JOHN WESTLAKE.*
THIS little volume contains a collection of short appreciative papers contributed by some of those with whom Professor "Westlake's long life of widely varied activity brought him in contact. For, although it is as an international lawyer that Westlake's name will go down to posterity, his interests and energies were by no means confined to that subject. He was one of the original founders of the Working Men's College, and one of its first teachers (in algebra, arithmetic, and trigonometry); and, although the demands of his growing practice in Lincoln's Inn soon made it impossible for him to continue his classes, he remained a trustee and member of the governing body all his life, and often found time to deliver addresses and lectures to the College—the last occasion being so short a time ago as December 11th, 1911 Besides this, he was always keenly interested in politics, taking a prominent part with Lord Courtney (who contributes a sympathetic chapter to this Memoir) in the formation of the Proportional Representation Society in 1884, and being elected as Liberal Member for Romford in the following year. Indeed, had it not been for the Home Rule split, he might have continued a practical politician all his life ; but he refused to follow Gladstone, ,was opposed both by his own party and the Conservatives at the next General Election, and never again entered the House of Commons. His sympathies, however, continued active and progressive to the end. The West- minster Licensing Reform Committee of the early "nineties" owed much to his co-operation, and be took up with ardour
• Memotim of John Westlake. London: Smith, Elder, and Co. [6,, net.]
the causes of Finland and the Balkan States, succeeding Lord Bryce as chairman of the Balkan Committee at the end of 1905.
The present volume contains papers illustrative of all these activities, and it is significant that three of them are written in French. It was Westlake's great merit as a jurist that although his first book- (on Private International law) was published in 1858, when English legal theory was even more narrowly insular than it is BOW, he saw from the first how much English jurisprudence might learn from the greater elasticity and freedom of Continental opinion. From the first he formed the connecting link between the two schools, and,. although he had also the great advantage of a thoroughly practical legal training, his Continental leanings and slightly' foreign style have in some respects made him rather an isolated figure among English jurists. On the Continent he is widely known and deeply respected as one of the founders and most devoted attendants of the Institut de Droit International, which has, perhaps, been the most powerful agent in the for- mation of the modern law of nations ; but in Lincoln's Inn. and the Temple practising lawyers turn in preference to other guides. Westlake, however, had, and still has, other channels of influence. He was for six years British Judge at the Hague. As Whewell Professor of International Law, the courage and energy of his logic left a lasting impression upon. the minds of successive generations of Cambridge students. The Part be played in bringing the Venezuelan imbroglio to a peaceful issue will not readily be forgotten. Moreover, his writings will long remain a stimulus to British jurists; with whom time must inevitably increase rather than diminish their influence, until, as current English views grow gradually more and more to the standard of his own, his works finally, take their place, not only as academic studies, but as practical guides.
This aspect of Professor Westlake's work is clearly set out in the papers by Professor Dicey and Messieurs Ernest Nys; De Lapradelle, and Rolin-Jacquemyne, whose contributions give weight and value to this brief record of a most sincere, independent, and courageous personality.
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