International Law. A Treatise. Volume 1 (of 2) Peace. Second Edition

[Transcriber's note: Original spelling variations have not been
standardized. Underscores have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts.]


INTERNATIONAL LAW


A TREATISE

BY

L. OPPENHEIM, M.A., LL.D.

WHEWELL PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF JURISPRUDENCE AT MADRID


VOL. I.

PEACE

_SECOND EDITION_


LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

1912


All rights reserved




      TO
      EDWARD ARTHUR WHITTUCK
      WHOSE SYMPATHY AND ENCOURAGEMENT HAVE ACCOMPANIED THE PROGRESS
      OF THIS WORK FROM ITS INCEPTION TO ITS CLOSE




PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION


The course of events since 1905, when this work first made its
appearance, and the results of further research have necessitated not
only the thorough revision of the former text and the rewriting of some
of its parts, but also the discussion of a number of new topics. But
while the new matter which has been incorporated has added considerably
to the length of the work--the additions to the bibliography, text, and
notes amounting to nearly a quarter of the former work--this second
edition is not less convenient in size than its predecessor. By
rearranging the matter on the page, using a line extra on each, and a
greater number of words on a line, by setting the bibliography and notes
in smaller type, and by omitting the Appendix, it has been found
possible to print the text of this new edition on 626 pages, as compared
with 594 pages of the first edition.

The system being elastic it was possible to place most of the additional
matter within the same sections and under the same headings as before.
Some of the points treated are, however, so entirely new that it was
necessary to deal with them under separate headings, and within separate
sections. The reader will easily distinguish them, since, to avoid
disturbing the arrangement of topics, these new sections have been
inserted between the old ones, and numbered as the sections preceding
them, but with the addition of the letters _a_, _b_, &c. The more
important of these new sections are the following: § 178_a_ (concerning
the Utilisation of the Flow of Rivers); §§ 287_a_ and 287_b_
(concerning Wireless Telegraphy on the Open Sea); §§ 287_c_ and 287_d_
(concerning Mines and Tunnels in the Subsoil of the Sea bed); § 446_a_
(concerning the Casa Blanca incident); §§ 476_a_ and 476_b_ (concerning
the International Prize Court and the suggested International Court of
Justice); §§ 568_a_ and 568_b_ (concerning the Conventions of the Second
Hague Peace Conference, and the Declaration of London); § 576_a_
(concerning Pseudo-Guarantees). Only towards the end of the volume has
this mode of dealing with the new topics been departed from. As the
chapter treating of Unions, the last of the volume, had to be entirely
rearranged and rewritten, and a new chapter on Commercial Treaties
inserted, the old arrangement comes to an end with § 577; and §§ 578 to
596 of this new edition present an arrangement of topics which differs
from that of the former edition.

I venture to hope that this edition will be received as favourably as
was its predecessor. My aim, as always, has been to put the matter as
clearly as possible before the reader, and nowhere have I forgotten that
I am writing as a teacher for students. It is a matter of great
satisfaction to me that the prophetic warnings of some otherwise very
sympathetic reviewers that a comprehensive treatise on International Law
in two volumes would never be read by young students have proved
mistaken. The numerous letters which I have received from students, not
only in this country but also in America, Japan, France, and Italy, show
that I was not wrong when, in the preface to the former edition, I
described the work as an elementary book for those beginning to study
the subject. Many years of teaching have confirmed me in the conviction
that those who approach the study of International Law should at the
outset be brought face to face with its complicated problems, and should
at once acquire a thorough understanding of the wide scope of the
subject. If writers and lecturers who aim at this goal will but make
efforts to use the clearest language and an elementary method of
explanation, they will attain success in spite of the difficulty of the
problems and the wide range of topics to be considered.

I owe thanks to many reviewers and readers who have drawn my attention
to mistakes and misprints in the first edition, and I am especially
indebted to Mr. C. J. B. Hurst, C.B., Assistant Legal Adviser to the
Foreign Office, to Mr. E. S. Roscoe, Admiralty Registrar of the High
Court, and to Messrs. F. Ritchie and G. E. P. Hertslet of the Foreign
Office who gave me valuable information on certain points while I was
preparing the manuscript for this edition.