LEGAL NATURE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 493 



law or treaty protected from capture by the law of nations, and is 

 such a law of nations part of the municipal law of the United States? 

 In deciding the first question in the affirmative, the learned Justice 

 said: " International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained 

 and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction, 

 as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly presented 

 for their determination. For this purpose, where there is no treaty, 

 and no controlling executive or legislative act or judicial decision, 

 resort must be had to the customs and usages of civilized nations; 

 and, as evidence of these, to the works of jurists and commentators, 

 who by years of labor, research, and experience have made them- 

 selves peculiarly well acquainted with the subjects of which they 

 treat. Such works are resorted to by judicial tribunals, not for 

 the speculations of their authors concerning what the law ought to 

 be, but for trustworthy evidence of what the law really is." 



In this remarkable opinion, not only is international law held to be 

 law in the legal sense of the word, but the sources of that international 

 law binding upon our courts are sketched with a masterly hand. 

 It is submitted that this case settles the question for an American 

 lawyer as fully and clearly as a decision of a court of final resort 

 can ever settle a matter properly before it, namely, that interna- 

 tional law is law; that it is part of our municipal law; that our 

 courts take judicial notice of it as such. 



The conclusion, therefore, is irresistible, whether the point of 

 approach be the reason and philosophy of the civilian, the theory of 

 the international specialist, or the practical standpoint of the bench 

 and bar, that international law is law and as such binding upon nation 

 and citizen alike. 



