102 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



climate, soil, or atmosphere peculiar to the locality of the people pro- 

 fessing and practicing those forms of religion. Consequently, the 

 diversity of customs and habits of different peoples should give rise to 

 rights and duties differing in nature and degree between the diverse 

 political divisions. Now, what is the duty of a people in such cases 

 in their relations with each other ? It is the duty of a good father 

 to love and protect the members of his family before other persons ; 

 his care and solicitude should begin with his own. Yet he owes a 

 duty to his kind that is, to help others when required, if he can do 

 so without injury to himself or those depending on him. We may 

 say that men in a state of nature would be compelled by force of cir- 

 cumstances to the observance of these rules. How is it with resrard 

 to states ? Their first duty is to look to the welfare of their own 

 citizens ; yet they should remember that individuals of whatever 

 nationality have natural and inherent rights that should be every- 

 where recognized, since the exercise of these rights is necessary to 

 existence. It is true that an individual, passing from one state into 

 another, can not carry with him rights not possessed by the citizens of 

 the state he enters, especially if their exercise would interfere with 

 the political or civil rights of the natives. Thus it is that rights 

 will always vary from one people to another. Sometimes the laws 

 and rights vary in the state itself ; there frequently arises a diversity 

 of laws and customs between the different provinces of the same 

 country : as in ancient France, which was formed out of a number 

 of feudal sovereignties, each having its particular law, and giving 

 rise to frequent conflicts between different customs. A like cause 

 produced a like effect in the German Empire : the law varied from 

 one city to another, and even from one street to another in the same 

 city. Another difficulty arises; How are we to determine between 

 these conflicting laws ? The law of nations is the same, theoretically 

 at least, for all humanity. Private international law, which is a 

 branch of the law of nations, has also a tendency to unity not that 

 it has for an ideal the uniformity of the law of all portions of the 

 human race ; such would be too dreamy an idea. But the rules which 

 serve to solve these conflicts can and should be the same the world 

 over, notwithstanding the diversity of legislation. It is this unity 

 that private international law has sought, and now seeks to establish. 

 How can it be realized ? It can not be formed, like the civil law 

 of each people, by legislation, or command of a superior authority, 

 since independent sovereign nations recognize no authority superior 

 to themselves. Each legislature can not make laws that will be 

 operative beyond the limits of the territory over which it has legisla- 

 tive power. Here, again, we see the analogy between private interna- 

 tional law and the law of nations. Nations, like individuals, have their 

 personality ; between individuals, the juridical disputes arise either 

 upon a contract, or on account of a wrong committed ; it is the same 



