223. Extra-Tradition of Political Offenders exceptional.. 348 224. Treaties of Extra-Tradition for the most part tem- CHAPTER I. NATIONS AS SUBJECTS OF LAW. Nations independent political Communities-Science of the Law of Nations-Element of Roman Law-Definition of a State adopted by Grotius-Puffendorf's Definition of a State-Christian de WolffVattel's Definition of a State-Growth of Natural Society-Natural Society of Nations-Nationalisation and Denationalisation of States -Hobbes' view of political Society-Equality of Nations-Perfect and Imperfect Rights of Nations-Rights incidental to the Right of Self-preservation-Obligations corresponding to Rights-The good offices of Nations discretional-Right of Coalition. independ tical Com §1. THE term Nation, in its primary and etymolo- Nations, gical sense, denotes a race of men, in other words, an ent poliaggregate body of persons, exceeding a single family, munities. who are connected by the ties of a common lineage, and perhaps by a common language. In a secondary and political sense the term Nation signifies a society of persons occupying a common territory, and united under a common government, in other words, a Commonwealth or State. It is from this latter point of view that we regard Nations, when we speak of their mutual intercourse being governed by certain rules, which are of permanent obligation, and from the operation of which no Nation can withdraw itself, without renouncing at the same time the fellowship of other Nations. Those rules, being of universal application, admit of scientific investigation, and may be reduced to method, and the science which is conversant with those rules is the Science of the Law of Nations, in other words, International Jurisprudence. Science of the Law of § 2. The Science of the Law of Nations may be Nations, accordingly defined to be the Science of the Rules which govern the International Life of States. All States however do not enjoy International Life. Thus the States which constitute the North American Union do not exercise individually any international action, either in relation to one another or in relation to foreign States. The States which form the Helvetic Confederation are under similar conditions, as well as the Christian States of the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, the States which compose the Germanic Confederation are both Germanic States and European Nations. Element of §3. We must not expect to find in the works of the earlier writers on Public Law any very complete definition of the elements, which impart to a State the character of a Nation. Amidst the total disorganisation of the European State-System consequent on the Reformation and the religious alliances of the Thirty Years' War, Grotius found no element remaining either in the Feudal or in the Ecclesiastical Body of Law, upon which he could venture to build up a system of permanent relations between Nations. He fell back accordingly upon those views of a State-System to which the early Jurisprudence of Rome had given authority, and framed his definition of a State upon the classical model which Cicero de exists in Cicero's treatise on Political Law'. The Republica treatise itself, in which the original definition occurs, was not indeed before the eyes of Grotius, as it was lost sight of in Western Europe towards the Est igitur, inquit Africanus, respublica res populi; populus autem non omnis hominum cœtus quoquo modo congregatus, sed cœtus multitudinis juris consensu et utilitatis communione sociatus. De Republica, Lib. I. c. 25. tinus Civitate close of the twelfth century, and the fragments of the Vatican Palimpsest, from which the original text has been partially restored, were only deciphered in the earlier part of the present century; but the definition of a State in the identical language of the great Roman Jurisconsult, and as falling from the lips of Scipio Africanus himself, had been embodied by St. Augustine in his "City of God3;" and was S. Augus transmitted therein to the Jurists of the 17th and is de 18th centuries. It has been conjectured by the Dei. learned cardinal Angelo Maii, the decipherer of the Vatican Palimpsest, that the perusal of Cicero's treatise first suggested to St. Augustine the idea of his incomparable Work. However that may be, the stamp of St. Augustine's approval, having been impressed upon the conception of the great Roman Jurisconsult, commended it with additional force to the acceptance of Grotius, who in seeking to construct for the first time a system of Public Law upon the combined basis of Natural Right and Universal Consent, was anxious to keep in sight as many as possible of the great landmarks, which the pioneers of Juridical Science had set up, and which had hitherto connected International Jurisprudence with general Morals. of a State § 4. Grotius has accordingly defined a State in Definition these words; "Est autem civitas coetus perfectus adopted by liberorum hominum juris1 fruendi et communis utili- Grotius. 2 John of Salisbury in the 12th century is the last writer in Western Europe, who seems to have had access to the original text of Cicero's treatise. 3 De Civitate Dei, L. XIX. c. 21. St. Augustine adds, "ubi ergo non est ista justitia, pro fecto non est cœtus hominum 4 Jus or Right (Droit) has |