2IO Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute [vol. x 



Thus far particular treaties, conventions and agreements for settle- 

 ment of disputes have been spoken of; it will not be without interest to 

 say something about the general agreements betv/een Britain and 

 Canada on the one hand, and the United States on the other. I quote 

 from an article written by me in the Yale Law Journal, June 19 13: 



"In 1908, April 4th, a general Treaty of Arbitration between the 

 United States and Great Britain was signed at Washington. This 

 provided (Article I) that differences which might arise of a legal nature 

 or relating to the interpretation of treaties existing between the two 

 contracting parties, and which could not be settled by diplomacy, should 

 be referred to the permanent Court of Arbitration established at the 

 Hague by the convention of July 29th, 1899, provided they did not 

 affect the vital interests, the independence, or the honour of the two 

 con'tracting States, and did not concern the interests of third parties. 



'Article II provides that in each individual case the parties were to 

 conclude a special agreement defining the matter in dispute, the scope 

 of the powers of the arbitrators and the times to be set for the several 

 stages of the procedure. 



"A provision of very great significance to a Canadian appears in the 

 Treaty. The British Government reserved the right before concluding 

 a special agreement in any matter affecting the interests of a self-govern- 

 ing Dominion of the British Empire to obtain the concurrence therein 

 of the Government of that Dom.inion. 



"This was not, indeed, the first time the concurrence of the colony 

 had been provided for; in the Treaty of Washington (1871) it was pro- 

 vided that certain parts of the Treaty were not to come into force until 

 legislation had been passed by the colonies concerned." 



It was under this general Treaty that the Hague arbitration (21 

 above) was held. 



This Treaty, it will be seen, applies to the whole British Empire: 

 but there is another international arrangement which (as I said in an 

 address at Washington some years ago) "maybe called a miniature Hague 

 tribunal of our own just for us English speaking nations of the Continent 

 of North America." 



This "Treaty of 1909 was preceded by the constitution of a board of 

 commissioners. The board was formed at the request of the President, 

 acting under the authority of the River and Harbour Act approved 

 June 13, 1902. The functions of the proposed board were defined in the 

 Act, and were substantially a full investigation of the question of the 

 boundary waters; the board was to consist of six members, three ap- 

 pointed by the United States and three by Canada. The President, 

 July 15, 1902, communicated through the American Ambassador at 

 London with the British Government, that Government transmitted 



