Wigmore, John H.

English

University of Denver

Denver Law Review Volume 19 Issue 6 Article 4 July 2021 The Importance of American International Law Today for American Practitioners John H. Wigmore Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/dlr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation John H. Wigmore, The Importance of American International Law Today for American Practitioners, 19 Dicta 141 (1942). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Denver Law Review at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact jennifer.cox@du.edu,dig-commons@du.edu. DICTAThe Importance of American International LawToday for American Practitioners*By JOHN H. WIGMOREI have devoted myself, this past year, to an attempt to convince myfellow American lawyers that International Law is not merely a foreignsubject, nor just a parlor subject, but is an American subject, and withala practical subject, i. e., one whose knowledge will enable the practitionerto earn a fee.When the Congress in 1935 and 1937 began passing Acts suspend-ing the exercise of time-honored rights of American citizens as neutrals,and when copious Executive Orders and Departmental Regulations sentmany lawyers scurrying to Washington to find how their clients' busi-ness would be affected by these laws and regulations, the correctness ofmy proposition above stated began to be fairly evident. When in 1941the Congress began to modify and to repeal those Acts, and to go evenfurther by repudiating the restrictions of what used to be our duties ascitizens of a neutral State, my proposition took on a. more active mean-ing. And finally, when December 7 and 8 came, with the declarationsof war and another batch of Statutes and Executive Orders and Regula-tions suited for a state of war, my proposition became imperative, i. e.,the American lawyer must know some elementary American interna-tional law.As an effective means of convincing him of this, as well as of help-ing him in the task, I prepared last summer Part I of a "Guide to Ameri-can International Law for American Practitioners," by compiling a sortof primer of 200 topics and annexing to each topic a sheaf of Americantreaties ("law of the land"), and statutes, and decisions applying theprinciples of international law to American affairs. And when the war-status arrived, I had also on hand Part II of this Guide, "Law for aState of War," with 100 citations of treaties, 100 of statutes, 300 ofjudicial decisions, and 100 of orders and regulations. These two book-lets I donated to the legal profession and published them through theAmerican Bar Association (1140 North Dearborn Street, Chicago) ; theauthor takes no royalties, and the Association prints at cost-5 0 cents forPart I (50 pages) and $1 for Part 11 (8.0 pages).*Reprinted by permission from the MISSOURi BAR JOURNAL.142 DICTANow in these booklets only American authorities are cited. More-over, the materials cited are reduced to a virtual minimum, i. e., to thosewhich are or ought to be and may well be found in any association orcounty bar library, the standard United States Code and later statutesand the Federal and State reports.However, there are included additional citations besides the above.And as these additional ones may not ordinarily be carried even in agood bar library, the question occurred to me, How can I help such alibrary to stock up with these needed authorities, so as-to serve the prac-titioner? So I propose here to take advantage of the editor's kind invita-tion by offering a list of these additional source-materials with an esti-mate of the cost of acquisition.List of Needed Materials in American International Law'I. Government Publications (Supt. of Documents, GovernmentPrinting Office) Estimated CostFrancis Wharton, Digest of International Law (1887,3 vols.) $ 6.00-$ 10.00John Bassett Moore, Digest of International Law (1886-1906) (8 vols. reprint now in press) - 15.00- 24.00Green Hackworth, Digest of International Law, 1907-1941(2 vols., 6 m ore later) -------------------------------- 16.00  20.00John Bassett Moore. History and Digest of Arbitrations towhich the United States has been a Party (1898, 6v o ls.) .............. ............. .......................................... . 2 5 .0 0 - 2 5 .0 0United States Treaties and Conventions. 1776-1938 (ed.Malloy, Charles, Trenwith. 4 vols. 1910, 1923. 1938;out of print, but in press for a reprint) ..................... 20.00- 25.00Department of State;- Treaty Series, Executive AgreementSeries, Conference Series. Arbitration Series (separatepamphlets, 5-10 cents apiece: consecutively numberedin each series) ....... ...................................................... 1 0 .0 0 - 2 5 .0 0Department of State. Bulletin (weekly since July, 1939;subscription, $2.75 a year) .......................................- 16.50- 16.50Foreign Service Regulations (in press; Consular Regulationsand Diplomatic Instructions) -.--------------------------------- 4.00  8.00Federal Register (daily. 1936: subscription, $12.50 a year) 87.50- 87.50Code of Federal Regulations (1938, 17 vols.) : Supplements,19 3 8, 19 39 (2 vols.) ------------------------------------------------ 4 5 .0 0 4 7.00$245.00-$288.00II. PeriodicalsAmerican Journal of International Law (Jackson Place,Washington, D. C.)-Complete set since Vol. I. 1906 (about 65 vols. ob-tainable only at second hand) $600.00Incomplete set beginning with Vol. XI (21 vols.) ---- $123.00(Annual subscription, $5.00)$123.00- $600.00'Other than Federal and State Codes, Statutes and Reports.