PREFACE THE author has attempted in this volume to present the equality of states as it appears in the theory of international law and also as it is affected by common usage. Theoretical aspects of the subject are considered in chapters dealing with the sources of the principle, its origin, and its significance in the writings of modern publicists and in illustrative documents. The opinion that Grotius first established the principle in international law is examined and evidence is adduced which indicates that the opinion is erroneous. The equality of states as affected by common usage is really their inequality or status. It involves the study of internal and external factors which limit the capacity of the state as an international person in a variety of ways. Attention has been given to certain features of the organic constitution of the state and also to certain external relationships with other states which are regarded as limitations upon international legal capacity. Political capacity has been viewed as a distinct problem and the limitations of which international relationships afford illustrations have received separate consideration. Everything in the volume except the Supplementary Chapter was written during the World War and the manuscript was in the printer's hands before the Peace Conference assembled. The materials on the work of the Peace Conference which have since become available are considered in the Supplementary Chapter. This chapter is of necessity incomplete, but it is believed that the relevancy of the subject matter justifies its inclusion. The investigation of an underlying legal principle is never an easy undertaking. It is peculiarly difficult in international law where so much is ill-defined and unsettled and where there is such an extraordinary divergence between accepted theories and common practice. The author entertains no illusions as to his own success in meeting the difficulties inherent in his undertaking. The late John Chipman Gray once remarked that "on no subject of human interest, except theology, has there been so much loose writing and nebulous speculation as on International Law." The author would like to feel that a realistic outlook and the application to the subject matter of established principles of legal analysis have at least saved him from the pitfalls of "loose writing and nebulous speculation." Beyond that he will feel amply repaid if his effort contributes something to the understanding of an important subject which has been too casually treated hitherto. It will be especially gratifying if the volume stimulates further research. The bibliography, it should be noted, is not what the accepted meaning of the term implies. Perhaps it would be better to call it a guide to the materials used. A bibliography in the accepted sense is impossible. On the one hand, there is next to nothing on the subject of equality in the literature of international law which purports to be the result of special study. On the other hand, almost every modern writer on international law has had something to say about equality and almost everything written is more or less relevant. The bibliography printed with the present volume includes everything that has been of any use in connection with the study undertaken. It is, as suggested, a guide to sources rather than a bibliography, This volume was written originally as a doctoral dissertation under the direction of Professor George Grafton Wilson of Harvard University. The author takes this occasion to express his immeasurable debt to Professor Wilson for arousing interest in the subject, encouraging at every stage with kindly criticism and helpful suggestion, and inspiriting with the generous enthusiasm of a great teacher. The author is deeply indebted also to Dean Roscoe Pound of the Harvard Law School for an opportunity to attend his lectures on Roman Law in 1917-18, while the present volume was in preparation, and for assistance in seeing the book through the press. Further acknowledgments are due to Professor Frank M. Anderson of Dartmouth College for helpful suggestions in connection with the revision of the manuscript, to Miss Elizabeth C. Roth of Ann Arbor for a critical reading of several of the translations from the French and the German, to Mr. Stephen Scatori of the University of Michigan for a critical reading of certain passages translated from the Italian, to Dr. Hessel E. Yntema of the University of Michigan for reading the proof of the earlier chapters, to Mr. Harold G. Rugg of Dartmouth College for assistance in procuring books and verifying references, to Mr. George E. Osborne of Cambridge for assistance in verifying references, and to Miss May M. McCarthy of Cambridge, whose services have been generously placed at the author's disposal by Dean Pound, and who has read the proof and verified a host of references which could not be conveniently verified outside the Harvard libraries. A generous share of credit for any merit which the book may have belongs to the author's wife, whose untiring assistance in the assembling of materials, the preparation of manuscript, and the reading of proof has made her an indispensable copartner in the enterprise and companion in research. ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, E. D. D. |