The year 1925 has been the busiest year in the history of the Permanent Court of International Justice to date. During some part of every month of the year, with the exception of September and December, the court has been in session. Its sixth (extraordinary) session began on January 12 and ended on March 26; its seventh (extraordinary) session began on April 14 and ended on May 16; its eighth (ordinary) session began on June 15 and ended on August 25; and its ninth (extraordinary) session began on October 22 and ended on November 21. During 210 days of the year, the judges were at work at The Hague, and without counting the days required for travelling for which indemnities are paid, they exceeded by ten the 200 days during which indemnities are paid to them to supplement their salaries. The result of the work of these four sessions was three judgments and three advisory opinions, each of which has contributed to the settlement of some difficult problem. In four years, the court has handed down six judgments and twelve advisory opinions. Taken together these judgments and opinions constitute a significant addition to our international jurisprudence, and if they cannot be said to have dealt with problems which might have led to war, they have nevertheless served useful ends in contributing to the removal of possible sources of friction.

The participation of the United States in the Opium Conference, and in the London and Paris conferences with reference to the operation of the Dawes plan, has brought forward the question of the right of the executive to participate in such conferences. Sharp criticism has been levelled at the executive on the ground that the President is without right to send representatives, either official or unofficial, to such gatherings without the prior authorization of Congress. This question has now been in the foreground of discussion intermittently for twelve years and is worthy of some analysis.

Among the subjects tentatively suggested by the Government of the United States in September, 1921, to the governments invited to participate in a conference on “ Limitation of Armament” and on “ Pacific and Far Eastern Questions” was that of the application of the principles that might be decided upon in questions relating to China to the territorial and administrative integrity of that state. When the Committee on Pacific and Far Eastern Questions took up the general discussion of matters within its purview, the expressions of high intention toward China on the part of the different interested Powers were so unanimous that it was deemed advisable to draw up immediately a statement of principle embodying these sentiments. At the first meeting of the committee the Chinese delegation had presented a group of statements of principle, of which the first reads: “ The Powers engage to respect and observe the territorial integrity and political and administrative independence of the Chinese Republic,” and the fifth as follows: “ Immediately or as soon as circumstances will permit, existing limitations upon China's political, jurisdictional and administrative freedom of action are to be removed.”

The Mixed Claims Commission, United States and Germany, is nearing the completion of its labors. It has considered about 12,000 claims, of which about 7,000 have been entirely disallowed. The claims as originally instituted amounted to some $1,480,000,000, including the government claim for reimbursement of Rhine Army costs, a claim not pressed. The awards to American citizens and corporations will amount, it is estimated, to about $125,000,000 principal and about $50,000,000 interest (to January, 1926), a total of about $175,000,000; the government's claims for subrogation as an insurer on maritime losses, for lost Shipping Board vessels, and in the Veterans’ Bureau, will amount, with interest, to about $60,000,000. Considering that the treaty under which these awards were made established rules of liability and damages widely exceeding the rules of international law, the ratio between awards and claims is probably not far in excess of the average, which is comparatively small. It may also be said that the commission, dealing with 12,000 claims in approximately three years, has established a record for speedy adjudications never before achieved. A critique of the decisions and opinions of the commission down to January, 1925, was essayed in an editorial comment published in this Journal, Volume XIX, p. 133. The present article will undertake to consider the decisions and opinions rendered during 1925. These practically conclude the decisive judicial work of the commission.

Apparently no consistent effort has been made to secure a uniform schedule of consular privileges and immunities applicable to all of the states with which the United States has entered into treaty relations. In the entire history of the United States up to the present time there have been only sixteen consular conventions. Some 109 other treaties, however, have secured consular exemptions in varying degrees from many different nations; and the popular most-favored-nation clause has extended the schedule still further. One of the first treaties the United States entered into was a consular convention, that of 1788 with France, but the second consular convention did not come until over sixty years later. During the interval many provisions in commercial treaties had extended exemptions in various countries, so that by 1853 every one of the privileges which are in effect today had been inserted in at least one treaty, and some of them had been repeated many times.