Page images
PDF
EPUB

Great Britain, for undoubtedly the meeting of the Association in Montreal has done much to bring about a closer union of the great English-speaking peoples.

The Honourable Joseph Choate presided in the absence of the Honourable Elihu Root, and maintained his international reputation as a host and after-dinner speaker.

Brilliant addresses were made by Maitre Labori, Batonnier of the French Bar; Ex-President Taft, President Kellogg, the Minister of Justice, and others among the distinguished gentlemen present at the banquet, bringing to an end one of the most enjoyable gatherings ever held in the history of the Dominion.

One of the sayings of Joseph Choate: "During the long years I have been in England I sometimes doubted whether I was an Englishman or an American, until someone trod on the toes of the American eagle, and then I helped him scream. Well, when I am in Canada I am a Canadian, and I will always be a true son of McGill."

Chief Justice White, when introducing Lord Haldane, did so in a particularly gracious and graceful manner:-" The Lord High Chancellor," Chief Justice White said. "The occupant of the greatest judicial office," (Applause) then a pause, "or as great," (Low applause and laughter), "has crossed the sea at the invitation of America to honour and bless us with his presence. The very mention of his presence introduces him to everybody familiar with the English tongue. It introduces that which cannot be introduced because it introduces itself. But nowhere on the face of the globe could he find a warmer feeling for the office he fills." (Applause). "It is my inestimable privilege," Chief Justice White concluded, addressing the Lord Chancellor, "to introduce to you my brethren of the American Bar." Then the whole house rose and demonstrated its appreciation of a happy, generous tribute.

A telegram was received from the Duke and Duchess of Connaught expressing their regret that their absence in England prevented them from being present.

The following are expressions of opinion of some of the great English dailies of the international importance of the address of the Lord Chancellor read at the meeting of the Bar Association:

London, Tuesday, Sept. 2.-The "Daily Telegraph,” in an editorial on Lord Haldane's address to the American Bar Association at Montreal, says:

"It is an utterance which cannot but profoundly impress the whole body of the most powerful, politically and socially, of all professions, and the historian may some day look upon it as one of the chief events that led to the founding of a new and beneficent relationship between three great peoples."

The London Times says: "It is not too much to say that the address was worthy of the occasion. It was not a mere graceful exposition of complimentary commonplaces. Lord Haldane has done honour to his audience by his elevating theme and by submitting weighty considerations which are a real contribution to the solution of one of the great world problems. A notable authoritative is the inheritance by the English-speaking races of certain traditions as to the conduct of life, private and public. They have, with endless divers details, the same ethical standards and ideals. In the orderly life of a city their discipline relies on obedience to law and trusts in the efficacy of long and well-tried institutions. These habits, this temperament and creed, are theirs, whether they dwell on this side of the Atlantic or the other, and they are the foundations upon which those who hope for the future may build with assurance."

The Daily News says: A year or two ago an attempt was made to effect a permanent arbitration treaty between this country and the United States. It failed for reasons which we regret; but peace between the English-speaking races rests on a surer basis than any arbitration treaty. It is founded on that common conscience to which Lord Haldane referred yesterday, and there are abundant signs to-day that the example which the Anglo-Saxon race has given to the world will hear fruit in still wider spheres. If the democracies of Europe are true to themselves the abolition of armaments will not be so remote a dream as Lord Haldane seems to suppose."

PROOF BY ORDEALS AMONG THE ROMANS.

[Apropos of the proof by ordeals dealt with at p. 113 supra, which prevailed among the ancient Hindus, we find the following prevailed among the Romans. Ed.]

The supernatural was introduced in all trials and served. to cover up all injustice. Both the people and judges were possessed of the same ignorance and passions as if mankind could be wicked only when uneducated. To inquests and investigation founded on reason, judiciary contest was substituted. Resort was also had to proofs (ordalies) by fire, boiling water and cold water.

In the first of these proofs the accused, in order to demonstrate his innocence, was obliged to carry a red hot iron bar in his hand for a given distance.1 In the second, the accused was forced to withdraw a ring from the bottom of a recipient filled with boiling water; while in the third he was thrown into water with his arms and legs tied. If innocent he sank to the bottom; otherwise his body floated on the surface.2

It must be said that all the procedures were not so barbarous. In some instances the pleaders were asked to eat a certain amount of bread and cheese placed on the altar. Nothing abnormal transpired if the accused was in the right, but the guilty vomited the repast with severe convulsions. It was at this epoch that the "preliminary question" was put in practice, and resulted in the conviction of a most innocent person if not mentally strong and to save a guilty one if mentally well equipped.

In the cadaveric phenomenon known by the term of cruentation, one perceived a manifest proof of divine interference. King James of Scotland, in his work on Demonology, published in 1597, says that after a secret assassination, if the cadaver of the victim is once touched by the murderer, the blood will gush forth in order to call divine vengeance upon the criminal. The proof was carried out as follows: The suspected murderer was placed at a certain distance from the victim, the body being naked and lying on

1 See p. 115 supra.
2 Cf. p. 115 supra.

VOL. XXXIII. C.L.T.-51

its back. He next walked around the body two or three times and then touched the wounds very lightly with his hands. If, during these manouvres, a flow of blood took place, the unfortunate person was convicted of murder. Should the contrary happen, then other proofs were brought into play.

This absurd practice was very extensively resorted to in England and Scotland, much less so in France where, however, we find an example of this kind in the full glow of the XVII. century. This affair, recorded by Ranchin, took place on May 3, 1639, in the little hamlet of Mas d'Azil. Upon several other occasions physicians discussed the value of this procedure. In 1594, Labavius in De cruentatione cadaver orum, Blancus in 1547, in Tractatus de incidiis homicidii, raised some objections on the subject but did not dare formally condemn it, while Michel Albertus, who published his De hemorrhagiis mortuorum et jure cruentationis as late as 1726, gives us to understand that in the XVIII. century, cruentation was still resorted to as a judiciary proof. Journal of Cr. L. and Cr.

BOMBARDMENT OF RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS.

BY PERCY BORDWELL, PH.D.

Professor of Law, State University of Iowa.

Author of Treatise on 'The Law of War Between Belligerents.'

The recent protest of Italy against the bombardment of the residential sections of Scutari by the Montenegrins has called general attention to a situation not unfamiliar to students of international law. One of the greatest advancements in modern warfare has been the elimination of many of those hardships which down to the peace of Westphalia in 1648 were the normal lot of noncombatants.. Enlightened and efficient commanders, like Henry V. and Gustavus Adolphus, enforced standards of conduct which compare not unfavourably with those of modern times, but these men were exceptions, and in general there was little respect shewn either for private property or the home.

The period following the peace of Westphalia was a period of advance in military science, and much of the improvement in the conduct of warfare which Vattel noticed something over a hundred years later was due to the enlightened self-interest of the combatants themselves. Pillage is not conducive to discipline, nor is it an effective means of living off the country, and none saw this more clearly than the best generals of this period. But it was not only the self-interest of the belligerents that led to the amelioration of the condition of noncombatants. In 1625 Grotius had written his work on the Law of War and Peace, in which he had drawn his illustrations from the best practice and precept of Greece and Rome, and it made a distinct impression. The great Gustavus is said to have slept with a copy of it under his pillow, and although it could do little to check the barbarity of the Thirty Years War, the conditions for its good influence, being felt, were more favourable in the less passionate dynastic wars which followed. Vattel was the most influential of Grotius's successors. Writing in 1758 of the warfare of his time, he could say: "It is against one sovereign that another makes war, and not against the quiet subjects."1

'Book III, chap. IX, § 167.

« PreviousContinue »