128 POWER UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW. 



through a foreign minister.^'' However, until the constitution has 

 been amended to this effect, and the change has been recognized 

 by foreign nations, they will be entitled to look to the President as 

 the authority to whom they may present their claims and from 

 whom they may expect satisfaction according to the standard of 

 international law and treaty. 



Now there is danger of misunderstanding. This does not mean 

 that foreign nations are entitled to consider the President com- 

 petent to commit the United States to all sorts of international re- 

 sponsibilities. A treaty or any other international obligation is 

 valid only when the consent of the state is tacitly or expressly 

 given,^'^ and to determine the reality of consent the constitutional 

 law of the state must be appealed to. Only the organs there 

 designated, each within its constitutional competence,^® can bind 

 the nation. But once the treaty or other commitment is made 

 by the proper constitutional authority, the President is, in the 

 absence of express treaty provision to the contrary ,^^ the authority 

 to whom they may look for its execution. 



CHAPTER HP 



Attributes of the National Representative Organ under 

 International Law. 



A. Sole Agency for Foreign Communication. 



13. Foreign Representatives may officially communicate with the 



nation only through the President or his Representatives. 



The position of the President as the representative organ implies 



that foreign nations are entitled to present their claims to him but 



36 Supra, notes 22, 25. 



37 Wilson and Tucker, op. cit., p. 213; Hall, op. cit., sec. 108; Wright, 

 Minn. Lazv Rev., 4: 17. 



38 Crandall, op. cit., sec. i, 2: Wheaton, Dana ed., sec. 265; Borchard, op. 

 cit., pp. 183-184, says, " The power of officers of the government, superior 

 and inferior, to bind the government is limited by their legal authority to 

 enter into such obligations. This authority is generally strictly construed. 

 The President of a country cannot legally grant or alter the terms of con- 

 cessions to foreigners, if the constitutional law of the country requires the 

 approval of Congress for such acts. Those dealing with agents of the 

 state are ordinarily bound by their actual authority, and not, as in private 



