Book Review: Treatise on International Law, 30 Yale Law Journal 102 (1920)

Abstract

This is an unusual work. Instead of presenting the rules of positive law as developed in the practice of states, by custom, agreement, diplomacy, arbitration, etc., the learned author has apparently set himself the task of finding the underlying philosophy and legal force in the rules of conduct which characterize the intercourse of nations. His work therefore constitutes a critical analysis of the views of modern writers on the so-called rules of international law and an effort to deduce from conflicting opinion what seems to him the fundamental truth. This analysis is made from the point of view of the lawyer, the important conclusions of writers as to rules of law being measured by the test of legal accuracy. Where the practice of states differs, the author seeks to present the reasons, found in the external factors influencing state conduct, for departure from a norm, if there is one. The author evidences throughout a critical legal mind which takes nothing for granted; the book, therefore, cannot fail to be of interest to the student of international law.