
of international law, adopted on July 16, 1912, a resolution, "com-
mending the initiative taken to found an American Institute of Inter-
national Law, as the Committee considers an institution of this kind
of great usefulness to assist in the work of codification that the states-
men of the New World have in view."
It is difficult to explain the origin and development of the American
Institute of International Law in briefer and more apt terms than
42 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
those employed by His Excellency, the Chilean Ambassador, Sr. Dr.
Eduardo Suarez Mujica, the President of the Congress, who, at the
meeting of the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, held on
December 1, 1915, moved a resolution of encouragement to the foun-
ders of the Institute, and who, in the remarks upon his motion, unani-
mously carried by the Governing Board, spoke as follows :
As my colleagues are undoubtedly aware, in October, 1912, the
foundations were laid in Washington for an organization of a
most interesting character. Under the auspices of the prominent
internationalists of the whole world, under the honorary presi-
dency and the wise counsel of the ex-Secretary of State and dis-
tinguished North American statesman, Mr. Elihu Root, and
through the unremitting and intelligent effort of two men of
action and scholars, well known to the international world, Messrs.
James Brown Scott and Alejandro Alvarez, there was born into
the realm of scientific life the American Institute of Interna-
tional Law, the object of which is, briefly stated, to combine and
utilize, through a central organization in Washington and the
cooperation of affiliated or corresponding associations in all the
other American nations, the intellectual efforts of jurists and
thinkers of the continent, for the development of international
law, the generalization of its principles, and the adoption of a
common standard to ensure the enforcement of law and justice
among the countries of the New World.
The corresponding or affiliated associations have already been
organized in eighteen out of the twenty-one American republics,
and steps are being taken to constitute the other three.
International law is not the patrimony of a single nation. It is
the law of all nations, and must therefore be formed and assented
to by all; and thus the cooperation of nations is essential to its
enactment or amendment. Hence the enormous importance of an
organization having a brain and a voice in every one of the nations
of America, whose action must be the fruit of continental thought.
Such an organization embodies, I believe, one of the most
powerful auxiliaries for progress and civilization in the Americas,
and for the permanent maintenance of peace from one end to the
other of their frontiers. Such an organization deserves, without
doubt, the good will of the peoples and governments of the conti-
nent, which we represent here.
During the month commencing to-day the Second Pan American
Scientific Congress is to meet in Washington, and one of the
most important events that are to take place during its sessions
is the official, solemn inauguration, under the auspices of the
Congress, of the American Institute of International Law. I
believe this is a fitting occasion on which to offer a vote of com-
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 43
mendation and encouragement for this work of common interest
to our countries — a vote which I hope will be accepted by all —
and therefore I have the honor to submit for the approval of the
board the following resolution :
Considering that the official inauguration of the American In-
stitute of International Law, founded in Washington October 12.
1912, is soon to take place under the auspices of the Second Pan
American Scientific Congress; and
Considering that said Institute, consisting of representatives of
every one of the American republics, recommended by the Inter-
national Law Associations of their respective countries, will result
in strengthening, through the active cooperation of jurists and
thinkers of the whole continent, the bonds of friendship and union
now existing between these republics, and will contribute to the
development of a common sentiment of international justice
among them, the Governing Board of the Pan American Union,
Resolves, To tender to the founders and members of the Ameri-
can Institute of International Law a vote of commendation and
encouragement for the foundation of said organization, which
represents a step of the highest importance in the moral advance-
ment of the continent and in the strengthening of the sentiments
of friendship and harmony among the republics.
Since the date of His Excellency's address and motion, which was
warmly seconded by Honorable Robert Lansing, Secretary of State
of the United States, and unanimously carried, societies of interna-
tional law have been formed in the three American republics, where
they were then lacking so that on the opening of the Congress a
national society of international law existed in the capital of every
American state. The Institute is composed of five members from each
of the twenty-one national societies, recommended by the societies for
membership in the Institute.
It is proper to say, before leaving this subject, that His Excellency,
the President of the Congress, is himself a member of the Institute
and that the members from the United States are: Honorable Robert
Bacon, formerly Secretary of State of the United States and Ambassa-
dor to France ; Honorable Robert Lansing, Secretary of State of the
United States ; Honorable Elihu Root, formerly Secretary of State of
the United States and always a friend of the Americas; Dr. Leo S.
