1864. But the rules drawn up and revised at those Congresses had failed to receive the general approval of the commercial world. At our Antwerp Conference these rules were once more revised, and almost immediately came into general use, as the York-Antwerp Rules of General Average. They were once more revised at our Liverpool Conference in 1890, and are to-day incorporated into bills of lading and charter-parties all over the world.

At its successive Conferences, now numbering twentytwo, the Association has been presided over by many distinguished men, and has discussed many important subjects affecting international relations. As the result of these discussions resolutions have been adopted, or model rules of law or practice have been drafted, which have undoubtedly in some cases exercised an important influence on legislation in the various States; whilst others of the reforms desired by the Association still await execution, whether by international treaty, by State legislation, or by business contracts. The following record of the various Conferences, with the names of their Presidents and notices of some of the more important topics dealt with, will give an idea of the work of the Association :

1st Conference, Brussels, 1873. President, M. AUGUSTE VISSCHERS, Brussels.

2nd Conference, Geneva, 1874. President, Hon. DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, New York.

3rd Conference, The Hague, 1875. President, Hon. DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, New York.

4th Conference, Bremen, 1876. President, Sir TRAVERS TWISS, Q.C., London. Adopted "Principles for an International Law to govern Bills of Exchange."

5th Conference, Antwerp, 1877. President, Right Hon. Lord O'HAGAN, Dublin. Adopted "York-Antwerp Rules of General Average."

6th Conference, Frankfort, 1878. President, Hon. DAVID DUDLEY FIELD, New York.

7th Conference, London, 1879. President, Right Hon. Sir ROBERT J. PHILLIMORE, London.

8th Conference, Berne, 1880. President, Dr. FRIEDRICH SIEVEKING. Hamburg.

9th Conference, Cologne, 1881. President, Herr H. H. MEIER, Bremen,

10th Conference, Liverpool, 1882. President, Right Hon. Lord O'HAGAN, Dublin.

11th Conference, Milan, 1883. President, Sir TRAVERS TWISS, Q.C., London. Adopted Resolutions on the Slave Trade and Collisions at Sea, and Rules for the Execution of Foreign Judgments.

President, Dr. F. SIEVEKING,

12th Conference, Hamburg, 1885. Hamburg. Adopted Code of Affreightment.

13th Conference, London (II.), 1887. President, Hon. Sir CHARLES PARKER BUTT, London.

14th Conference, Liverpool (II.), 1890. President, Dr. F. SIEVEKING, Hamburg. Revised York-Antwerp Rules of General Average.

15th Conference, Genoa, 1892. President, Commendatore P. BosELLI, Turin. Received exhaustive Report on Jurisdiction in Territorial Waters. 16th Conference, London (III.), 1893. President, Dr. F. SIEVEKING, Hamburg. Adopted “London Rules of Affreightment."

17th Conference, Brussels, 1895. President, Sir RICHARD E. WEBSTER (Lord ALVERSTONE), London. Adopted Rules of Procedure for International Arbitration, Rules of Jurisdiction in Territorial Waters, and Resolutions on Collisions at Sea.

18th Conference, Buffalo, 1899.

President, Hon. Mr. Justice KENNEDY, London. Adopted Resolutions on Marine Insurance.

19th Conference, Rouen, 1900. President, Hon. SIMEON E. BALDWIN, New Haven, Conn. Discussed Immunity of Private Property at Sea from Capture.

20th Conference, Glasgow, 1901. President, Right Hon. Lord ALVERSTONE, London. Adopted Rules of Marine Insurance. Discussed International Agreement as to Assistance Judiciaire and Proposal for General Treaty of Arbitration between Great Britain and France.

21st Conference, Antwerp (II.), 1903. President, M. AUGUSTE BEERNAERT, Brussels. Discussed British Participation in Conferences on Private International Law and Maritime Law, and Model Treaty for Execution of Foreign Judgments. Adopted Rule as to Effect of Captain's Fault on Incidence of General Average. Received statements of Company Law in various countries.

