invited to send representatives, the South American Republics not being invited at all. It is frequently maintained that only full-Sovereign States can be parties to congresses and conferences. This is certainly not correct, as here, too, everything depends upon the merits of the special case. As a rule, full-Sovereign States only are parties, but there are exceptions. Thus, Bulgaria, a vassal under Turkish suzerainty, was a party to the Hague Peace Conference, although without a vote. There is no reason to deny the rule that half- and part-Sovereign States can be parties to congresses and conferences in so far as they are able to negotiate internationally.' Such States are, in fact, frequently asked to send representatives to such congresses and conferences as meet for non-political matters. But no State can be a party which has not been invited, or admitted at its own request. If a Power thinks it fitting that a congress or conference should meet, it invites such other Powers as it pleases. The invited Powers may accept under the condition that certain other Powers should or should not be invited or admitted. Those Powers which have accepted the invitation become parties if they send representatives. Each party may send several representatives, but they have only one vote, given by the senior representative for himself and his subordinates. at Con ferences. § 485. After the place and time of meeting have Procedure been arranged-such place may be neutralised for gresses the purpose of securing the independence of the and Condeliberations and discussions-the representatives meet and constitute themselves by exchanging their commissions and electing a president and other 1 See above, § 478. officers. It is usual, but not obligatory, for the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the State within which the congress meets to be elected president. If the difficulty of the questions on the programme makes it advisable, special committees are appointed for the purpose of preparing the matter for discussion by the body of the congress. In such discussion all representatives can take part. After the discussion follows the voting. The motion must be carried unanimously to consummate the task of the congress, for the vote of the majority has no power whatever in regard to the dissenting parties. But it is possible that the majority considers the motion binding for its members. A protocol is to be kept for all the discussions and the voting. If the discussions and votings lead to a final result upon which the parties agree, all the points agreed upon are drawn up in an Act, which is signed by the representatives and which is called the Final Act or the General Act of the congress or conference. A party can make a declaration or a reservation in signing the Act for the purpose of excluding a certain interpretation of the Act in the future. And the Act may expressly stipulate freedom for States which were not parties to accede to it in future. III TRANSACTIONS BESIDES NEGOTIATION Bluntschli, § 84-Hartmann, § 91-Gareis, § 77-Liszt, § 20. kinds of § 486. International transaction is the term for Different every act on the part of a State in its inter- Transaccourse with other States. Besides negotiation, which tion. has been discussed above in §§ 477-482, there are eleven other kinds of international transactions which are of legal importance-namely, declaration, notification, protest, renunciation, recognition, intervention, retorsion, reprisals, pacific blockade, war, and subjugation. Recognition has already been discussed above in §§ 71-75, as has also intervention in §§ 134-138, and, further, subjugation in §§ 236-241. Retorsion, reprisals, pacific blockade, and war will be treated in the second volume of this work. There are, therefore, here to be discussed only the remaining four transactions-namely, declaration, notification, protest, and renunciation. tion. § 487. The term "declaration" is used in three Declaradifferent meanings. It is, first, sometimes used as the title of a body of stipulations of a treaty according to which the parties engage themselves to pursue in future a certain line of conduct. The Declaration of Paris, 1856, and the Declaration of St. Petersburg, 1868, are instances of this. Declarations of this kind differ in no respect from treaties.1 One speaks, secondly, of declarations when States communicate to other States or urbi et orbi an explanation and justification of a line of conduct pursued by them in the past, or an explanation 1 See below, $ 508. VOL. I. LL Notifica tion. of views and intentions concerning certain matters. Declarations of this kind may be very important, but they hardly comprise transactions out of which rights and duties of other States follow. But there is a third kind of declarations out of which rights and duties do follow for other States, and it is this kind which comprises a specific international transaction, although the different declarations belonging to this group are by no means of a uniform character. Declarations of this kind are declarations of war, declarations on the part of belligerents concerning the goods they will condemn as contraband, declarations at the outbreak of war on the part of third States that they will remain neutral, and others. § 488. Notification is the technical term for the communication to other States of the knowledge of certain facts and events of legal importance. In principle, no notification is obligatory, but in fact it frequently takes place, because States cannot be considered subject to certain duties without the knowledge of the facts and events which give rise to these duties. Thus it is usual to notify to other States changes in the headship and in the form of government of a State, the outbreak of war, the establishment of a Federal State, a blockade, an annexation after conquest, the appointment of a new Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and the like. But although notification is as a rule not obligatory, there are some exceptions to the rule. Thus, according to article 56 of the Hague Convention for the peaceful adjustment of international differences, in case a number of States are parties to a treaty and two of the parties are at variance concerning the interpretation of such treaty and agree to have the difference settled by arbitration, they have to notify this agreement to all other parties to the treaty. Thus, too, according to article 34 of the General Act of the Berlin Congo Conference of 1885, notification of new occupations and the like on the African coast is obligatory. $489. Protest is a formal communication on the Protest. part of a State to another that it objects to an act performed or contemplated by the latter. A protest serves the purpose of preservation of rights, or of making it known that the protesting State does not acquiesce in and does not recognise certain acts. A protest can be lodged with another State concerning acts of the latter which have been notified to the former or which have otherwise become known. On the other hand, if a State acquires knowledge of an act which it considers internationally illegal and] against its rights, and nevertheless does not protest, such attitude implies renunciation of such rights, provided a protest would have been necessary to preserve a claim. It may further happen that a State at first protests, but afterwards either expressly 1 or tacitly acquiesces in the act. And it must be emphasised that under certain circumstances and conditions a simple protest on the part of a State without further action is not in itself sufficient to preserve the rights in behalf of which the protest was made.2 $490. Renunciation is the deliberate abandonment Renunciaof rights. It can be given expressis verbis or tacitly. 1 Thus by section 2 of the Declaration concerning Siam, Madagascar, and the New He. brides, which is embodied in the Anglo-French Agreement of April 8, 1904, Great Britain withdrew the protest which she had raised against the introduction of the Customs tariff established at Mada- 2 See below, § 539, concerning tion. |