INTEBNATIONAL LAW 175 INTEBNATIONAL LAW plication of the principles to specific questions arising between nations are less clear, and it is in this field chiefly that differences arise between nations, passing frequently into disputes and not infrequently into wars. It is In this field, also, that progress is being con- stantly made through international con- ferences and arbitral decisions. If the progi'ess thus far made does not give promise of immediate universal peace, it gives promise at least of a general understanding such as will make it con- stantly more difficult to justify war by manufactured grievances. The beginnings of International Law coincide with the beginnings of interna- tional relations. No sort of peaceful in- tercourse between nations or cities or even tribes can be conceived without as- suming some rules governing such in- tercourse. A well developed, though limited, code existed between the city- states of Greece of which Athens and Sparta were the leaders, and between the Latin city-states of early Roman history. With the extension of the Roman power until it covered the civil- ized world, the necessity for " inter- national " rules ceased to exist. The law of Rome was the law of the world. In the first few centuries following the fall of Rome, Roman civilization and culture, including Roman Law, were as- similated by the new nations of Western Europe. With the conquests of Charle- magne and his assumption of the im- perial title in 800, the Roman tradition took on a new lease of life; and for many centuries thereafter the fiction per- sisted of a " Holy Roman Empire " with a dual government of Church and State, claiming universal sovereignty and so keeping alive the conception of a super- state and a super-law. Thus it came about that when the modern world, in the middle of the seventeenth century emerged from the desolation of the Thirty- Years War, and thoughtful men began to seek for something in the way of an agreement that should make for a better understanding between nations, they found a code existing whose under- lying principles could be adapted to in- ternationalization, and a world to which the conception of such internationaliza- tion was not entirely strange. They found existing also a treatise on " The Law of Peace and War" in which the transition from national to international law was indicated with remarkable pre- cision and a new and broader code de- veloped in which full weight was given to international customs already existing and to the principles of humanity and morality which are the basis of Christian civilization and ethics. This treatise, published at Paris in 1625 by a Dutch jurist, Hugo Grotius, the " Father of In- ternational Law," marks the beginning of a new era in international relations and in the development of International Law as a science. Among- the writers who have followed Grotius, the following are deserving of mention as having contributed something of precept or enlightenment to the sul> ject : Pufendorf, 1632-1694; Bynkershoek, 1673-1743; Vattel, 1714-1767; Wheaton, 1785-1848; Kent, 1763-1847; and more recently, the following: W. E. Hall, T. J. Lawrence, L. Oppenheim, A. P. Hig- gins, Englishmen; and J. B. Moore, G. G. Wilson, and T. D. Woolsey, Ameri- cans. Among the most important subjects dealt with by International Law may be mentioned the following: The rights and privileges of the sub- jects of one country residing in another country. The rights and priv^ileges of Ambassa- dors, Envoys and Consuls. The Extradition of criminals. Rules of Commerce and Navigation. Rules for international postal systems. Rules of Land and Sea Warfare; in- cluding neutral and belligerent rights and responsibilities, blockade, visit and search, contraband of war, immunity of hospitals, ambulances, etc. The most important advances in In- ternational Law since the days of Gro- tius have come about through interna- tional conferences, of which many have been held during the last three-quarters of a century. The most notable of these are the following: I. The Peace Conference following tho Crimean War. This Conference appended to the treaty of peace a declaration known as " The Declaration of Paris " in which the following important principles were adopted by the signatory powers and proposed for acceptance by the world. (1) Privateering is and remains abol- ished. (2) A neutral flag protects enemy goods from capture on the sea, except contraband of war. (3) Neutral goods under an enemy's flag are not subject to capture at sea, except contraband of war. (4) A Blockade to be binding must be effective. The United States refused to accept the Declaration of Paris, not because of any objection to its provisions, but be- cause provisions (2) and (3) did not go
