THE LAW OF NATIONS CONSIDERED AS INDEPENDENT POLITICAL COMMUNITIES. ON THE RIGHT AND DUTIES OF NATIONS IN TIME OF PEACE. BY TRAVERS TWISS, D.C.L. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF CIVIL LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF oxford, AND ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S COUNSEL. OXFORD: AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. LONDON: LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS. MDCCCLXI 116527-B PREFACE. THE object which the Author has had in view in undertaking to treat of the Law of Nations, has been to present to the Student of that branch of Law, which is conversant with the mutual Rights and Duties of Independent Political Communities, a systematic outline of the leading Principles which are at the foundation of that Law, and at the same time to illustrate the application of those Principles, as occasion served, by reference to the Practice of Nations in the conduct of their mutual Intercourse. For the purpose of such illustration, the Peace of Westphalia has been adopted as a suitable starting point, as that Event ushered in a new Era in the intercourse of Commonwealths, the Treaties of Munster and Osnabruck being the first practical recognition on the part of the Nations of Europe of the Prin a 2 |