INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PEACE CONFERENCE. 85 



principles of libel and slander which were once considered as re- 

 quiring a duel for their satisfaction. 



A similar growth may be expected in the jurisdiction of the 

 international tribunal. Upon the reputation which it shall succeed 

 in establishing for impartiality, freedom from race and national 

 prejudices, regard for broad principles of law and equity, and the 

 thoroughness and ability with which it shall discharge its high 

 duties within its present sphere, will largely depend the extent to 

 which an advancing public opinion will enlarge its jurisdiction until 

 it shall embrace various classes of questions now declared non- 

 arbitrable. ISTo detailed classification, however, can be thought of; 

 each difficulty as it arises must be determined in view of the sur- 

 rounding circumstances with due regard to the growing public feel- 

 ing in favor of judicial settlement. Under the system of voluntary 

 arbitration there is abundant room for growth, for the onus will 

 be thrown on each contending state to square its conduct with that 

 growing feeling in favor of arbitration which it will become more 

 and more difficult to ignore. In every country the growth of law 

 and the extension of the jurisdiction of the courts which adminis- 

 tered it have been concurrent; the same rule must govern in the 

 field of international law. 



There are vast fields at present untouched by the law of nations. 

 The discovery of the New World threw the jurists of that day into 

 bewilderment as to how rights in the American continents might 

 be acquired and established. A period of doubt and dispute en- 

 sued, until finally Grotius, by applying certain rules of Koman 

 law regarding the acquirement of rights by individuals through 

 purchase, possession, etc., and by inventing certain other rules, 

 helped to supply a legal foundation upon which the acquisition of 

 these territories could be regulated. Looking toward the future, 

 one can see that, since there are no more continents to be discov- 

 ered and the habitable parts of the earth have been already taken 

 possession of by the colonial pioneer, the great principle of the sur- 

 vival of the fittest must henceforth mainly work itself out in com- 

 petitions confined to the existing territories of the various powers. 

 This will necessitate the consideration of some deep questions con- 

 cerning the life and death of nations and the heirship to their 

 dominions.* 



It is widely believed, for instance, that China is dying a natural 

 death. Assuming it to be the fact, what will be the rules to gov- 

 ern the inheritance of these Oriental domains? Great Britain, 

 Kussia, Germany, the United States, and other nations have ac- 

 quired footholds and established interests within Chinese territory. 



* Vide Contuzzi, Leggi di Composizioni e di Decomposizioni degli Stati. 



