Book Review: International Law and Organization: British Digest of International Law

Date01 March 1967
DOI10.1177/002070206702200120
Published date01 March 1967
Subject MatterBook Review
106
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
BRITISH
DIGEST
OF
INTERNATIONAL
LAw
Edited
by
Clive
Parry
1965.
(London:
Stevens.
Toronto: Carswell.
Phase
One.
Volume
5,
xxx,
641pp.
$19.75;
Volume
6,
xxxvii,
852pp.
$23.95)
A
review of
the
first
two
volumes
of
this
important
work cannot
commence
better
than
by
quoting
the
first
paragraph
of
the
publisher's
introduction:
The
consistent
practice
of
States
is
recognized
by
the
Statute
of
the
International
Court
of
Justice
as
one
of
the
sources
of
inter-
national
law
which
the
Court
should
apply-
"international
custom,
as
evidence of
a
general
practice
accepted
as
law"
The
beginning
of
the
publication,
therefore,
of
an authoritative
and
comprehensive
Digest
of
the
practice
of
a
major
State,
the
United Kingdom, which
in
the
conduct
of
its
very
long
standing,
many
and
vaned,
foreign
affairs
has
been
consistently
ruled
by
law,
is
an
event
of
the
greatest
importance
in
the
crucial
contemporary
process
of
clarify-
ing
and applying
international
law.
The Digest
is
the first
full
statement
of
United
Kingdom
practice
in
the
field
of
international
law,
and
thus
follows
by
decades
the
excellent examples
which
have
originated from
the
United
States:
Wharton,
Moore,
Hackworth,
and
now
Whiteman.
(In
a
negative
sense,
it
is
worth
noting
that
the
Canadian
Government
has
not
yet
stirred
itself
into
a
similar
endeavour
nor,
at
the
rate
it
continues
to postpone
commencement
of
publication
even
of
its
back
dated
files,
should
one
anticipate
such
a
move
for
many
years
to
come.)
The
British
Digest
divides
itself
into
two
phases-1860-1914,
which
will
occupy
volumes
one
to
ten,
and
1914-1960
which
will
occupy
volumes
eleven
to
fifteen.
The
volumes
are
not
being published
sequentially and
thus
the
first
to
appear
are
numbers
five
and
six
which
deal
with
the
position
of
the
individual
in
international
law-
nationality
protection,
aliens,
extradition,
and rendition.
The
Editor
of
this
massive
project
is
Clive
Parry-
consulting
editor
is
Sir
Gerald
Fitzmaurice.
The
records
of
the Foreign
Office
are
of
course
the
principal
source
of
the
material
contained
in
the
volumes.
Employed
as
well,
however,
are
pertinent
reports
of
the
Law
Officers
of
the
Crown,
Parliamentary
and
Command
Papers,
United
Kingdom
and
Colonies
judicial
decisions,
treaties,
legislation,
and
international
judicial
and
arbitral
decisions.
The
result
is
an
imposing
work
which
will
be
of
immense
value
to
international
lawyers
and
historians.
To
those persons,
and
this
reviewer
is
one of
them,
who
find
irresistible
the
succinctness
and
clarity
which
is
so
characteristic
of
despatches
by F 0.
personnel,
the
volumes
are
more
than
valuable
repositories
of
British
practice,
they
form
a
fascinating
and charming
treasury
for
serious
workers
and browsers alike.
No
disadvantages
are
suffered
as
a
result
of
the
somewhat
haphazard
order
of
publication
for
each
volume
is
self-contained
with
its
own
index
and
tables
of
both
cases
and
statutes.
In
this respect
the
work
is
much
more
manageable
than
is
Whiteman
in
its current
state.
Notwithstanding the
obvious
merit
and importance
of
this
major
contribution
to
the
field of
international
legal
source
material, regret

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