HISTORY OF COMMON LAW 349 



this task in the right way. They have sought to lay down one rule of 

 action for all Europe only so far as this, that when controversies 

 depend for their determination on whether the law of this or of that 

 country shall be applied, the decision as to the applicable law shall 

 be made according to a certain and definite principle of selection. 

 The laws all remain different. They must remain different. It is only 

 the choice between them in each case for which the conventions 

 make provision. 



It is not too much to hope that they will receive, besides the 

 ratifications of all the governments which have participated in the 

 conferences, the adhesion of others, in other continents. 



The private law as well as the public law of the world will thus, 

 by the good offices of one of the lesser powers, rise toward a position 

 which, once the dream of poets, may before this century closes be in 

 great part achieved. 1 



1 See the description of the work of The Hague Conferences for the advance- 

 ment of Private International Law, in the Official Report of the Universal Congress 

 of Lawyers and Jurists, held at the St. Louis Exposition, September 28-30, 1904 

 (pp. 117-177; 332-378). 



