Kingdom of Jerusalem, and Trani, the whole forming a singularly rich mine of material for the legal archæologist.
On the other hand in the recension of Bracton, contributed by him to the same series, ‘Henricus de Bracton de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ,’ 1878–83, 6 vols. 8vo, he essayed a task to which his patience, if not his powers, proved unequal; and a satisfactory text of that sadly corrupted and interpolated legal classic remains a desideratum (cf. Vinogradoff on ‘The Text of Bracton’ in Law Quarterly Review, i. 189 et seq.). An edition by him of the earlier treatise of Ranulf de Glanville [q. v.] was sanctioned in 1884, and announced as in the press in 1890, but has not appeared.
Twiss assisted at the inauguration at Brussels on 10 Oct. 1873 of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, of which he was vice-president for England, and was for many years one of the most active members. From 1874 he was also a member of the cognate Institute of International Law founded at Ghent on 8 Sept. 1873, and acted vice-president in 1878, 1879, and 1885. He assisted the king of the Belgians in shaping the constitution of the Independent Congo State, and as counsel extraordinary to the British embassy at Berlin took part in the labours of the congress held in that capital, November 1884 to February 1885, at which the new polity received European recognition. Unique value thus attaches to the chapter on this unusually important congress which concludes the first volume of the French version (revised by Professor Rivier of Brussels) of Twiss's great treatise on ‘The Law of Nations’ (‘Le Droit des Gens ou des Nations,’ Paris, vol. i. 1887, vol. ii. 1889, 8vo).
Twiss died on 14 Jan. 1897 at his residence, 6 Whittingstall Road, Fulham; his remains were interred in Fulham cemetery on 20 Jan. As a jurist his fame chiefly rests on the ‘Law of Nations,’ which, in the French edition, is a standard work. Though an acute and ingenious he was hardly an original thinker; and his scholarship was as inaccurate as his style was diffuse.
Among Twiss's uncollected dissertations may be specified the following: 1. ‘La Neutralisation du Canal de Suez’ (‘Rev. de Droit Internat.’ tome vii. 682 et seq.). 2. ‘The Exterritoriality of Public Ships of War in Foreign Waters’ (‘Law Mag. and Rev.’ 1876). 3. ‘The Applicability of the European Law of Nations to African Slave States’ (ib. May 1876). 4. ‘The Criminal Jurisdiction of the Admiralty: the Case of the Franconia’ (ib. February 1877). 5. ‘On the International Jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court in Civil Matters’ (ib. May 1877). 6. ‘The Doctrine of Continuous Voyages as applied to Contraband of War and Blockade’ (ib. November 1877); reprinted the same year in pamphlet form, London, 8vo. 7. ‘Albericus Gentilis on the Right of War’ (ib. February 1878). 8. ‘Collisions at Sea: a Scheme of International Tribunals’ (ib. November 1878). 9. ‘On the Treaty-making Power of the Crown: Le Parlement Belge’ (ib. May 1879). 10. ‘On Jurisprudence and the Amendment of the Law’ (ib. November 1879). 11. ‘The Alleged Discovery of the Remains of Columbus’ (‘Naut. Mag.’ June 1879; reprinted the same year as ‘Columbus: his Last Resting Place’). 12. ‘Cyprus: its Mediæval Jurisprudence and Modern Legislation’ (‘Law Mag. and Rev.’ May 1880). 12. ‘The Conflict of Marriage Laws’ (ib. November 1882). 13. ‘The Freedom of the Navigation of the Suez Canal’ (ib. February 1883). 14. Leibnitz's ‘Memoir upon Egypt’ (ib. May 1883). 15. ‘An International Protectorate of the Congo River’ (ib. November 1883). 16. ‘De la Sécurité de la Navigation dans le Canal de Suez’ (‘Rev. de Droit Internat.’ xiv. 572 et seq.). 17. ‘La Libre Navigation du Congo’ (ib. xv. 467 et seq. and 547 et seq., xvi. 237 et seq.). 18. ‘Des Droits de Belligérants sur Mer depuis la Déclaration de Paris’ (ib. xvi. 113 et seq.); also in English (pamphlet form) with title ‘Belligerent Right on the High Seas since the Declaration of Paris,’ London, 1884, 8vo. 19. ‘Le Congrès de Vienne et la Conférence de Berlin’ (ib. xvii. 201 et seq.). 20. ‘Le Canal Maritime de Suez et la Commission Internationale de Paris’ (ib. xvii. 615 et seq.). 21. ‘On International Conventions for the Neutralisation of Territory and their Application to the Suez Canal’ (‘Law Mag. and Law Rev.’ November 1887). 22. ‘La Juridiction Consulaire dans les Pays de l'Orient et spécialement au Japon’ (‘Rev. de Droit Internat.’ xxv. 213 et seq.). 23. ‘The Twelfth Century, the Age of Scientific Judicial Procedure. i. Magister Ricardus Anglicus, the Pioneer of Scientific Judicial Procedure in the Twelfth Century. ii. The Pseudo-Ulpian (Ulpianus de Edendo). The Latter Days of Ricardus Anglicus’ (‘Law Mag. and Law Rev.’ May 1894). 24. ‘Ricardus Anglicus and the Thirteenth Century, the Age of Scientific Law Amendment’ (ib. November 1894). 25. Review of Professors Pollock and Maitland's ‘History of English Law before the Time of Edward I’ (ib. November 1895). 26. ‘An International Arbitration in the Middle Ages’ (ib. November 1896).