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The International Congresses and Conferences of the Last Century as Forces Working Toward the Solidarity of the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Simeon E. Baldwin
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Extract

The pre-Tridentine œcumenical councils of the Roman Catholic church were, as Dr. Francis Wharton has well remarked, international congresses, working toward the establishment of a uniform law for the civilized world. It was a law confined to one set of subjects; but among them were those having to do with the family relation, and which were therefore of the first importance to human society. Each nation of Christendom was represented in these gatherings by its sovereign or political delegates, as well as by its bishops, and it was for each nation, acting through its political departments, to ratify or reject such rules or laws in these respects as the council might propose.

The representation of political sovereignty in the Council of Trent was slight, and in the only œcumenical council since called by Eome — that of the Vatican — it was wholly wanting; Bavaria being the only power (though all European cabinets were consulted) which intimated a willingness to send an official delegate.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , July 1907 , pp. 565 - 578
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1907

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References

1 Conflict of Laws, I, § 171.

2 Memoirs of Prince Hohenlohe. Macmillan'a Ed., I, 395; II, 4.

3 Am. Annual Register, 1825–6, Doc. 98.

4 The term “ Congress ” once meant an assemblage called to adjust international questions, as a consequence of war. It was formerly used in a still more restricted sense as an assemblage of sovereigns, for that purpose, leaving “ Conference ” to designate an assemblage of representatives, to act only subject to ratification. It is said by Fiore (Nouveau Droit International Public, Antoine's translation, II, 646), that now “Congress” is used only to signify an assemblage of representatives of nations to consider complex questions of general interest, while “ Conference ” is used to denote such an assemblage to consider particular questions of a local or temporary character. It has not been thought worth while in this article to adhere to this somewhat arbitrary distinction.

5 In Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Venezuela, it is a silver coin of the value of 19.3 cents of American money.

6 Life and letters of Thomas H. Huxley, II, 397.

7 Torres Campos, Bases de una Legislación sobre Extraterritorialidad, 193-6.

8 The Historical Development of Modem Europe, 1815–1850, 102.

9 See the outspoken comments on the Rio de Janeiro Congress by A. E. Holder of Lima in the Blatter für vergleichende Reehtswissenschaft, etc., March, 1907, p. 498.

10 In the name of the Bodleian, 311.

11 The United States did not accede to them until the Act of Congress of March 3, 1885; 23 U. S. Stat, at Large, 438.

* A list of memorable international conferences, congresses, or associations of official representatives of governments, exclusive of those mainly concerned in dealing with the results of a particular war, forms part of this article and is printed in the Appendix at page 808 of this JOURNAL.