Starting, as we must start, from the proposition, that in the international sphere, treaties are at any rate no less binding than are contracts in the municipal sphere, may we nevertheless agree that treaties become obsolete, and, if yes, when and in what conditions? Has Article 19 of the Covenant of the League in any way diminished the respect due to treaty obligations? These are questions, which have a special importance at a time when the world has recently been resettled by treaty, and it is worth while to give a little time to their examination. Such an examination may at least serve to clear our ideas, to suggest what are the limits of the doctrine, and to emphasize the necessity, if those limits are to be defined, of a resort to an international court of justice.