Frasure, Carl M.

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Volume 46 Issue 2 Article 13 February 1940 Law, the State, and the International Community Carl M. Frasure West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wvlr  Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Carl M. Frasure, Law, the State, and the International Community, 46 W. Va. L. Rev. (1940). Available at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wvlr/vol46/iss2/13 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the WVU College of Law at The Research Repository @ WVU. It has been accepted for inclusion in West Virginia Law Review by an authorized editor of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact ian.harmon@mail.wvu.edu. BOOK REVIEWSto problems such as those presented by joint and mutual wills"7could have been made, Wvithout expanding the book unduly. A sealmay not be required in any American state, yet there can still beoccasions for its use."' No doubt the complete table of contentsobviates, in part at least, the need for an index. One ought to addthere are virtually no errors of print.It is important to note, as a striking characteristic of present-day legal education, the increasing demand for case-books withextensive text material,1 9 - whether this be in the form of eruditefootnote explanation or simply textual exposition, as here. Thecustom of self-education through the medium of dialectic based onthe early type of case-book, -such as Ames, Cases in Equity1Jurisdiction, - seems to have vanished. Unquestionably, the em-phasis now on problems of draftsmanship, particularly in theProperty courses, has played some part in the gradual evolutiontowards text. In any event, Cases and Text on the Law of Wl71sappears illustrative of the trend. Taken as whole, it is a most use-ful and informing book, worthy of success in its field.C. C. WILLIAMS, JR.West Virginia University,Morgantown, West Virginia.LAW, THE STATE, AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. ByJames Brown Scott. New York, N. Y., Columbia University Press.1939. Pp. Vol. I, xxiv, 613; Vol. II, vi, 401.In the midst of war, involving more than half of the world'spopulation, and with international law broken on all sides, thesetwo volumes appear as one of the most important contributions tothe study of the international community that history records. Re-markable too is the fact that the author at the age of seventy-three17 Cf. Wilson v. Starbuck, 116 W. Va. 554, 182 S. E. 539, 102 A. L. R. 485(1935), noted in Comment (1936) 36 COL. L. REv. 1013. In the fluid state ofthe law on this subject, there is danger that lower courts will crystallize suchdoctrine into ironclad rules of construction, ignoring evidence as to the trueintent of the testator.'18 Obviously, a seal is not necessary to the validity of a will, yet it is some-times desirable to have it. The testator by his residuary clause disposes .4otonly of his own property but also of that over which he has a power of appoint-ment. Infrequently, in the instrument creating the power, there is a provisionthat it is to be exercised by an instrument under seal. Hence this precautionshould be noted, - and note 6, p. 42, understood accordingly (or read withthis caveat).19 LLEwELLYN, CASES AND MATERIALS ON SALES (1930) was a representativepioneer in the new movement.1Frasure: Law, the State, and the International CommunityPublished by The Research Repository @ WVU, 1940WEST VIRGINIA LAW QUARTERLY 181still views the future of international law with the greatestoptimism. For nearly half a century Dr. Scott has studied andpracticed in this controversial field and he still holds fast to thebelief that the practical application of the fundamental principlesof international law is the only hope for peace in the world. Inother words, Dr. Scott forcibly impresses upon us that we cannotignore today the ancient conceptions of right and wrong, and ofindividual freedom without endangering our own welfare and thewelfare of future generations.The first of these two volumes contains the text of Dr. Scott'sstudy. Because of the vastness of the subject, he has arbitrarilylimited the field to be covered. Beginning with fifth-century Greece,the study ends with the opening of the seventeenth century. Thesucceeding centuries were a period of general warfare in Europewith the principles of international law pushed into the back-ground. The theory of "might makes right" largely dominatednational policies and under such circumstances there was littlechance for the development of political and legal ideals.The author's approach in the first volume is mostly chronological.Following a discussion of the Greek background, he covers in orderthe Roman Heritage, the Christian Heritage-Ancient and Medieval,the Transition from Medieval to Modern Thought, the Era of Re-form and the Beginning of the Modern Age. Nations, eras and in-dividuals are studied for their contribution to legal, political andinternational ideals. Whole chapters are given over to the workof such writers as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, St. Augustine,Machiavelli, Bodin, Martin Luther, and Grotius as well as manyothers. To emphasize his points, Dr. Scott uses numerous quo-tations which tend to make the particular writer live for the reader.Also, one should not overlook the fact that the value of this volumeis greatly enhanced by Dr. Scott's brilliant style of writing.The second volume consists of excerpts from the various legal*authorities from the earliest times on the three topics of Jurispru-dence, the State and the Law of Nations. This volume is in facta codification. Especially interesting, in the light of war in Europeand the Far East, are the quotations on the Law of Nations wheresuch subjects as Arbitration and Judicial Settlement, Freedom ofthe Seas, Travel and Trade, Self-Defense, Enemy Aliens, andRight of Capture are discussed at some length. Perhaps our in-terest here is more in seeing how international law on these sub-jects is being ignored or violated on every hand in the clash ofarms in the world today. Even international lawyers admit that2West Virginia Law Review, Vol. 46, Iss. 2 [1940], Art. 13https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wvlr/vol46/iss2/13BOOK REVIEWSwar generally means the suspension of the law of nations. How-ever, this does not mean that international law does not exist, anymore than the violation of national law indicates its nonexistence.And if Dr. Scott at his age is not pessimistic about the future ofthe law of nations, younger men should certainly take hope andsee that out of the present catastrophe in Europe and the FarEast, there shall come a keener realization of the need for inter-national law and organization to keep our civilization from destroy-ing itself.Besides extensive footnotes and a lengthy index, Dr. Scott'swork contains two invaluable bibliographies, - one of general booksand the other of source materials.CARL M. FRASURE.West Virginia University,Morgantown, West Virginia.UNIONS OF THem OWN CHoosING. By Robert R. R. Brooks.New Haven, Connecticut. Yale University Press, 1939. Pp. 296.Mr. Brooks believes that an increase in the economic and politicalpower of organized labor is eminently desirable. It is desirable,says he, not only for the betterment of the workers themselves, butalso as a protection for all of us against the evils of pressure groupinfluence on government,1 of over centralization of power in Wash-ington,2 indeed, as a guarantee against the possibilities of despotismhere and the creation of a totalitarian state.8 With this belieffirmly in mind, and ever in the foreground the author undertakesa study of the effect of the National Labor Relations Act on labor'sright to bargain collectively.The reader whose convictions on the broad problems of thelabor movement are not quite in line with the author's will wonderslightly at the selection of "typical" cases in the opening chapter,1 "The chief danger of group-pressure politics is that the better organizedminority groups may exercise greater pressure upon government policy thanthe loose organizations of majority interests. In extreme form this superiorpressure of minority groups might result in their complete domination of themachinery of government and the suppression of the organizations of opposedeconomic interests .... To just the extent that the National Labor RelationsAct promotes the organization of workers, it serves to prevent the capture ofgovernmental machinery by minority interests." P. 250.2 "Through the N. L. R. A., the federal government is atoning for its concen-tration of power by assisting the progress of a check upon itself." P. 248.3 It is difficult to imagine a policy more completely at variance with despoticambitions than the encouragement provided by the N. L. R. A. to an inde-pendent labor movement. P. 248.3Frasure: Law, the State, and the International CommunityPublished by The Research Repository @ WVU, 1940

Law, the State, and the International Community

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