And

interests would sustain injury by the contract. thus the result of the acts of his subjects being imputed to the neutral Sovereign would be, in the case supposed, a departure from his neutral position; for, by curtailing the freedom of commerce, assistance would indirectly perhaps, but not the less really, be given to the blockading Power, who, in consequence of the aid withheld from the blockaded port, would be in a position to effect its reduction with a smaller force and in a shorter space of time. This was the view taken of the question in the two cases in which it was discussed and decided in this country; in both of which the learned Judges were not the less explicit in asserting the rights of neutral traders to carry on without restriction their commercial transactions with every other nation.1 In the view of International Law which these cases and authorities serve to establish, the commerce of nations is regarded as perfectly free and unfettered; and the right which the subjects of each country enjoy to interchange the products of labour with the inhabitants of other countries is subject to no other restriction than that which is imposed by those conflicting rights which during a state of war the usage of nations, in other words International Law, confers upon the belligerent Power.

In tracing the history of the rise and progress of the

Ex parte Chavasse, per West- The Helen, Jur., N.S., Dec. 30, bury, C., Jurist, N.S., May 20, 1865. | 1865.

Law of Nations as regulating the intercourse of communities, which must be regarded for the purposes of judicial enquiry as theoretically at least independent of each other, no circumstance is more material to notice, or has been attended with more important results on the pacific intercourse of mankind, than the general accord on questions of Public Law which for the last 400 years has distinguished the Courts which administered, and the jurists who have treated of its principles. "There is," said a learned American writer in speaking of the agreement of opinion that had subsisted between the Courts of his own country and those of the United Kingdom, "scarcely a decision in the Courts of Westminster on any general question of Public Law that has not been expressly, or by necessary implication, approved and sanctioned by our National Courts." (Duer. Mar. Ins., vol. i. p. 748.) Individual writers have indeed erred at times in the extent to which they have pushed their advocacy of certain views; as, for instance, among European jurists M. Hautefeuille1 may be mentioned as having carried to a questionable length his assertion of the rights of neutral nations; but in the main, the system of law that governs the relations of independent States in peace and in war has been wisely wrought out and vigorously administered. The study of its principles cannot but have a beneficial influence

1 For instance, his contention | vateer and commission of her capthat a master of a neutral merchant tain, in order to prove her character. ship has a right to insist on the Des Droits et des Devoirs des Nations exhibition of the papers of a pri- Neutres. Tom. iii. tit. xi. c. 1, § 1.

xlvi

SOME UNSETTLED QUESTIONS OF PUBLIC LAW.

on the student, in extending his view of jurisprudence as a science, and enabling him to keep in check that narrowness with which those are but too frequently influenced who are tempted to regard law rather as an art, in the practice of which they may become adepts, than as a science resting on principles common to the jurisprudence of all civilised communities, and which can be sought for and traced to their results. This age, and recently this country, has seen a revival in the interest with which questions of Public Law are regarded, and an increase in the learning brought to bear on their investigation; and if the present work in any degree contributes to extend that interest or add to that learning, the purpose of the writer will be accomplished.

W. DE B.

NEW WANDSWORTH:

Dec. 1867.

LIST OF CASES.