Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-01-24
INTERNATIONAL Law
enforcement OF Claims Against
Governments.

uaOtSShtStN5sOtf SiaIHS fASdittSS
Governments.
Isl The important developments Of
recent years directly affecting the
standing of the United States among
the Family of Nations has aroused a
general interest in a subject hereto
fore of little moment outside of
diplomatic cirlces. .,.f,,.,~ -. ~.
That branch of International Law
which treats OF the rights of our
citizens in foreign countries and the
enforcement Of private claims against
foreign governments is of special
interest and particularly SO to COM.
mercial houses, who are extending
their trade beyond the jurisdiction of
the United States. Very little had
been written upon these subjects
prior to the publication of an ex-
haustive treatise prepared by David
j. Brewer, associate justice of the
United States supreme court, and
Charles Henry Butler, United States
supreme court reporter, and pub
lished as a part of the Cyclopedia of
Law and Procedure, by The Ameri-
can Law Book Company, New York.
The prominence of the authors and
their eminent fitness to handle the
intricate questions discussed in this
treatise place upon the work the
stamp of absolute authority and make
it q most valuable addition to modern
legal literature. ~.
1t appears from the authors state
ment that International Law as a
science is of comparatively recent
origin. It did not exist in the modern
comprehensive sense either in the
ancient world or in the middle ages
Two views are now taken by modern
authorities as to the legal nature Of
International Law; there are those
who regard it as absolute law, which
can be ascertained, applied and en-
forced, and others who regard it as
merely body of ethical rules proper
J ~ = yty t,s "a 3, .
ly applicable as occasion arises but
which cannot be insisted upon or en-
forced.
International Law is treated in this
article from the American standpoint,
which is that the law of nations does
exist, can be 2ascertained and can be
applied, and there is a body of laws
which civilized nations have consented
should form the rules Of their conduct
in their relations with each other.
The principal chapter OF this article
contains a complete exposition of the
subject claims of Citizens against
Foreign States and is divided into
claims which arise by tort, and claims
which arise by contract. Where the
claim is founded on a tort committed
by a foreign government, as for in
stance an unlawful Imprisonment or
an unlawful seizure Of property, or for
prosecutions inflicted on account of
their nationality, the government Of
the injured party is morally bound to
ascertain the rights of its citizens and
demand indemnity from the other
government. 1t is different, however,
with claims founded on contract; for
while the government of the injured
citizen may endeayor to obtain re-
dress the moral obligation does not
exist as in the case of tort, because
the elements of national honor are
not involved to such great extent
and the citizen is merely sustaining
the same loss in a business risk that
he might have sustained had he en-
barked his capital in a private en-
terprise and suffers loss as the result
Of de1inquencies or ordinary mercan-
tile misfortune, Some Of the modern
statesmen, especially Calvo and Drago,
have advanced the theory that no gov
ernments, especially if founded on
contract, and that all contracts made
with foreign nation should be con-
strued in the courts Of that nation,
also that judgments had in those
courts should be executed according
to the same law. If carried to their
full extent the Calvo and Drago
doctrines preclude diplomatic CON
struction Of the contract as well as
diplomatic execution of adjndged in
debtedness
When the claim Of a citizen of the
United States has been submitted to
and passed upon by the state depart