6 A.EGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



hut one instance, what an " Iliad of woes" did tlie precedent of the 

 first partition of Poland open to the kingdoms who participated in that 

 grievous infraction of international law! The Roman law nobly ex- 

 presses a greal moral truth in the maxim, "Jurisjurandi contempta 

 religio satis Deum habet nitorem." The commentary of a wise and 

 learned. French jurist upon these words is remarkable and may not in 

 aptly close this 'first part of the work : " Paroles (he says) qu'on pent 

 appiiquer 6galement a toute infraction des loix naturelles. La justice 

 dePAuteur de ces loix n'est pas inoins armee contreceux qui les trans- 

 gressent (pie contre les violateurs dn serment, qui n'ajoute rien a ['obli- 

 gation de les observer, ni a la force de nos engagements, et qui ne sert 

 qu'a nous rappeler le souvenir de cette justice inexorable." (Philli- 

 more's International Law, third edition, London, L879, vol. i, section 



lx.)' 



That there is a measure of uncertainty concerning the precepts of the 



law ol'iiaiure and, consequently, in international, law which is derived 

 from it, is indeed true. This uncertainty in a greater or less degree is 

 found in all the moral sciences. It is exhibited in municipal law ? 

 although not to so large an extent as ininternationallaw. Law is matter 

 of opinion; and this differs in different countries and in different ages, 

 and indeed between different minds in the same country and at the 

 same time. The loftiest precepts of natural justice taught by the most 

 elevated and refined intelligence of an age may not be acquiesced in or 

 appreciated by the majority of men. It is thus that the rules actually 

 enforced by municipal law often fall short of the highest standard of 

 natural justice. Erroneous decisions in municipal tribunals are of fre- 

 quent occurrence. Such decisions, although erroneous, must necessarily 

 be accepted as declarative of the rule of justice. They represent the 



'The duties of men, ui subjects, of princes, of lawgivers, of magistrates, ami of 

 states are all parts of one consistent system of universal morality. Between the 

 most abstract ami elementary maxims of moral philosophy ami the most complicated 

 controversies of rivil and public law there subsists a, connection. The principle of 

 justice deepl j rooted in the nature and interests of man pervades the whole system 

 and is discoverable in every part of it, even to the minutest ramification in a legal 

 formality or iu the. construction of an article in a. treaty. — (Sir James Macintosh, 

 Discourse on the Law of Nature and Nations, sub fine.) 



Mr. Justice Story says: "The true foundation on which the administration of in- 

 ternational law must rest is that the rules which are to govern are those which arise 

 from mutual interest and utility, from a sense of the inconveniences which would 

 result from a contrary doctrine, and from a sort of moral necessity to do justice in 

 order that justice may he done to us in return." (Conflict of Laws, eh. ii, sec 35.) 



Ami, sit bing as a judge, he declared: "But I think it may he unequivocally affirmed 

 that every doctrine that may be fairly deduced by correct reasoning from the rights 

 and duties of nations and the nature of moral obligations may theoretically he 

 said to exist in the law of nations; anil, unless it he relaxed or waived by the con- 

 sent of nations, which ma\ he e\ idenced by their general practice and custom, it 

 may be enforced by a court of justice wherever it arises in judgment." (LaJeuue 

 Eugenie, L' Mason's Reports, p. 449.) 



