tion. § 487. The term ' declaration 'is used in three different Declarameanings. It is, in the first place, sometimes used as the title of a body of stipulations of a treaty, according to which the parties undertake to pursue in future a certain line of conduct. The Declaration of Paris, 1856, and the Declaration of St. Petersburg, 1868, are instances of this. Declarations of this kind differ in no respect from treaties.1 Secondly, when States communicate to other States, or urbi et orbi, an explanation and justification of a line of conduct pursued by them in the past, or an explanation of views and intentions concerning certain matters, this is called a declaration. Declarations of this kind may be very important, but they hardly comprise transactions out of which rights and duties of other States follow. But there is a third kind of declaration from which rights and duties do follow for other States, and it is this kind which is to be regarded as an international transaction within the meaning of this part of this chapter. The different declarations belonging to this group are by no means of a uniform character; among them are declarations of war, declarations on the part of belligerents concerning the goods they will condemn as contraband, declarations at the outbreak of war on the part of third States that they will remain neutral, and others. tion. § 488. Notification is the technical term for the com- Notificamunication to other States of certain facts and events of legal importance. But a distinction must be drawn between obligatory and merely usual notification. Notification has been stipulated in several cases to be obligatory. Thus, according to Article 34 of the General Act of the Berlin Congo Conference of 1885, which has now been repealed by a convention signed sat St. Germain on September 10, 1919, notification of 1 See below, § 508, where is mentioned the attempt of the British Foreign Office to give to the term Protest. new occupations and the like on the African coast was obligatory. Thus, further, according to Article 84 of the Hague Convention for the peaceful adjustment of international differences, in case a number of States are parties to a treaty, and two of them, who are at variance concerning its interpretation, agree to have the difference settled by arbitration, they have to notify this agreement to all the other parties. Again, according to Article 2 of the Hague Convention concerning the Commencements of Hostilities, 1907, the outbreak of war must be notified to the neutral Powers; and the declaration of a blockade was also to be notified,1 according to Article 11 of the unratified Declaration of London, 1909. Apart from cases in which notification is stipulated as obligatory, it is, in principle, not obligatory, although, in fact, it frequently takes place, because States cannot be considered subject to certain duties without knowledge of the facts and events which give rise to them. Thus it is usual to notify to other States changes in the headship, and in the form of government of a State, the establishment of a Federal State, an annexation after conquest, the appointment of a new Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and the like. § 489. Protest is a formal communication from one State to another that it objects to an act performed, or contemplated, by the latter. A protest serves the purpose of preservation of rights, or of making it known that the protesting State does not acquiesce in, and does not recognise, certain acts. A State can lodge a protest with another State against acts which have been notified to the protesting State, or which have otherwise become known. On the other hand, if a State acquires knowledge of an act which it considers internationally illegal, 1 See also the unratified Declaration of London, Articles 11 (2), 16, 23, 25, and 26. and against its rights, and nevertheless does not protest, this attitude implies a renunciation of such rights, provided that a protest would have been necessary to preserve a claim. It may further happen that a State at first protests, but afterwards either expressly 1 or tacitly acquiesces in the act. And it must be emphasised that, under certain circumstances and conditions, a simple protest on the part of a State, without further action, is not in itself sufficient to preserve the rights in behalf of which the protest was made.2 tion. § 490. Renunciation is the deliberate abandonment Renunciaof rights. It can be given expressis verbis or tacitly. If, for instance, a State by occupation takes possession of an island which has previously been occupied by another State,3 the latter tacitly renounces its rights by not protesting as soon as it receives knowledge of the fact. Renunciation plays a prominent part in the amicable settlement of differences between States, either one or both parties frequently renouncing their claims for the purpose of coming to an agreement. But it must be specially observed that mere silence on the part of a State does not imply renunciation; this occurs only when a State remains silent, although a protest is necessary to preserve a claim. 1 Thus by the Declaration concerning Siam, Madagascar, and the New Hebrides, which was embodied in the Anglo-French Agreement of April 8, 1904, Great Britain withdrew the protest which she had raised against the introduction of the customs tariff established at Madagascar after its annexation to 2 See below, § 539, concerning the 3 See above, § 247. Concep tion of Treaties. CHAPTER II TREATIES I CHARACTER AND FUNCTION OF TREATIES Vattel, ii. §§ 152, 153, 157, 163-Hall, § 107-Phillimore, ii. § 44-Twiss, i §§ 224-233-Taylor, §§ 341-342-Hershey, Nos. 295-296-Bluntschli, § 402-Heffter, § 81-Despagnet, Nos. 435-436-Pradier-Fodéré, il Nos. 888-919-Rivier, ii. pp. 33-40-Nys, ii. pp. 497-498, and 522-530 -Calvo, iii. §§ 1567-1584-Fiore, ii. Nos. 976-982-Martens, i. § 103– Bergbohm, Staatsverträge und Gesetze als Quellen des Völkerrechts (1877) -Jellinek, Die rechtliche Natur der Staatenverträge (1880)—Laghi, Teoria dei Trattati internazionali (1882) — Buonamici, Dei Trattati internazionali (1888)—Nippold, Der völkerrechtliche Vertrag (1894)— Triepel, Völkerrecht und Landesrecht (1899), pp. 27-90-Grosch, Der Zwang im Völkerrecht (1912), pp. 38-56, 138-143-Crandall, Treaties; their Making and Enforcement, 2nd ed. (1916) Lammasch, Du Völkerrecht nach dem Kriege (1917), pp. 92-129-Satow, Diplomatic Practice, ii. §§ 498-534. § 491. International treaties are conventions, or contracts, between two or more States concerning various matters of interest. Even before a Law of Nations, in the modern sense of the term, was in existence, treaties used to be concluded between States. And although in those times treaties were neither based on, nor were themselves a cause of, an International Law, they were nevertheless considered sacred, and binding, on account of religious and moral sentiment. However, since the manifold intercourse of modern times did not then exist between the different States, treaties did not discharge such all-important functions in the life of humanity as they do now. It has been estimated that the number of treaties in force between the several States at the outbreak of the World War exceeded eight thousand, and although a number were abrogated by the war, the number is again increasing daily. A treaty, being a contract, must not be confounded with various documents having relation to treaties without themselves being treaties-namely, a memoire, a proposal, a note verbal, or a protocol. A memoire or memorandum is a diplomatic note containing a summary exposition of the principal facts of an affair. A proposal is a document comprising an offer submitted by one State to another. A note verbal is an unsigned document containing a summary of conversations or of events, and the like. A protocol is an official report of proceedings or of facts, signed by the interested parties. Kinds of § 492. The important functions of treaties are manifest Different if attention is given to the variety which exist nowadays, Treaties. and are day by day concluded for innumerable purposes. In regard to State property, treaties of cession, boundary treaties, and many others are concluded. Alliances, treaties of protection, of guarantee, of neutrality, and of peace are concluded for political purposes. Various purposes are served by consular treaties, commercial 1 treaties, treaties in regard to the post, telegraphs, and railways, treaties relating to copyright and the like, to jurisdiction and to extradition, monetary treaties, treaties in regard to measures and weights, to rates, taxes, and customs duties, sanitation treaties with respect to epidemics, treaties in the interest of industrial labourers, and treaties with regard to agriculture and industry. Again, various purposes are served by treaties concerning warfare, mediation, arbitration, and so on. I do not intend to discuss the question of classifica 1 See below, §§ 578-580. |