22nd Conference, Christiania, 1905. President, Mr. F. V. N. BEICHMANN, Trondhjem. Discussed Law of Belligerency and Neutrality and International Prize Court of Appeal; Legal Relations of Charterers to Shipowners; the Extension of the Berne Railway Transport of Goods Convention, 1890; and received Draft Code of Rules for International Recognition of Foreign Companies.

23rd Conference, Berlin, 1906. President, His Excellency Dr. R. KOCH, Berlin. Adopted Code of Rules for International Recognition of Foreign Companies. Discussed Immunity of Private Property from Maritime Capture; Neutrality; Naturalization, Foreign Pauper Litigants and Security for Costs; Legal Relations of Charterers and Shipowners; Cases of Difficulty under York-Antwerp Rules.

Apart from the importance of the actual decisions arrived at after open discussion by these Conferences, they have had perhaps an even greater value in the opportunities which they have afforded for men of different nationalities, interested in similar questions, to meet one another in friendly discussion and in social intercourse. The generous hospitality everywhere extended, by the municipal and other authorities of the cities in which the Conferences have been held, to visitors from other lands who have come amongst them has drawn together citizens of different nationalities, and enabled them to understand better their respective points of view in international relations.

In one important branch of its labours the Association. now has a valued collaborator in the field of practical reform and unification of law. The International Maritime Committee, founded in 1896 by one of our members in Belgium, M. Louis Franck, and in which many other members of the Association take an active part, gives promise of attaining important results.

An understanding has been come to between the two organizations by which, apart from special circumstances, their Conferences will be held in alternate years.

All three bodies-the Institute of International Law, the International Law Association, and the Maritime Law Committee are working on their different lines towards the same object-the minimizing of occasions for international friction and international disputes by the assimilation of the laws and practice of the different States. They are thus seeking to promote what the late Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, declared to be the sentiment which European statesmen ought most sedulously to cultivate, "the spirit of international toleration, international comprehension, and, if it may be, international friendship and international love."

CONSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION.

I. The name of the Association shall be "The Name. International Law Association."

II. The Association shall consist :

1. Of all those who participated in the Con-
ference at Brussels, commencing the
11th October, 1873;

2. Of all who on their application are or who
shall be admitted by this Conference,

or by a future one, or by the Executive
Council;

3. Of such delegates from other Associations,
formed for the prosecution of the same
objects, as may be approved by the
Executive Council; each of which
Associations is to be entitled to nomi-
nate from time to time two delegates;

4. Of Honorary Members.

Members.

III. The objects of the Association shall be the Objects. Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations. Its relations with the Institute of International Law, founded at Ghent in September, 1873, shall be such as were determined by the Conference at Brussels in October, 1873.

IV. There shall be an Honorary President, a Officers President, Honorary Vice-Presidents, Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, a Council of sixty Members, of whom eighteen shall be an Executive Council, and a General Secretary, with such other Secretaries and Officers as the Executive Council may from time to time appoint.

V. At each Annual Conference the Presidents Election of Officers. and other Officers shall be appointed for the year

Function

of Executive Council.

Conferences.

Quorum.

ensuing, and shall continue in office until others are appointed. The office of President shall not be tenable for more than two successive years. The office of General Secretary shall be permanent, subject to change by the Association at any Annual Conference. The duties of the General Secretary and of the other officers shall, except as herein provided, be fixed by the Executive Council.

VI. The Executive Council shall have the general direction of the affairs of the Association in the intervals between the Conferences. It shall have power to appoint Vice-Presidents, to make Byelaws, to appoint Committees for special objects, to fill vacancies occurring between the Annual Conferences, and to fix upon such place or places of business as may be expedient. It shall also have the power of nominating Honorary Vice-Presidents, approving Local Committees, and nominating for the year all such officers as the Association shall omit to nominate at its Annual Conference. The President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, and Hon. General Secretaries shall be ex officio Members of the Executive Council. Five Members shall constitute a quorum of the Executive Council, inclusive of any ex officio Members who may be present at the meeting of the Executive Council.

VII. There shall be an Annual Conference of the Association, to be held at such time and place as shall have been appointed at the preceding Annual Conference or by the Executive Council, and also such other Conferences as in the opinion of the Executive Council circumstances may render expedient.

VIII. The Members present at the time and place fixed for the opening of an Annual Conference shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.