THE COMMISSION OF JURISTS ON AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL LAW. This commission, which was appointed by the Pan-American Union, and which is to meet in 1925 at Rio de Janeiro, will consider thirty proposed conventions for the codification of public international law applicable to North and South America. The recommendations in these conventions include the following proposals: The extension of the Monroe Doctrine into a covenant foreclosing the territory of American republics to acquisition or occupation on any terms by a non-American power. The future acquisition of territory by means of war, or under the menace of war by an armed force to the detriment of any American Republic to be unlawful; title to territory so obtained to be null in fact and in law. The pacific settlement of disputes among the republics, to be brought about through permanent machinery for the employment of good offices and mediation and an extensive and impartial inquiry into causes of friction; the governing board of the Pan-American Union is to serve as a council of conciliation; if these meetings fail there is a provision for arbitration. A Pan-American Court of Justice is proposed. Measures of repression, which do not involve war, include: (1) pacific measures, consisting of severance of diplomatic relations, pacific embargo and non-intercourse; and (2) coercive measures, consisting of retorsion, reprisals, hostile embargo, and pacific blockade. These measures are the limit to which any nation could go without resorting to war. The use of force against any American republic is stated to be a matter of concern to all the republics of the continent. The widening of the scope of the Pan-American Union so as to make it a part of the machinery against war, its function being to act as a permanent organization of conciliation and cooperation between the republics of the new world. These conventions were drafted by a committee of the American Institute of International Law. PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW.-The term private international law, as has already been pointed out (see page 4), is in one sense a misnomer, since it does not relate to situations between two nations, but to situations that may befall individuals who come under the conflicting provisions of different national laws, as on matters of inheritance, or domestic relations. To use a recent illustration, hundreds of thousands of Russian refugees have been living in Paris since they fled from Russia. Some of them have died, leaving considerable estates. What law is to be applied in distributing their property-the former Russian law, the Soviet law, or the law of France? The Netherlands government is codifying subjects of international law dealing with the family and with civil procedure. Belgium has taken similar action in the matter of maritime law. Switzerland has called a conference on questions of law of intellectual property. Two independent committees were recently appointed, one in Paris and one in Rome, for the codification of private international law, and on September 20 last the Italian government announced that it had decided to found an Institute for the Unification of Private Law at Rome, with an annual grant of 1,000,000 lire. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING I. COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHIES ON INTERNATIONAL LAW AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Bibliography of International Law and Con- List of References on Europe and International II. GENERAL TREATISES International Law. A Treatise, by L. Oppenheim. Longmans Green & Co., N. Y. 3rd ed., 1923. A comprehensive and detailed work. International Law, by Charles G. Fenwick. The Century Co., N. Y., 1924. A shorter International Law Codified and Its Legal A Treatise on International Law, by W. E. |