479] IN INTERNATIONAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW l8l 



quintessence of the contemporary political faith of the larger 

 America. 



But as Gladstone's suggestion of a plebiscite in Alsace- 

 Lorraine could not command the assent of the neutral 

 powers in 1871, so has President Wilson's sponsorship of 

 the principle of self-determination not been able to establish 

 this dogma as a valid international rule without the uni- 

 versal consent of the rest of the civilized world. No more 

 could the assent of the Pan American nations to this prin- 

 ciple, and their adoption of it into American public law, 

 enforce its incorporation into international law without the 

 free consent of all or nearly all other nations. For if with 

 Lawrence " we mean by a source of law that which gives it 

 authority and binding force, then there is but one source 

 of the law of nations, and that is the consent of nations," 

 and " no rule can have authority as International Law unless 

 it has received the express or tacit acceptance of the great 

 majority of civilized States."^^ 



Prior to the World War such consent had not been for- 

 mally given. But, to quote Lawrence, " unless all or nearly 

 all civilized powers have signed a document which lays down 

 the rule, the best evidence of their consent is practice."-" 

 So far pre-World War history has to show hardly a single 

 genuine case of cession by conquest where the consent of 

 the people of the territory ceded was solicited by a refer- 

 endum. Even in the case of the acquisition of Rome by 

 the Kingdom of Italy in 1870 the plebiscite or referendum 

 followed the acquisition by conquest and was held while 

 the city was occupied by the conquerors, and there can be 

 no doubt that if the result of the referendum had been un- 

 favorable the wishes of the people would have simply been 

 ignored.^" Technically, of course, this case constitutes a 

 precedent for a transfer of territory by title of conquest 



2'* Lawrence, A Handbook of International Law, London, gth cd., 

 1915, P- 29. 



2» Ibid., p. 34. 



■3° See I)ui)anloup's charges tliat the favorable result of the plebis- 

 cite was secured by fraudulent votes, above, pp. 94-95. 



