Law Commons^™

The New Law Of Nations, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"In these disillusioned years which are the aftermath of the World War the law of nations has come to be regarded in many quarters with a kind of sophisticated skepticism. It is freely asserted that the law has proved a futile reliance, that it has broken down, and it is asked--with an air of unbelief too obvious to be misunderstood--What is there that is ever likely to be done about it?"

International Law--Witholding Of Political Recognition--Suit By Russian Corporation In Court Of Equity, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"The plaintiff corporation was incorporated in Russia under the Imperial government. Prior to the Russian Revolution it had deposited certain securities and moneys with the defendant, as trustee, as required by the New York statutes, for the protection of policy-holders and creditors. In this suit to compel the return of the funds the defendant claimed that the plaintiff corporation was no longer in existence because of the Russian Soviet decrees.... Held, that although the court cannot recognize the legal validity of the decrees of the Soviet government, the facts of the situation are such that justice and reason require …

The Russian Reinsurance Case, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

Professor Dickinson's second commentary on Russian Reinsurance Company v. Stoddard and Bankers Trust Company: "The facts in the Russian Reinsurance Company case were without precedent. The Reinsurance Company had been incorporated in Russia in 1899 under a special statute constituting its charter and by-laws.... In 1917 the revolutionary Soviet Government was established in Russia and seven of the eight persons constituting the company's board of directors was driven into exile. In 1918 Soviet decrees nationalized the company, confiscated its property, and apparently terminated its corporate existence. Nevertheless, the exiled directors held meetings in Paris and continued to direct the …

Waiver Of State Immunity, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"English and American courts have come to regard it as 'an axiom of international law' that foreign states should be immune from suit in the national tribunals unless they to the expressly or impliedly waive their immunity and submit to the jurisdiction.... Yet it has not been doubted that states may waive immunity and submit to the local jurisdiction if they wish. In practice they frequently find it advantageous to do so. Some difficult questions arise when it becomes necessary to define the requisites of a waiver or to determine its precise effect in a particular case."

Recent Recognition Cases, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"The prolonged interval during which the United States declined to recognize the government functioning in Mexico, and the still more protracted period during which recognition has been withheld from the de facto government in Russia, have produced some unusually interesting problems with respect to the appropriate judicial attitude toward an unrecognized de facto foreign government."

Review Of International Law And Some Current Illusions And Other Essays, By J. B. Moore, Henry M. Bates

Reviews

Professor Bates writes: "Most timely ... is the publication of this volume of papers by the most distinguished and the most widely experienced American scholar in the field of international law....

"Judge Moore is a firm believer in the so-called 'equality of nations' and contends that an association based upon any other theory merely invites trouble. Nor does he believe that force can be safely relied upon to preserve international peace....

"The book is of very great value. Every page of it compels thinking and reflection; moreover it is good reading even for the uninitiated...."

Permanent Court Of International Justice, Edwin D. Dickinson

Reviews

"The author of this volume of collected papers and addresses is well known as the Bemis Professor of International Law in Harvard Law School, sometime member of the Legal Section of the Secretariat of the League of Nations, and the most efficient advocate of the new Permanent Court of International Justice in America. His enterprise as an advocate is sufficiently attested by the fourteen brilliant papers reproduced in this volume and the nine other titles of similar nature listed in the bibliography, all of them produced during the last three years....

"The exceptional timeliness of the book and the quality …

Is The Crime Of Piracy Obsolete?, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"A few years ago it might have been surmised that in America at least a good deal of the old code in respect to piracy had passed from the law in reserve into the law in history. The important cases were nearly all one hundred years old or more....

There have been recent events, however, which challenge the assumption that the law of piracy is chiefly of historical significance. The country had hardly entered upon the new period of national prohibition when the rum ships descended upon its coasts... There sprang up, in consequence, to prey upon the rum ships, …

International Political Questions In The National Courts, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"Much has been made of the principle, in England and America, that international law is part of the national law to be applied by national courts in appropriate circumstances. As Mr. Justice Gray has expressed it, in the Paquete Habana: 'International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction, as often as question of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination...'

This principle is useful, where it is applicable, but it is subject to limitations which are sometimes inadequately appreciated ..."

International Law, Edwin D. Dickinson

Reviews

Professor Dickson reviews "International Law," by C. G. Fenwick, noting that there are many such books available on the topic: monographs, casebooks, digests, collections of documents etc. He finds some of the material worthy of passing criticism and notes that "The chapters vary somewhat in quality and quantity." But Dickinson also praises "the fine tone of impartiality which makes it possible to present matters both recent and controverted in the restrained and temperate manner of the true scientist."