THE BRITISH YEAR BOOK OF ,INTERNATIONAL LAW, 1925. (H. Milford.
lee. net.) This invaluable _ year-book, which is edited at , Chatham
House, the headquarters of the. British Institiite of Inter- national Affairs, is now in its sixth year and may, we trust, long endure. For its inain purpose is" to show how : the foundations of a siorld-peace are steadily being strengthened
by the work of- the League of Nations, The Hague Court and the jurists of nearly all nations. Three of many weighty and temperate articles by lawyers of repute deserve special men- tion. Mr. Malcolm M. Lewis discusses " The Treaty-making Power of the Dominions," a very important question that must be faced in the near future. Professor P. J. Baker analyses " The Obligatory Jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of International Justice," and urges very persuasively that Great Britain should make the optional declaration under Article 36 of the Covenant, add agree to refer four classes of legal disputes to the Court, as twenty-one States have already done. The third article, by Professor Garner, on " Immunities of State-owned Ships Employed in Commerce," sounds technical, but its importance will be realized if one remembers' that the United States, Australia and Russia have numerous State-owned merchantmen. Professor Garner brings out the astonishing fact that these State-owned merchantmen are exempt from the jurisdiction of the British, German and American courts, and that, though French and Belgian courts try cases in which such vessels are involved, they do not enforce their judgments. Thus, a State-owned ship may run down an ordinary merchantman, and her owners will have no redress in our courts. Clearly this state of things cannot be allowed to continue.
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