Rowe, Professor of Political Science in the University of Pennsyl-
vania and personally known and appreciated in Latin America through
his repeated visits to all the American countries; and James Brown
Scott, Esquire, Secretary of the Carnegie Endowment for Interna-
44 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
tional Peace and Chairman of the Joint State and Navy Neutrality
Board of the United States.
It is proper also to add, in this connection, that the American Insti-
tute met in connection with and under the auspices of the Congress,
that it was formally opened on December 29, 1915, and welcomed by
the Honorable Robert Lansing, on behalf of the Government of the
United States, by His Excellency, the Chilean Ambassador, on behalf
of the Congress, of which he was President, and by the Honorable
Elihu Root, on behalf of American publicists. It completed its or-
ganization by admitting the five members from each national society
and selected the following officers: Honorary President, Elihu Root;
President, James Brown Scott; Secretary General, Alejandro Alvarez;
Treasurer, Luis Anderson.
On the 3d of January, 1916, the Honorable Robert Lansing, Secre-
tary of State of the United States, addressed a letter to the President
of the Institute, requesting it to consider the matter of neutrality,
from which very important letter the following passage is quoted :
I would, therefore, suggest that a committee be appointed to
study the problem of neutral rights and neutral duties seeking
to formulate in terms the principle underlying the relations of
belligerency to neutrality rather than the express rules governing
the conduct of a nation at war to a nation at peace.
I would further suggest that the subject might be advanta-
geously divided into two parts, namely, the rights of neutrals on
the high seas, and the duties of neutrals dependent upon terri-
torial jurisdiction.
In view of the past year and a half of war the present time
seems particularly opportune to study this question and this Insti-
tute being composed of members from neutral nations is especially
fitted to do this from the proper point of view and with the
definite purpose of protecting the liberty of neutrals from unjusti-
fiable restrictions on the high seas and from the imposition of
needless burdens in preserving their neutrality on land.
Three days later the Institute adopted a Declaration of the Rights
and Duties of Nations, based upon the political philosophy of the
Declaration of Independence of the United States, and the practice
of the American republics. Inasmuch as the Institute was formally
welcomed by the President of the Congress, held its sessions in con-
nection with and under the auspices of the Congress, and that the
members of the Institute were likewise delegates to the Congress and
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 45
participated in its labors, it is advisable to include the text of the
Declaration accompanied by a resume of the elaborate commentary
which explains it. The text of the Declaration therefore follows:
Whereas, the municipal law of civilized nations recognizes
and protects the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to
the pursuit of happiness, as added by the Declaration of Inde-
pendence of the United States of America, the right to legal
equality, the right to property, and the right to the enjoyment of
the aforesaid rights; and
Whereas, these fundamental rights, thus universally recognised,
created a duty on the part of the peoples of all nations to observe
them; and
Whereas, according to the political philosophy of the Declara-
tion of Independence of the United States, and the universal prac-
tice of the American republics, nations or governments are re-
garded as created by the people, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed, and are instituted among men to
promote their safety and happiness and to secure to the people
the enjoyment of their fundamental rights; and
Whereas, the rights and duties of nations are, by virtue of
membership in the society of nations, exercised and performed
conformably to the requirements of the solidarity uniting the
members of the society of civilized nations, recognized by the
First Hague Peace Conference in 1899, and reaffirmed by the
Second Hague Peace Conference in /po/; and
Whereas, the nation is a moral or juristic person, the creature
of law, and subordinated to law as is the natural person in political
society; and
Whereas, we deem that these fundamental rights can be stated
in terms of international law and applied to the relations of the
members of the society of nations, one with another, just as they
have been applied in the relations of the citizens or subjects of
the states forming the society of nations; and
Whereas, these fundamental rights of national jurisprudence,
namely, the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to the pur-
suit of happiness, the right to equality before the law, the right
to property, and the right to the observance thereof are, when
stated in terms of international law, the right of the nation to
exist and to protect and to conserve its existence; the right of
independence and the freedom to develop itself without interfer-
ence or control from other nations; the right of equality in law and
before law; the right to territory within defined boundaries and
to exclusive jurisdiction therein; and the right to the observance
of these fundamental rights; and
46 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
Whereas, the rights and duties of nations are, by virtue of
membership in the society thereof, to be exercised and performed
in accordance with the exigencies of their mutual interdependence
expressed in the preamble of the Convention for the pacific settle-
ment of international disputes of the First and Second Hague
Peace Conferences, recognizing the solidarity which unites the
members of the society of civilized nations;
Therefore, The American Institute of International Law, at
its first session, held in the City of Washington, in the United
States of America, on the sixth day of January, 1916, adopts the
following six articles, together with the commentary thereon, to be
known as its Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Nations:
I. Every nation has the right to exist, and to protect and to
conserve its existence ; but this right neither implies the right
nor justifies the act of the state to protect itself or to conserve
its existence by the commission of unlawful acts against inno-
cent and unoffending states.
