10 



PREFACE 



The employment of the plebiscite in the determination of 

 sovereignty was proclaimed as a government policy by revo- 

 lutionary France. Since that time the advocates of the doc- 

 trine of popular consent as the sine qua non of territorial 

 settlements involving changes of sovereignty have en- 

 deavored to secure its universal recognition in theory as 

 well as in practice. In the course of the nineteenth century 

 plebiscites have been held in a number of territorial trans- 

 fers, resulting in changes of sovereignty without, however, 

 establishing the resort to such popular votes as a general 

 practice in international law. 



In the attempt to form an opinion as to the justification 

 of the employment of a plebiscite in the determination of 

 sovereignty, either as a general principle or as a proper 

 mode of settlement in individual cases, we turn instinctively 

 to the past in search of its precedents illustrating the prac- 

 tice of the nations, and for records of opinions of leading 

 statesmen and international jurists. 



The present study aims to estimate the evolutionary mo- 

 mentum of the doctrine actually applied, in so far as it is 

 traceable through the mass of alleged or genuine precedents 

 of ancient, feudal, and modern times, and to consider the 

 theoretical and practical aspect of the subject from the 

 point of view of international and constitutional law in the 

 light of more recent developments. 



The most complete collection of precedents which a re- 

 view of the bibliogra])hy of the subject seems to offer is 

 found in F. Frcudentlial's Die Volksahsti»nuu}i(] bei Ge- 

 bietsabtretungen und llrohcruugcn . . . Erlangon, 1891, 

 and E. Solierc's Lc Plebiscite dans rannexion, elude his- 

 toriqtie ct critique de droit des gens, Paris, nyo\. 



The iiilii national legal aspect of llic (jucstion is treated 



Tii 