-The prices given were furnished by courtesy of Messrs. John Byrne & Co. andW. H. Lowdermilk &4 Co., Washington, D. C. (for Government publications), andN. A. Phemister Co., 42 Broadway. New York (for the treatises), and the office of theAmerican Journal of International Law, Jackson Place, Washington (for the Journal).DICTA 143III. General Treatises. Estimated CostCharles Cheney Hyde (Columbia University), "InternationalLaw, Chiefly as Interpreted and Applied by the UnitedStates" (Boston. Little, Brown V Co., 2 vols. 1922,out of print; 2d ed. 3 vols. 1942, in press) ------------ $ 30.00-$ 30.00George Grafton Wilson (Harvard University) "Handbook ofInternational Law" (St. Paul, West Pub. Co., 3d ed.1939) -----.-------------------------------.------------------------------- 5.00- 5.00$ 35,00-$ 35.00SV. Special Treatises (some are out of print)Edwin M. Borchard (Yale University), "Diplomatic Pro-tection of Citizens Abroad; the Law of InternationalClaims" (New 'York. Banks L. Pub. Co., 1915) ..... $ 10.00-$ 15.00James W. Garner (Illinois University) , "International Lawin the World War" (New York, Longmans Green,2 v o ls. 19 2 0 ) .......................................-- ---------------- 5 .0 0 - 10 .0 0Clyde Eagleton (New York University), "Responsibility ofStates in International Law'' (N. Y. University Press,1928) ------- -.-....------------ .................-- - - - - - - - - ------------ 4.00- 8.00Jackson H. Ralston. "The Law and Procedure of Interna-tional- Tribunals" (Stanford University Press, 1926,and Supplem ent, 19 36) ---------------------------------------------- 5.00- 7.00The same, International Arbitration from Athens to Locarno(Stanford U niversity Press, 1929) ------------------------------ 5.00  7.00A. H. Feller, The Mexican Claims Commissions, 1913-1934: a Study in the Law and Procedure of Intern'a-tional Claims (New York, Macmillan, 1935) -------------- 7.00- 7.00James Brown Scott. ed. The Hague Court Reports: FirstSeries 1916, Second Series 1932 (New York, OxfordU niversity P ress) ------ .-------------------- ----------------- 9.0 0 - 9 .00Manley 0. Hudson. World Court Reports: vol. 1. 1922-1926, vol. 11. 1927-1932, vol. III, 1932-1935(Washington, Carnegie Endowment for International no chargeP eace, 19 34. 19 3 8 ) ........................ .................. ...- to lib rariesManley 0. Hudson, "The World Court 1921-1938: aHandbook of the Permanent Court of International Jus-tice" (World Peace Foundation. Boston, 5th ed. 1938) 3.00- 4.00J. E. Harley, Documentary Book on International Relations(Los Angeles, Suttonhouse. 1934) ------- __...........- 4.00- 6.00$ 52.00-S 73.00T otal ------------------------------------------------------------------------ . $455.00-$996.00In the above list, the American Journal of International Law mustbe deemed indispensable. Each "volume" consists of two books-PartI. Articles, Book Reviews, Chronicle of Events, etc., and Part' I, OfficialDocuments: Part I is the equivalent of scores of treatises: and Part IIcontains the text of hundreds of the most important official documents.A set of that Journal will alone almost suffice to orientate the practitionerin the subject.Equipped with the above materials, a law library could amplyserve the first-aid needs (and more) of any lawyer ambitious to familiar-ize himself with American International Law and practice.144 DICTAThat it is our duty as a profession so to prepare ourselves waspointed out in wise words a generation ago by that eminent fellow-prac-titioner and leader of international progress, Elihu Root, winner of aNobel Peace Prize, in his salute to the founding of the American Journalof International Law (1906, vol. 1, page 1):"The Need of Popular Understanding of International Law."The increase of popular control over national conduct, whichmarks the political development of our time, makes it constantly moreimportant that the great body of the people in each country should havea just conception of their international rights and duties."Governments do not make war nowadays unless assured of generaland hearty support among their people; and it sometimes happens thatgovernments are driven into war against their will by the pressure ofstrong popular feeling. It is not uncommon to see two governmentsstriving in the most conciliatory and patient way to settle some matterof difference peaceably, while a large part of the people in both coun-tries maintain an uncompromising and belligerent attitude, insistingupon the extreme and uttermost view of their own rights in a waywhich, if it were to control national action, would render peaceablesettlement impossible. * * *"Of course it cannot be expected that the whole body of any peoplewill study international law; but a sufficient number can readily becomesufficiently familiar with it to lead and form public opinion in everycommunity in our country upon all important international questionsas they arise."Pre-trial ConferencesThe report of the judicial council for Massachusetts demonstratesonce again the success of the pre-trial conference. The pre-trial systemwas instituted in Suffolk County in 1935 under rule of court as anexperiment based upon the successful operation of the system in Detroitand elsewhere. It has now been extended in Massachusetts in many ofthe judicial districts. Of the 5,912 cases appearing on the pre-trialdocket in Suffolk County for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941, only1,846 were sent to the trial courts. Settlement was achieved in 2,059and of the total number appearing on the calendar, 4,601 were disposedof in one way or another on the pre-trial list. The ratio in the fourother counties in Massachusetts reporting on pre-trial statistics was aboutthe same as that reported in Suffolk County.

The Importance of American International Law Today for American Practitioners

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The Importance of American International Law Today for American Practitioners

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