CONTRABAND OF WAR. CARRIAGE OF CONTRABAND 190. Definition and general principles of contraband 191. Enumeration of contraband and non-contraband articles 195. The carriage of persons and despatches for the enemy 197. The opening to neutrals of a trade closed in peace OPEN AND UNSETTLED QUESTIONS IN MARITIME WARFARE 206. A general discussion of unsettled questions in maritime warfare OUTLINES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW PART I INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER I THE NATURE, SCOPE, AND OBSERVANCE OF 1. The Nature of International Law.-International law is that body of rules and obligations which prescribes the rights and duties of states and which governs generally the conduct of modern civilized states in their relations with each other and with individuals of other states. These rules and obligations may justly be considered as based upon humanity and upon the moral convictions and wise experience of enlightened mankind. They are no longer confined in their operations to the Christian states of the world. These rules and principles should also govern, in a broad and humane way, the conduct of all civilized states in their relations toward peoples who are less than civilized in their usages and behavior. 66 International law," as Doctor Pearce Higgins happily observes, "is not a body of rules which lawyers have evolved out of their own inner consciousness: it is not a system carefully thought out by university professors, bookworms, or other theorists in the quiet and seclusion of their studies. It is a living body of practical rules and principles which have gradually come into being by the custom of nations and international agreements. To the formation of these rules, statesmen, diplomatists, admirals, generals, judges, and publicists have all contributed. It is also of comparatively modern origin, for the existing state system of the world dates in effect from the end of the Middle Ages." 1 It may be well to add that no doubt should exist as to the establishment of any rule of international law if it be invoked as authoritative. As Chief Justice Alverstone, of Great Britain, aptly said: "The mere opinions of jurists, however eminent or learned that it ought to be so recognized, are not in themselves sufficient. They must have received the express sanction of international agreement or gradually have grown to be a part of international law by their frequent practical recognition in dealings between various nations." 2 A very distinguished English legal writer, in answering the question, What is international law? says very pertinently: "International law is evolved in the practice of states under the dictates of advancing civilization. It is a living fact. Though there be, indeed, no specially appointed and recognizable international legislator, though there be no specially appointed and recognizable international court, though there be no specially appointed and recognizable international sanction, international law is, and moves, and has its being. International legislators are all legislators who deal with the questions of the relations of men as members of different states; international courts are all courts which take to cognizance the like problems; and international sanctions are all sanctions which enforce the decisions of these courts. And beyond and behind these courts is in the last resort the stern arbiter war; once the unchecked private vengeance, now the regulated self-help of nations. State lawyer, state judge, and state enforcement, these are so many unconscious international agents when they have to do with rules of conduct observed "The Binding Force of Int. Law," A. P. Higgins, p. 3. West Rand Central Gold Mining Co. v. King (L. R. 1905, 2 K. B. 391). |