A PRIMER OF INTERNATIONAL LAW.
International Law. By F. E. Smith, MA., B.C.L. "The Temple Primers." (J. M. Dont and Co. 1s.)—It is harder to write a primer than a compendium, and in the case of law books, where in England a practice of mountainous compilations has grown up, the difficulty is conspicuous. Mr. Smith, therefore, is to be congratulated on what seems in every way a model book of its kind. In the short compass of one hundred and eighty pages he has managed to state the chief problems of international law and outline the ac: opted answers, no small achievement when we remember that the subject is not law at all in the strict sense, but a synopsis of national customs much coloured by ethical doctrines. In his introductory chapter Mr. Smith sketches the chief theories of the basis of international law, and the sources from which it can be deduced. Then, after a short discussion of international persons and their representatives, he analyses the rights and obligations of States in time of peace, the rights and duties of belligerents, and the legal status of neutrals. He gives a useful list of authorities, and in an appendix sums up the result of the recent Hague Convention. In another appendix he treats of guerilla warfare, and, quoting from the American instructions of 1803 and Bismarck's proclamation in the France- German War, shows that however "the sensitive humanity of some newspapers in the United States and Germany appears to have been wounded by Lord Roberts's proclamation on the sub- ject of guerilla warfare," the practice of these countries in time of war has been, if anything, more rigorous. Mr. Smith writes always well, and sometimes wittily, and so succinct is his method that in the short compass he can give explanations and reasons as well as conclusions. We lmow of no more luminous handbook to a difficult subject.
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