PREFACE. THIS work should be taken for what its name imports: the "Draft Outlines of an International Code." It is not put forth as a completed Code, nor yet as the completed outlines of a Code, but as a draft of the outlines. It is intended for suggestion, and is to undergo careful and thorough revision. The history of the undertaking is this: At the meeting of the British Association for the promotion of Social Science, held at Manchester in September, 1866, I ventured to propose the appointment of a committee to prepare and report to the Association the Outlines of an International Code, with the view of having a complete Code formed, after careful revision and amendment, and then presented to the attention of governments, in the hope of its receiving, at some time, their sanction. The proposition was favorably received, and a committee was appointed, consisting of jurists of different nations. In the distribution of the labor among the members of the committee, a portion was assigned to me. It was at first understood, that, after preparing their respective portions, the members should. interchange them with each other, and then meet for the revision of the whole and the completion of the joint production. But the distance of the members from each other has made it difficult for them to take note of each |