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The Moral Bases of International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Herbert Wright*
Affiliation:
The Catholic University of America

Abstract

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Type
Third Session
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1941

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References

1 Am. Jour. Int. Law, Vol. 6 (1912), pp. 1, 279.

2 Ibid., p. 30.

3 Ibid., Vol. 35 (1941), p. 205. Brown Scott, James, in his Law, the State and the International Community (2 vols., New York, 1939), devotes several pages to “The Law of Nature in the Modern World,” Vol. I, pp. 264-270 Google Scholar. Hackworth, Green H., in his new Digest of International Law, Vol. I (Washington, 1940), pp. 6-12 Google Scholar, which appeared three days after the delivery of this paper, discusses the law of nature and equity in their bearing on international law. Dr. Chediak, Felix presented a paper on “Natural International Law and Legitimate (Just) War” before the Conference of the Inter-American Bar Association at Habana, March 25, 1941.Google Scholar

4 Fischer Williams, Sir John, Chapters on Current International Law and the League of Nations (London, 1929), p. 4 ff., from which much of the material used in the analysis of this definition has been takenGoogle Scholar.

5 Oppenheim, L., International Law (5th ed., by H. Lauterpacht, London, 1937), I, § 17, 24, citing Art. 38 of the Statute of the Permanent Court of International JusticeGoogle Scholar.

6 Oppenheim, op. tit., § 10, pp. 14-15.

7 Ibid., p. 15.

8 Cf. McMahon, Matthew M., Conquest and Modern International Law: The Legal Limitations on the Acquisition of Territory by Conquest (Washington, 1940)Google Scholar.

9 Evans, Lawrence B., in Proceedings of the American Society of International Law, 1911, p. 258 Google Scholar.

9a Juris praecepta sunt haec, honeste vivere, alterum laedere, suum cuique tribuere. Inst. I, i. 3.

10 Blackstone, William, Commentaries on the Laws of England (ed. by Sharswood, George, Philadelphia, 1879), I, pp. 39-41. Sharswood’s footnotes have been omittedGoogle Scholar.

11 The “Summa Theologica” of St. Thomas Aquinas (literally translated by the Fathers of the Dominican Province, 2d ed., London, 1927), Part II, First Part, Third Number, qu. xci, Art. 2, pp. 11-12.

12 Grotius, Hugo, De Jure Belli ac Pads Libri Tres (trans, by Kelsey, Francis W., et al., Oxford, 1925), Bk. I, Ch. I, Sect. 10, No. 1, pp. 38-39. Grotius's footnotes have been omittedGoogle Scholar.

13 Erskine Holland, Thomas, The Elements of Jurisprudence (4th ed., Oxford, 1888), p. 35 Google Scholar.

14 Sudrez, Francisco, Tractatus De Legibus ac Deo Legislatore (Lugduni, 1619), Bk. II, Ch. XIX, No. 9, quoted with commentsGoogle Scholar by Brown Scott, James, “Suarez and the International Community,” in Wright, Herbert (ed.), Francisco Suarez: Addresses in Commemoration of His Contribution to International Law and Politics (Washington, 1933), p. 38 Google Scholar.

15 Holland, op. cit., p. 323.

15b Pufendorf, Bk. VII, Ch. I, compared with Barbeyrac's Commentary.

15c Digest, I, i, 9.

16 Blackstone, op. cit., p. 42. Sharswood's footnote has been omitted.

17 de Vitoria, Francisco, De Indis , III, 2 (ed. by Nys, Ernest, Washington, 1917), p. 257 Google Scholar.

18 Brown Scott, James, “Vitoria and International Law,” in Wright, Herbert (ed.)Google Scholar, de Vitoria, Francisco: Addresses in Commemoration of the Fourth Centenary of His Lectures “De Indis” and “De lure Belli,” 1532-1932 (Washington, 1932), p. 38 Google Scholar.

19 Wright, Herbert, Catholic Founders of Modern International Law (Washington, 1934), pp. 15-16 Google Scholar.

20 Vitoria, De Poteslate Civili, quoted in Wright, oop. cit., p. 16.

21 Vitoria, De Indis, III, 4, quoted in Scott, op. cit., p. 38.

22 Loc. cit.; cf. Scott, Francisco de Vitoria and His Law of Nations (Oxford, 1934), p. 172, where he discusses “Vitoria and Natural Law.”

23 Ernest, Nys, Les origines de droit international (Brussels, 1894), p. 11 Google Scholar.

24 Cronin, Michael, The Science of Ethics (New York, 1922), II, p. 637 Google Scholar.

25 Brosnahan, Timothy, Digests of Lectures on Ethics (Baltimore, 1913), p. 135, reprinted in J. F. Leibell, Readings in Ethics (Chicago, 1926), pp. 1015-1016Google Scholar.

26 This is developed by Ernest Nys, in his introduction to Vitoria, De Indis et De lure Belli Relectiones (Washington, 1917); by Sir John Fischer Williams, op. cit., and by Brown Scott, James, “The Individual, the State, the International Community,” in Proceedings of the A.S.I.L., 1930, pp. 15-32 Google Scholar, “A Single Standard of Morality for the Individual and the State,” in Proceedings of the A.S.I.L., 1932, pp. 10-29, Spanish Founders of International Law (Washington, 1928), The Catholic Conception of International Law (Washington, 1934), The Spanish Origin of International Law, Part I (Oxford, 1934), and particularly in a masterpiece of research, Law, the State, and the International Community (2 vols., New York, 1939).

27 Cronin, op. cit., p. 639.

28 Ibid., p. 641.

29 Williams, op. cit.; see also Westlake, John, International Law (2d ed., 1913), I, p. 14 Google Scholar, and The Collected Papers of John Westlake on Public International Law (ed. by L. Oppenheim (1914)), p. 407; and Lauterpacht, H., in Economica (Nov. 1925), p. 317 Google Scholar.

30 Hall, William E., A Treatise on International Law (7th ed., Oxford, 1917), pp. 5-6 Google Scholar.

31 Cronin, op. cit., p. 648.

32 Ibid., p. 649.

33 Cronin, op. cit., pp. 649-650.

34 Ibid., p. 653.

35 Ibid., pp. 654-656.

36 The Pope Speaks: The Words of Pius XII (New York, 1940), pp. 231-233.