II. Every nation has the right to independence in the sense
that it has a right to the pursuit of happiness and is free to
develop itself without interference or control from other states,
provided that in so doing it does not interfere with or violate
the rights of other states.
III. Every nation is in law and before law the equal of every
other nation belonging to the society of nations, and all nations
have the right to claim and, according to the Declaration of
Independence of the United States, "to assume, among the
powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them."
IV. Every nation has the right to territory within defined
boundaries, and to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over its terri-
tory, and all persons whether native or foreign found therein.
V. Every nation entitled to a right by the law of nations is
entitled to have that right respected and protected by all other
nations, for right and duty are correlative, and the right of one
is the duty of all to observe.
VI. International law is at one and the same time both national
and international; national in the sense that it is the law of
the land and applicable as such to the decision of all questions
involving its principles ; international in the sense that it is the
law of the society of nations and applicable as such to all ques-
tions between and among the members of the society of nations
involving its principles.
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 47
I. Every nation has the right to exist, and to protect and to
conserve its existence; but this right neither implies the right
nor justifies the act of the state to protect itself or to conserve
its existence by the commission of unlawful acts against inno-
cent and unoffending states.
The official commentary states that this right and duty is to be
understood as interpreted (a) by the Chinese Exclusion Case (reported
in 130 United States Reports, pp. 581, 606), decided by the Supreme
Court of the United States in 1888, holding that to preserve its inde-
pendence and give security against foreign aggression and encroach-
ment is the highest duty of every nation, and to attain these ends
nearly all other considerations are to be subordinated; (b) by the case
of Regina v. Dudley (reported in 15 Cox's Criminal Cases, p. 624;
14 Queen's Bench Division, p. 273), decided by the Queen's Bench
Division of the High Court of Justice in 1884, to the effect that it was
unlawful for shipwrecked sailors to take the life of one of their num-
ber, in order to preserve their own lives, because it was unlawful ac-
cording to the common law of England for an English subject to
take human life, unless to defend himself against an unlawful attack
of the assailant threatening the life of the party unlawfully attacked ;
(c) by Bello in his Principles de Derecho de Jentes, pt. 1, chap. 1, § 7,
edition of 1832, and by Calvo in his Droit International Theorique et
Pratique, 5th ed., vol. i, § 208.
II. Every nation has the right to independence in the sense
that, it has a right to the pursuit of happiness and is free to
develop itself without interference or control from other states,
provided that in so doing it does not interfere with or violate
the rights of other states.
III. Every nation is in law and before law the equal of every
other nation belonging to the society of nations, and all nations
have the right to claim and, according to the Declaration of-
Independence of the United States, "to assume, among the
powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them."
The rights and duties of independence and of equality stated in
Articles 2 and 3 are, according to the official commentary, to be under-
stood as interpreted —
(a) By Sir William Scott in the case of The Louis (reported in 2
Dodson's Reports, pp. 210, 243-44), decided in 1817, in which he said:
48 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
"Two principles of public law are generally recognized as fundamental.
One is the perfect equality and entire independence of all distinct
states."
(b) By Chief Justice Marshall in the case of The Antelope (reported
in 10 Wheaton's Reports, pp. 66, 122), decided by the Supreme Court
of the United States in 1825, who said : "No principle of general law
is more universally acknowledged, than the perfect equality of nations.
Russia and Geneva have equal rights. It results from this equality,
that no one can rightfully impose a rule on another. Each legislates
for itself, but its legislation can operate on itself alone."
(c) By Honorable Elihu Root, in his address before the Third Pan
American Conference held at Rio de Janeiro on July 31, 1906;
(d) By Bello in his Principios de Derecho de Jentes, pt. 1, chap. 1,
§ 7, and
(e) By Calvo in his Droit International Theorique et Pratique, 5th
ed., vol. i, § 208.
