THE UNRECOGNIZED GOVERNMENT OR STATE IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LAW

Probably no one in the British Empire or the United States would question the doctrine that it belongs exclusively to the political departments to recognize new governments or states. The difficulties involved are those which arise in the application of a doctrine so broadly stated. Not every situation involving an unrecognized government or state requires the decision of a question of recognition. If the decision of a political question is not involved, then it is entirely proper for the courts to take cognizance of a mere de facto government or state. In what situations may the courts appropriately take account of the facts? In what should they be guided solely by the decisions of the political departments

The \u27Hot Trail\u27 into Mexico and Extradition Analogies

The recent decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Dominguez v. State, 234 S. W. 79, has given us an important precedent and also a valuable example of the solution of novel problems by means of analogies. A detachment of the military forces of the United States had been authorized by the War Department to enter Mexico on the hot trail in pursuit of bandits. While following a hot trail this detachment arrested Dominguez, a native citizen and resident of Mexico, and returned with him to the United States. It developed later that he was not one of the bandits who made the hot trail. Dominguez was thereupon turned over, without his consent, to the authorities of Texas, and was indicted and convicted for a murder previously committed in Texas. It was held upon appeal that the prisoner might resist trial for the offense charged in the indictment until such time as he should voluntarily subject himself to the jurisdiction of the United States or until the consent of the Mexican government to his trial should be obtained. There was no precedent in the decided cases. Counsel argued for the application by analogy of the principles which control in the decision of extradition cases. In reliance upon the extradition analogies the case was decided

NEW AVENUES TO FREEDOM

Lay opinion regards the law of nations as a weak and ineffective system. It is the fashion to deplore the inefficacy: of its precepts and to regard it as a sort of benevolent code unsupported by any forces which can really compel observance. There is a good deal of loose talk about providing sanctions. The truth is, however, that few systems of law are so infested with tyrannies. It is not sanctions which are needed so much as opportunities for growth. It is not the buttressing of existing dogmas which is required so much as new avenues to freedom

Recent Recognition Cases

The prolonged interval during which the United States declined to recognize the government functioning in Mexico, and the still more protracted period during which recognition has been withheld from the de facto government in Russia, have produced some unusually interesting problems with respect to the appropriate judicial attitude toward an unrecognized de facto foreign government

The Permanent International Court of Justice

For the first time in history leading powers both great and small have been able to agree upon a plan for an international court of justice. The plan was formulated last summer by an advisory committee of jurists sitting at The Hague. Since then it has been submitted to the Council and the Assembly of the League of Nations and has been approved. It will come into operation as soon as the project has been ratified by a majority of the nations belonging to the League

A Selection of Cases and Other Authorities on the Law of Admiralty, Pt.2: The Maritime Law

“The following collection of cases and other authorities on the Law of Admiralty requires prefatory comment in at least two particulars. In the first place, the collection is incomplete. It has been necessary to keep within rather definite limits of space. Within those limits it has seemed better to develop selected topics somewhat fully, leaving out others altogether, rather than to spread the collection out over as much of the field as one would like to include…. In the second place, the collection is tentative. There are no footnotes and such materials as are usually thus included must be supplied by the instructor…” --Prefacehttps://repository.law.umich.edu/books/1075/thumbnail.jp

The United States and World Organization

On what conditions should the United States enter a world organization for the maintenance of peace? Viewing the question broadly, should not the United States enter world organization upon one condition, namely, that the organization give promise of the utmost achievement in the maintenance of peace? Unless we are prepared to repudiate the avowals of our statesmen and reverse what is perhaps the oldest and most fundamental tradition of our foreign policy, can we consistently insist upon any other condition than this one

Teaching of International Law to Law Students

A point to be noted at the outset, in any discussion of the teaching of international law to law students, is the relatively unimportant place which the subject occupies in the law student\u27s program of study. The students in our law schools are tolerant of the interest which others manifest in international law. Indeed they are themselves greatly interested. They concede freely that it occupies an important place in the general scheme of things. But most of them feel that professional students cannot afford the time for even an introductory course. It results that courses in international law included in law school curricula are usually elected by a comparatively small group of students, while courses offered in the departments of political science and open to law students are not likely to be elected by any law students at all

Book Reviews

Part I of Mr. Ogilvie\u27s book is entitled, The Evolution of the Principle and is intended to serve as an introduction to the subject of internatitonal rights on inland navigable waterways. Systematic treatment of the subject is reserved for a later volume. Assuming that free navigation on inland waterways is the natural sequence of freedom on the seas, the author sketches briefly the growth of maritime enterprise, the early development of maritime law, the history of maritime discovery, and the triumph after long controversy of the freedom of the seas- One short chapter is devoted to freedom of navigation on inland waterways. Notwithstanding its somewhat superficial and fragmentary character, this part of the book will be of interest to those who have no time in which to read the more exhaustive and scholarly works upon which the author mainly relies. Part II is a unique and an invaluable contribution. It is .a reference manual to the treaties, conventions, laws, and other fundamental acts which govern the use of inland waterways. The water highways of the world are grouped according to continents and listed in alphabetical order under each continent. Documents are arranged in alphabetical order under each waterway and the more important documents are accompanied by selected references to secondary sources. The entire manual is covered by an exhaustive index. All who are interested in the subject of treaty rights on inland waterways, whether in connection with practice or with research, will find this reference manual an indispensable guide