8 4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



been such men, as, for example, Rudolf Gneist, whose great work 

 on English Constitutional Law and History has become a classic. 

 But, as a rule, there is among text writers on this branch of law 

 and among the eminent jurists who have hitherto been connected 

 with international tribunals much " provincialism in thought and 

 conception," if the phrase may be allowed, and to overcome it the 

 future jurists who shall take part in international contests before 

 the high tribunal of the nations will require to be more thoroughly 

 grounded in the history and evolution of law in general and in the 

 study of comparative law, both private and public, in particular, 

 than their predecessors have been.* In this connection it is not too 

 much to hope that the unifying influence of an international tri- 

 bunal will eventually exercise a good effect in promoting the solu- 

 tion of various perplexing problems on the private side of inter- 

 national law, or what is known as " conflict of laws." 



Having indicated some directions in which the growth of inter- 

 national law will be likely to be promoted by the tribunal, the ques- 

 tion suggests itself whether the jurisdiction of the international 

 court will eventually be enlarged beyond the scope at present con- 

 templated by the Convention of The Hague. Will the time ever 

 come when such a court shall take cognizance of various matters 

 which now lie without the sphere of " business disputes and ques- 

 tions of a juridical nature " and within that of essential interests, 

 honor, race, and religious policies and ideals? The statement, which 

 is sometimes heard, that such will never be the case, does not seem 

 warranted when we regard the growth of law in general, and indeed 

 the development of this particular branch of it, in the past, but it is 

 safe to say that the time is a long way off; it will depend on many 

 things: the efficiency of the court itself, the continued growth of 

 neutral rights, the increasing necessity for preserving international 

 peace, and the infinite forces which have tended to widen the juris- 

 diction of municipal law.f 



In the growth of systems of " National Law " % there has been 

 evolved from small beginnings an ever-widening jurisdiction. Im- 

 partial courts have inspired confidence which stimulated individuals 

 to seek their aid, and this has reacted to extend their jurisdiction, 

 until now the most intimate and complex relations between indi- 

 viduals, at one time wholly without their sphere, are in these days 

 submitted as a matter of course to judicial settlement. Even ques- 

 tions of individual honor are settled according to the well-developed 



* As evidence of increased attention to this matter in Germany, see AVertheim, Worter- 

 bnch des Englischen Rechts. 



f See Le Droit de la Paix, by M. Descamps. 

 \ In contradistinction to " International Law." 