IV. Every nation has the right to territory within defined
boundaries, and to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over its terri-
tory, and all persons whether native or foreign found therein.
This right and duty are, according to the official commentary, to be
understood in the sense in which they were interpreted by Chief
Justice Marshall in the case of the schooner Exchange (reported in
7 Cranch's Reports, pp. 116, 136-7), decided by the Supreme Court of
the United States in 1812, who said:
The jurisdiction of the nation, within its own territory, is
necessarily exclusive and absolute; it is susceptible of no limita-
tion, not imposed by itself. * * *
A nation would justly be considered as violating its faith, al-
though that faith might not be expressly plighted, which should
suddenly and without previous notice, exercise its territorial
powers in a manner not consonant to the usages and received obli-
gations of the civilized world.
V. Every nation entitled to a right by the law of nations is
entitled to have that right respected and protected by all other
nations, for right and duty are correlative, and the right of one
is the duty of all to observe.
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 49
This right is to be understood in the sense in which it was stated
and defined by Chief Justice Waite in the case of United States v.
Arjona (reported in 120 United States Reports, pp. 479, 487), decided
by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1886, who said:
But if the United States can require this of another, that other
may require it of them, because international obligations are of
necessity reciprocal in their nature. The right, if it exists at all,
is given by the law of nations, and what is law for one is, under
the same circumstances, law for the other. A right secured by the
law of nations to a nation, or its people, is one the United States
as the representatives of this nation are bound to protect.
VI. International law is at one and the same time both
national and international; national in the sense that it is the
law of the land and applicable as such to the decision of all
questions involving its principles; international in the sense
that it is the law of the society of nations and applicable as such
to all questions between and among the members of the society
of nations involving its principles.
The relation of international to national law is to be understood (1)
in the sense in which the relationship is stated by Mr. Justice Gray in
the case of the Paquete Habana, quoted on page 33 under Article 25
of this report; and (2) in the sense of the official commentary, accord-
ing to which international law is to be regarded as a part of the law
of the American countries and is to be applied as national law by their
courts, and to be also applied by the respective republics in their rela-
tions one with another.
The spirit which should animate the American republics is, accord-
ing to the official commentary, the following statement by Daniel
Webster, written as Secretary of State:
Every nation, on being received, at her own request, into the
circle of civilized governments, must understand that she not only
attains rights of sovereignty and the dignity of national character,
but that she binds herself to the strict and faithful observance of
all those principles, laws, and usages which have obtained cur-
rency among civilized states, and which have for their object the
mitigation of the miseries of war.
Before adjournment on the 8th day of January, 1916, the Institute
was invited to hold its next session in Havana as the guest of the
50 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
Cuban Government, an invitation calculated to encourage its members
to be worthy of the invitation which was so graciously and so unex-
pectedly tendered it.
Article 34
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends to
all educational establishments of America the special study of the
constitutions, laws, and institutions of the republics of this con-
tinent.
It is difficult to comment upon the simple recommendation of the
Congress that the constitutions, laws and institutions of the republics
of this continent be made the subject of special study in all educational
establishments of America. The importance of it is evident and, in
the happy expression of a distinguished English judge, it can only be
obscured by argument. And yet the advantages that would accrue
from a knowledge of the constitutions, laws and institutions of the
republics of this continent are so manifold that it would seem to be a
sign of indifference if they were not dwelt upon.
The western world was an accidental discovery and the continent
has been, without exception, the land of experiments. Starting with-
out the traditions of the old world, it has been the laboratory of mod-
ern political thought. The experiment of republican, that is to say
democratic, government has been tried in the western hemisphere upon
a larger and broader scale than ever before in the world's history,
and the experience had with democratic government has been such as
to endear it to the hearts and to commend it to the intelligence, not
merely of Americans as such but to the enlightened throughout the
world. The specific advantage that would accrue to American peoples
by the study of their respective constitutions and of their laws and of
their institutions is that each would be able to profit by the experiments,
and by the departures in political life and thought of each of the coun-
tries, and by appropriating the innovations which have proved success-
ful and by modifying them to meet special conditions they would be
able to add to their own happiness and to increase the heritage of their
offspring.
Article 35
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress recommends to
the various universities of the American republics that a compar-
ative study of judicial institutions be undertaken in order —
(a) To create special interest therein in the several countries
of the continent;
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 51
(b) To facilitate the knowledge and solution of problems of
private international law in the American countries; and
(c) To bring about as far as possible uniformity in jurispru-
dence and legislation.
