34 FINAL, ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 



ARTICLE 25. 



The Second Pan American Scientific Congress, in order to place instruc- 

 tion in international law upon a more uniform and scientific 

 basis, recommends that 



(a) In the teaching of international law emphasis be laid upon the 

 positive nature of the subject and the definiteness of the 

 rules, for whether the teaching of international law be re- 

 garded as of value as a disciplinary subject or from the stand- 

 point of its importance in giving to the student a grasp of 

 the rules that govern the relations of nations, it is equally 

 important that he have impressed upon his mind the definite- 

 ness and positive character of the rules of international law; 

 that the teaching of international law be not made the occa- 

 sion for a universal peace propaganda; that the interests of 

 the students in and their enthusiasm for the subject can best 

 be aroused by impressing upon them the evolutionary charac- 

 ter of the rules of international law, for through such a presen- 

 tation of the subject the student will not fail to see that the 

 development of positive rules of law governing the relations 

 of States has contributed toward the maintenance of peace. 



(6) In order to emphasize the positive character of international 

 law the widest possible use be made of cases and the concrete 

 facts of international experience, for the interest of students 

 can best be aroused when they are convinced that they are 

 dealing with such concrete facts, and that the marshaling of 

 such facts in such a way as to develop or illustrate general 

 principles lends dignity to the subject, which can not help but 

 have a stimulating influence ; that international law should be 

 constantly illustrated from the sources recognized as ultimate 

 authority, such as cases both of judicial and arbitral deter- 

 mination; treaties, protocols, acts, and declarations of epoch- 

 making congresses, such as Westphalia (1648), Vienna (1815). 

 Paris (1856), The Hague (1899 and 1907), and London 

 (1909); diplomatic incidents ranking as precedents for action 

 of an international character; and the great classics of inter- 

 national law. 



(c) In the teaching of international law care be exercised to dis- 



tinguish the accepted rules of international law from questions 

 of international policy. 



(d) In a general course on international law the experience of no 



one country be allowed to assume a consequence out of pro- 

 portion to the strictly international principles it may illus- 

 trate. 



