244 WRIGHT— POWER TO MEET RESPONSIBILITIES. 



tion, war and neutrality, has proved the most difficult branch of the 

 subject of responsibility. In other cases of responsibility the gov- 

 ernment itself is at fault and the responsibility of the state is direct 

 and immediate. In the present case the original fault is not by 

 the government, and the state is responsible indirectly or vicariously 

 and only after municipal law remedies have been exhausted.'^ 

 3. Non-fulfillment of Obligation. 



The state is responsible for the non-fufillment of contractual 

 obligations made by any legislative, executive or administrative 

 organ acting within legal authority derived from a de jure govern- 

 ment or generally recognized de facto government of the state as 

 a whole, and for the non-performance of acts required by interna- 

 tional law. Contractual obligations made under authority of po- 

 litical subdivision of the state or under authority of local de facto 

 governments, or de facto governments which never attain general 

 recognition, do not involve an international responsibility unless the 

 state received a benefit therefrom.* The question of whether force 

 may be used to compel the payment of public contract debts (in- 

 volved in the Drago Doctrine and II Hague Conventions 1907) 

 relates to the remedy and not to the legal responsibility.® 



The state is responsible for the reparation which treaty or in- 

 ternational law may impose, in case of failure to meet any of the 

 foregoing responsibilities. 



90. State Power to Meet International Responsibilities. 



Extensive powers for the employment of military force, the rais- 

 ing and appropriation of money, the administration of justice and 

 criminal law, and the organization and administration of public 

 services are given to the national government by the Constitution. 

 Are these powers sufficient to meet all present and possible inter- 

 national responsibilities? The states originally had full power to 

 meet international responsibilities except as restricted by their own 

 constitutions and they retain that power except as expressly or im- 

 pliedly limited by the Federal Constitution. The delegation of 



'^ Ibid., p. 180. See also Hall, op. cit., p. 226. Oppenheim, loc. cit., origi- 

 nated the expression "vicarious responsibility" in this connection. 



8 Borchard, op. cit., p. 184. 



9 Ibid., pp. 286, 308. 