Articles 23-33 dealt with international law. Article 34 forsook
international law and urged the desirability of a knowledge and study
of the constitutions, laws and institutions of the western world. Arti-
cle 35, without returning to international law, nevertheless narrows the
field of its recommendation and commends the study not merely of in-
stitutions as such and of all institutions of the American countries but
the comparative study of judicial institutions, in the hope if not in
the belief that such a comparative study would create special interest
therein in the several countries of the continent and redound to the bene-
fits of each one thereof. A question of very great importance and of
equal difficulty is that of the conflict of laws, very frequently called pri-
vate international law. The great difficulty in this subject is that coun-
tries deriving their systems of law from England have adopted the prin-
ciple of domicile, whereas the countries drawing their inspiration and
their systems of law from the civil law of Rome are inclined to the
principle of nationality. The conflict between the two is evident and
as it is one of principle it is difficult of compromise. Nevertheless,
the Congress recommends the solution of problems of this nature, and
ventures a step further in the field of jurisprudence by recommending
as far as possible uniformity in legislation as well as in jurisprudence.
Whether it would be possible to reach a working compromise in the
domain of international private law, and whether it would be possible
to secure in any considerable degree uniformity of legislation and of
jurisprudence in the various countries, it can not be gainsaid that it is
the goal that we of the Americas should have before our eyes. If it
be solved the triumph is greater, because of the difficulties, and per-
haps a very desire to solve the problems may, with good will, much
patience and infinite tact, overcome many if not all of the obstacles
which stand in the way of the realization of this counsel of perfection
which the Congress recommends.
Article 36
The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, in order to
broaden the outlook and to bring into closer contact the members
of the legal profession, urges that the bar association exchange
among themselves:
52 RECOMMENDATIONS ON INTERNATIONAL LAW
(a) Law books and publications affecting the legal profession
and the practice of law.
(b) New codes of law and rules of procedure as they are here-
after published.
It was natural that the recommendations in Section VI dealing with
international law, public law and jurisprudence should cover a very
broad field, and that some of them, going beyond the subject-matter,
should not merely refer to subjects of international law, of public law,
or of jurisprudence, but should suggest that the persons following
these various callings regard themselves as bound by the ties of their
profession and that, if they were unable to meet personally, there
should nevertheless be an exchange of ideas, of ideals, and of the
things of the spirit. Therefore, in order to raise the standard, if pos-
sible, of the legal profession in all parts of the Americas, the Congress
urged that the bar associations made up of the votaries of law should
exchange among themselves law books and publications affecting the
legal profession and the practice of law ; for it was recognized that,
without this, they would stand as it were in isolation but that with this
exchange there would be developed, little by little, a common knowl-
edge, a common standard, a broader outlook and a feeling of mutual
dependence and respect. This recommendation, seemingly broad, is
in reality narrower than that contained in the final paragraphs of the
article, because in the one lawyers as such are affected whereas in the
other not only lawyers but men of affairs are included, because it is
of advantage to men engaged in business extending beyond the con-
fines of their country to have the codes of law in their hands and to be
familiar with the rules of procedure, lest through ignorance and neg-
lect their feet become entangled in the meshes of foreign law. Of
course, neither codes nor rules of procedure can dispense with the law-
yer, for we must needs have a professional class devoting itself to the
interpretation and the application of laws ; and yet the codes and rules
of procedure would often prevent the commission of a mistake, and
their very presence and their very difficulty would urge the taking of
advice of the profession before it is too late.
The recommendations of Section VI as a whole aim to make inter-
national law a thing of flesh and blood, a living organism, as necessary
to nations in their mutual intercourse as is national law to individuals in
political society ; to impart to the peoples of the Americas a knowledge
COMMENTARY OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 53
of the constitutions, laws and institutions of the republics of our be-
loved continent ; to strive for uniformity both in the framing and in the
interpretation of laws, in so far as this may be possible, and by broad-
ening the legal profession and bringing its members into correspon-
dence, if not into actual personal touch, to create a community of ideals,
to raise the standard of the profession in all the Americas and to make
it worthy of the trust and confidence which it has enjoyed and without
which its members can not render effective service.
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Return to desk from which borrowed.
I 1 1 v5 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.
LD 21-10m-10,'48
(Blllls4)476
A 001 072 700 6
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