nearest the head of the canal, where are situated Dyea and Skagway, a distance of about eighteen to twenty miles inland; according to the British claim it would be but thirty miles from the mouth of the canal, thus leaving these two important settlements within Canadian territory." For the moment this question does not press for solution, since on the 20th October 1899, a modus vivendi was concluded, a provisional boundary being fixed which leaves the head of the Lynn Canal to the Americans. But sooner or later the whole matter will have to be settled, if the existing tension between Canada and her neighbour is to be relaxed. (To be continued.) VII. CURRENT NOTES ON INTERNATIONAL LAW. The international position of affairs in China remains the same. Although fortunately the dreaded catastrophe to the diplomatic representatives in Pekin was averted (it must be added by their own military resources), still the murder of the German Minister and the loss of other lives in the Legations constitute an offence against the law of nations which casts upon the Chinese Government a heavy responsibility. The European Powers, the United States and Japan have, however, so far-following the principle of Pacific Blockade-succeeded in avoiding the international difficulties arising out of a state of war with China by treating the whole affair as a domestic insurrection and using their own armed forces as police. This precludes them from holding the Sovereign Power in China personally responsible. It is to be hoped that when satisfaction has been made the various States concerned will in joint conference determine their rights in China between themselves as well as between themselves and China. The commercial treaties are not reconcilable with the territorial arrangements made with some of the Powers, and it is desirable and necessary that foreign relations towards China shall be dealt with as a whole. South Africa. Now that the Boer States have been annexed, their former Executives have fled or dissolved, and their military forces no longer carry on a regular warfare, the war in South Africa may be regarded as practically closed. The contributions made by it to the store of international law and practice have not been considerable, perhaps the most important being the adoption, within certain limits, of the continuous voyage theory on the subject of contraband, as a rule of British prize law, and (indeed it now seems) of general application; and the attempted codification by the German Foreign Office of the law of visit and search. The range of international law applicable has been narrowed by the fact of the military operations being carried on in an inland state, although this very circumstance has lent particular importance to the neutral conduct of the only neutral conterminous state. The only questions which remain are those connected with the transformation of the Boer States into portions of the British dominions, and the recognition of this state of things by other States. When the proclamation of annexation has been notified. to the previously neutral States, and it is in the judgment of their Governments justified by circumstances, it is their duty to recognise the existence of a new sovereign of the conquered States. A question has been raised in this connection as to the attitude which the courts of law in such countries will take up towards the State property of the former sovereigns of those States, which is situate within their jurisdiction, if it is claimed by the new sovereign. According to general practice, the courts in such a case refer to the acts of their Governments for information on the point whether the former sovereign has ceased to be recognised as such-our own courts treat a certificate from the Foreign Office as conclusive of the position of an alleged sovereign-and decide accordingly. The Rouen Conference Among the many meetings of lawyers and others which the Paris Exhibition has caused to be held in France this year, the conference of the International Law Association at Rouen in August and that of the Comité Maritime International at Paris in October, have produced discussions and expressions of opinion, and more or less progressive conclusions on subjects of International Law. The chief points dealt with at the former were (1) the consideration of the Hague Convention; (2) the unification of the law of marine insurance; (3) the execution of foreign judg. ments; (4) the immunity of private property at sea from capture during war. As regards (1) the only suggestions made to the Conference related to the convention regarding the conduct of warfare on land, especially the occupation of territory by an invading force. The convention gives the rights of belligerents to the levee en masse only of the population of unoccupied territory provided that it respects the laws and usages of war, while in territory occupied by the enemy's forces acts of warfare constitute a form of treason punishable by death; but such occupation must be constant, actual, and effective; and the occupant has all powers of jurisdiction over the territory occupied, and the duty of taking such measures as are necessary to re-establish order, enforcing the existing laws unless circumstances absolutely forbid. The conference adopted suggestions that the people of occupied territory shall be informed as publicly and widely as possible how far the occupation extends, and what are the consequent powers of the occupant (in accordance with a provision of the code adopted by the Institute of International Law at Oxford in 1880); and that the repayment of supplies, labour, or money furnished to an invader under the heads of contributions and requisitions shall be secured by making the receipts demandable, in all such cases a charge on the invading Government. Comprehensive as the Hague Convention on this subject is, it is clear that there is still room for amendment, and probably each war will contribute details to its system. It may be noticed here that the Convention forbids the practice of the Franco-German war 1870-1871 of fining districts on violence being offered within their limits to communications, or supplies, or small parties of soldiers. The system adopted by the British commanders in the late war of destroying property which had facilitated, or would facilitate the repetition of such acts, has the advantage of being a more direct and reasonable remedy. As regards the International codification of the law of Marine Insurance-in which a good start was made last year at the Conference at Buffalo-by means of a code of rules intended to be incorporated by reference into policies similar to the York Antwerp Rules of General Average, there seemed good reason to hope that the Continental nations would concur in the recommendations of a Committee of American and English lawyers, underwriters, and shipowners, the chief of which were the adoption of the Continental standard in cases of constructive total loss (viz. three-quarters of the value); the change of the warranty of sea-worthiness into an engagement, the breach of which does not nullify the contract, but only frees the insurer from loss caused thereby; and the retention of the Anglo-American law of double insurance under which all policies covering the same subject matter are equally liable, instead of the continental principle of looking to the first policy in order of date. An expression of Belgian opinion on the subject furnished by the Belgian Association for the unification of Maritime Law was not, however, quite in line with the Anglo-American suggestions and the further consideration of those proposals was postponed to the next conference. Undoubtedly in the near future uniformity should be reached. on this subject, especially in view of the impetus lately given to general unification of maritime law by the action of the recently formed Continental Comité Maritime International; and there are signs that English lawyers are realising that in this department of maritime law as in that of limitation of shipowners' liability they will do well to approximate more nearly to the general line of the Continental systems. It seems difficult to make any step forward towards obtaining a general international agreement on the subject of the execution of foreign judgments; although this has been successfully secured in treaties between two nations, e.g., France and Belgium in 1900, and a spirited attempt. has been made (unsuccessfully) by a British colonial statute (Mauritius, 1899) to deal with it by municipal law. The difficulty lies in the different views which different countries take of what gives their courts jurisdiction in particular cases, and although for over twenty years the International Law Association has been considering this problem, it has not yet been able to solve it by formulating an acceptable code of rules. A draft convention though drawn only in general outline and draft rules of jurisdiction (competence) were not found capable of adoption by the conference, but were referred back for consideration by |