IV 

 THE MONROE DOCTRINE 



THE instinct of self-preservation is the first law of nature. 

 As a natural law governing all living creatures, it takes 

 precedence over the social or artificial regulations of man- 

 kind. Under whatever municipal code an individual exists, 

 he may freely ignore it when necessary to preserve his life ; 

 his only solicitude, if placed on trial, need be to prove that 

 his alleged wrongful acts were committed in self-defence. 

 And so it is, to a certain extent, with nations. Like indi- 

 viduals, they stand before the public law the law of 

 nations with definite rights and duties. First and fun- 

 damentally, they possess the right of sovereignty and inde- 

 pendence, and a freedom of action that is limited only by 

 the obligation to respect similar rights in other nations. 

 As in the case of individuals, the exercise of their own 

 rights must be without injury to others. 



The international law permits one nation to violate the 

 sovereignty of another in but few exceptional instances. 

 Thus, for humanity's sake, a continued course of cruelty 

 or needless bloodshed on the part of any one power may 

 arouse international concern and justify intervention. But 

 any act intending to destroy the existence of a nation or to 

 limit its sovereignty, when committed under the plea of self- 

 defence, must find its justification in a code higher than 

 international law. In the common law, homicide in self- 

 defence is justifiable. In this respect, therefore, there is a 

 distinction between the common and the public laws, the 

 latter not yet having fully come to recognize self-defence 

 as a justifiable cause of action. But though the public 



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