The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-01-24

pendence of the United States ADDS
the right to the pursuit Of happiness,
the right OF legal equality, the right
to property, and the right to the en-
joyment OF the aforesaid rights, Gre
ating duty on the part of the citl-
zens or subjects Of each nation to OBJ
serve them; and
Whereas these fundamental rights,
thus universally recognized, are Ia
miliar to the people OF all civilized
countries, and
Whereas these fundamental rights
can be stated in terms OF interantlon-
al law and can be applied to the rela.
tlons OF the members OF the society
OF nations, one with another, just AS
they have been applied In the rela-
lions Of the citizens or subjects of
the states forming the Society OF Ma
lions: and
Right to Life and Liberty.
Whereas these fundamental rights
OF national Jurisprudence, namely,
the right to life, the right to liberty,
the right to the pursuit Of happiness.
the right to equality before the law,
the right to property. and the right
to the observance thereof are, stated
in terms OF international law, the
right Of the nation to exist and to
protect and to conserve Its existence;
the right of independence and the
freedom to develop itself without in
reference or control from other ma
tons: the right of equality In law
and before law; the right to terri
tory within defined boundaries and
to exclusive jurisdiction therein; and
the right to observance OF these
fundamental rights;
Therefore, the American Institute
OF International Law unanimously
adopts at is first session, held in the
city OF Washington, in the United
States of America, on the sixth day
of January, 1916, in connection with
and under the auspices of the second
Pan-American Scientific Congress,
the following five articles, together
with the commentary thereon, to be
known as The Declaration of the
Rights OF Nations.
What Right Means.
I. Livery nation has the right to
exist, and to protect and to conserve
its existence; but this right neither
implies the right nor justifies the act
of the state to protect itself or to con-
serve its existence by the commission
of unlawful acts against innocent AMI
unoftending states.
This right Is, and is to be under
In, In which tho rioht
to life Is understood in national law.
according to which 1t is unlawful for
d human being to take human life
unless it be necessary so to do In
self-defense against an unlawful at
tack threatening the life Of the party
unlawfully attacked.
IN the Chinese exclusion act IRE.
ported in $50 United States Reports.
pp. 5s1, 6O6), decided by the supreme
court of the United States in 1888,
it was said that:
ITO preserve its independence, and
give security against foreign ag.
erosion and encroachment, is the
highest duty of every nation, and to
attain these ends nearly all other
considerations are to be subordi-
mated. 1t matters not in what form
such aggression and encroachment
come, whether from the foreign ma
tion acting in it's national character
or from vast hordes of its people
crowding in upon us, the govern
ment, possessing the powers which
are to be exercised for protection and
security. is clothed with the authors
ty to determine the occasion on which
the powers shall be called forth; and
its determination, so far as the sub
jects affected are concerned, are nee
essarily conclusive upon all its de-
partments and officers.
Case Cited.
The right of a state to exist and
to protect and TO conserve its exist
ence is to be understood in the sense
in which the right Of an individual
to his life. was defined, interpreted
and applied in terms applicable alike
to nations and individuals in the well
known English case Of Regina VS..
Dudley (reported in Is Cox's Crimi-
nal Cases. p. 624; II Queens Bench
Division. p. 273), decided by the
Queens Bench Division Of the High
Court of Justice in 1884, to the eff
feet that it was unlawful for ship
wrecked sailors to take the life OF
J one of their number, in order to pre-
serve their own lives, because it was
unlawful according to the common
law of England for an English sub
feet TO take human life unless to de-
fend himself against an unlawful at
tack OF the assailant threatening the
life of the party unlawfully attacked.
II. Every nation has the right to
independence in the sense that, 1t has
right to the pursuit Of happiness and
is free to develop itself without inter
ference or control from other states,
provided that in so doing it does not
interfere with or violate the rights OF
other states.
III. Every nation is in law and
before law the equal OF every other
state composing the society of ma
lions. and all states have the right
to claim and, according to the Decla-
ration OF Independence of the United
States, ito assume, among the pow
ers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the laws OF
: natures God entltle them
Right of Equality.
The right to equality is to be I'M
derstood In the sense in which 1t was
defined in the following passage
quoted from the decision Of the great