Part 2

III. During antiquity no International Law in the modern sense of the term was possible, because the common interests which could force a number of independent States into a Community of States were lacking 6

IV. But during the second part of the Middle Ages matters began to change. During the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries an International Law, and with it a kind of League of Nations, became a necessity and therefore grew by custom. At the same time arose the first schemes for a League of Nations guaranteeing permanent peace, namely those of Pierre Dubois (1305), Antoine Marini (1461), Sully (1603), and Emeric Crucée (1623). Hugo Grotius' immortal work on 'The Law of War and Peace' (1625) 7

V. The League of Nations thus evolved by custom could not undertake to prevent war; the conditions prevailing up to the outbreak of the French Revolution made it impossible; it was only during the nineteenth century that the principle of nationality made growth 9

VI. The outbreak of the present World War is epoch-making because it is at bottom a fight between the principle of democratic and constitutional government and the principle of militarism and autocratic government. The three new points in the present demand for a League of Nations 11

VII. How and why the peremptory demand for a new League of Nations arose, and its connection with so-called Internationalism 11

VIII. The League of Nations now aimed at is not really a League of Nations but of States. The ideal of the national State 13

IX. The two reasons why the establishment of a new League of Nations is conditioned by the utter defeat of the Central Powers 15

X. Why--in a sense--the new League of Nations may be said to have already started its career 16

XI. The impossibility of the demand that the new League of Nations should create a Federal World State 18

XII. The demand for an International Army and Navy 20

XIII. The new League of Nations cannot give itself a constitution of a state-like character, but only one sui generis on very simple lines 22

XIV. The three aims of the new League of Nations, and the four problems to be faced and solved in order to make possible the realisation of these aims 23

SECOND LECTURE: ORGANISATION AND LEGISLATION OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 25

I. The Community of civilised States, the at present existing League of Nations, is a community without any organisation, although there are plenty of legal rules for the intercourse of the several States one with another 28

II. The position of the Great Powers within the Community of States is a mere political fact not based on Law 29

III. The pacifistic demand or a Federal World State in order to make the abolition of war a possibility 31

IV. Every attempt at organising the desired new League of Nations must start from, and keep intact, the independence and equality of the several States, with the consequence that the establishment of a central political authority above the sovereign States is an impossibility 32

V. The development of an organisation of the Community of States began before the outbreak of the World War and is to be found in the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague by the First Hague Peace Conference of 1899. But more steps will be necessary to turn the hitherto unorganised Community of States into an organised League of Nations 34

VI. The organisation of the desired new League of Nations should start from the beginning made by the Hague Peace Conferences, and the League should therefore include all the independent civilised States 35

VII. The objection to the reception of the Central Powers, and of Germany especially, into the League 36

VIII. The objection to the reception of the minor transoceanic States into the League 38

IX. The seven principles which ought to be accepted with regard to the organisation of the new League of Nations 39

X. The organisation of the League of Nations is not an end in itself but only a means of attaining three objects, the first of which is International Legislation. The meaning of the term 'International Legislation' in contradistinction to Municipal Legislation. International Legislation in the past and in the future 41

XI. The difficulty in the way of International Legislation on account of the language question 43

XII. The difficulty created by the conflicting national interests of the several States 44

XIII. The difficulty caused by the fact that International Statutes cannot be created by a majority vote of the States. The difference between universal and general International Law offers a way out 44

XIV. The difficulty created by the fact that there are as yet no universally recognised rules concerning interpretation and construction of International Statutes and ordinary Conventions. The notorious Article 23(h) of the Hague Regulations concerning Land Warfare 45

Appendix: Correspondence with the Foreign Office respecting the Interpretation of Article 23(h) of the Hague Regulations concerning Land Warfare 48