NINTH DAY, APRIL 14™, 1893. 



[The Tribunal met piiisuaut to adjoiinuneiit.] 



The President. Mr. Carter, if you will continue your argument we 

 Avill be pleased to bear you. 



Mr. Caetek, Mr. President, at tbe close of tlie sitting yesterday, I 

 was speaking' to the i)oint of wbat law shall govern tlie deliberations 

 and the determination of tliis Tribunal, and I bad, in tbe course of my 

 argument upon tbat i)oint, undertaken to show tbat tbe rule wbicb 

 sbould govern must be some rule of right, and therefore a moral rule, 

 founded upon moral considerations; not necessarily tbe moral rule 

 wbicb governs the jurisin-udeuce of England and tbe United States, 

 even if they sbould lmp|)eu to coincide, but tbat moral rule wliicb is 

 generally recognized by the civilized nations of tbe world; tbat general 

 standard of justice — tbat international standard of justice — wbicb is 

 universally recognized, and wbicb is only another name for international 

 law. 



International Jaw, therefore, is tbe rule wbicb is to govern tbe delib- 

 erations of tbis Tribunal and to determine its decision. Wbat are tbe 

 sources to which we are to look for this international law? For the 

 most part international law is derived Irom, and is determined by, wbat 

 is called tbe law of nature, a term very common with tbe writers on inter- 

 national law. It is called tbe law of nature, partly because it is a code, 

 so far as it may be called a code, not derived from legislation, baving 

 no origin in any sovereign legislature — for tberc is no such legislature — 

 not derived from buman institution at all, but founded in the nature of 

 man and in the environment in wbicb he is placed. It is an absolute 

 necessity of buman society, witbout which it could not exist, that there 

 sbould be a moral rule by which the actions of its individual members 

 in relation to eacb other sbould be governed. Tbis is true of all munic- 

 ipal states, and it is eipuilly true of tbe larger society of nations. 

 There couhl be no intercourse among nations; there could be no inter- 

 course between individuals of difterent nations, unless there was some 

 rule, some law, wbicb would be recognized by them and by wbicb their 

 transactions Avitb eacb other should be governed. And in resi)ect of 

 tbe great society of nations wbicb is subject to no sovereign i)ower, 

 tbat law or rule is, for tbe most part, wbat is commonly called tbe law of 

 nature. This is, in<leed, tbe foundation, not oidy of international law, but 

 it is tbe fouiulation of all law, nnmicipal as well. All municipal codes 

 are but attempts on the part of i)articular societies of men to draw pre- 

 cepts and rules from tbe law of nature, and re-ena<;t them for the guid- 

 ance of its individual members; and in tbose countries which are not 

 governed wholly by codes or by statutory enactments; in those conn- 

 tries like England and America, wbere tbe great body of jurisi)rudence 

 is unwritten, still the decisions of the tribunals wbicb constitute the 

 sources and the evidence from which tbe law is ascertained, are derived 

 in great part from tbe law of nature. 

 80 



