More Books of the Week
(Continued from ;age 387.)
• Much loose thinking and many obsolete assumptions will be corrected by The Present Juridical Status of the British Dominions in International Law, by Professor P. J. Noel Baker, now a member of the Government (Longman's, 21s.). It is a timely publication one more of the invaluable contri- butions to International Law and Diplomacy which this publisher has given us (now under the editorial direction of Professor A. D. McNair). The author concurs with Professor Zimmern in hailing the League of Nations as a deus ex machina- tor the peculiar blend of nationhood and Imperial unity which we may appropriately call the British Commonwealth. In the historical part of the book many useful examples are cited to expose the hoary fallacy which is still preserved in the attempt to distinguish between internal " and " external " questions of State policy. We are also reminded that already in 1908 at the time of the Anglo-American Arbitration Treaty a stipulation was made that the terms should not cover disputes: in which the interests of a Dominion were involved, save with that Dominion's express consent. From this it is clear that the War and the peace settlement only accelerated a development of a community of free nations which was inherent in the spiritual content of the Empire. But the greatest importance attaches to Professor Baker's answer to the question as to whether the Dominions are "sovereign States." As he says, the idea that sovereignty is one and indivisible is an obsolete legalistic notion; thus, for some purposes of International Law the Dominions may be legal " persons " while for other purposes they may still be part of a single unit called the British Empire. We commend this to the puzzled delegates at Geneva, and the book as a reference work to all students of international affairs.
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