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PART I.

THE NATURE AND HISTORY OF INTER

NATIONAL LAW.

CHAPTER I.

THE DEFINITION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW.

§ 1.

The definition of

International Law.

Difficulty of making it quite satisfactory."

INTERNATIONAL Law may be defined as The rules which determine the conduct of the general body of civilized states in their dealings with one another. In International Law, as in other sciences, a good definition is one of the last results to be arrived at. Until the nature and scope of any study are clearly seen, its boundaries cannot be determined with perfect accuracy. A definition, in order to be satisfactory, ought to give with precision the marks whereby the thing to be defined is distinguished from all other things; and unless it does this it is either incomplete or misleading. We may expect that different definitions of a science will be given, not only in its infancy, before its nature and limits are clearly understood, but even in its maturity, if those who cultivate it differ as to its methods and as to the extent of the subject-matter with which it deals. International Law is in this latter predicament. It has been studied for ages; but though its expounders are grad

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