Pathways in International Law (Book Review)

St. John's Law Review Volume 28 Issue 1 Volume 28, December 1953, Number 1 Article 24 May 2013 Pathways in International Law (Book Review) Edward D. Re Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview Recommended Citation Re, Edward D. (2013) "Pathways in International Law (Book Review)," St. John's Law Review: Vol. 28: Iss. 1, Article 24. Available at: http://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview/vol28/iss1/24 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in St. John's Law Review by an authorized administrator of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact . BOOK REVIEWS By Arthur K. Kuhn. New York: The Pp. ix, 240. $4.00. PATHWAYS IN INTERNATIoAL LAW. Macmillan Company, 1953. The name Arthur K. Kuhn is indeed not unknown to any student of international law and to the many readers of the "American Journal of International Law." His numerous articles and editorials in that journal have caused him to be known as an international lawyer keenly interested in the many problems confronting the nations of the world and which, directly or indirectly, play an important part in the maintenance of international peace and security. Pathways in International Low, a title perhaps suggested by Mr. Justice Hughes' book, The Pathway of Peace,1 is a personal narrative in which Mr. Kuhn records the part that he,has played, in his long and distinguished career, towards the advancement, promotion and development of international law. In this well-written and interesting book the reader finds what might otherwise be referred to as the memoirs of a most conscientious and industrious international lawyer. The author, in autobiographical style, tells a story, of interest and importance both to the layman and the lawyer alike, of one man's professional career "both as a practitioner and as a participant in efforts to substitute law for war." 2 The book not only reveals a man of great talent and industry but a most orderly lawyer who doubtlessly kept an extremely accurate diary of his daily activities. In a well-organized and chronological fashion the reader is made familiar with the author's career from 1893 until the present. At the same time the reader will find interesting sidelights, and perhaps gain a new perspective, about many outstanding events of international significance. In 1893, while a sophomore at City College, the author participated in a contest sponsored by the American Peace Society. The assigned topic was "The Economic Waste of War." ae suspects that his having won one of the intercollegiate prizes in this contest determined his future interest in international affairs and perhaps also in international law. He pursued his law studies at the Law Department of Columbia University at a time when the adoption of the so-called case method of law teaching was still in its experimental stages. The author states that this method, introduced at Columbia by Dean William A. Keener, supplanted the professorial or lecture method which had formerly prevailed. At this point the author expresses the view that ".. [a]s a mental exercise it was probably unequaled by any other system." 3 Doubtlessly this was an extremely important formative period in the career 2 HUGHES, THE PATHWAY OF PE.Acn (1925). 2P. 1. 3 P. 7. 192 ST. JOHN'S LAW REVIEW [ VOL. 28 of Arthur K. Kuhn. It was in the first year of the law school that he became acquainted with John Bassett Moore. Upon graduation from law school the author served a clerkship and in 1904 enrolled as a graduate student in the Law Department in the University of Zurich. It was at Zurich that he met some of the outstanding men in international legal literature including Friedrich Meili and J. C. Bluntschli. Since the author has always had a preference for law teachers who have been in active practice he refers to Meili as a jurist after his own heart.4 At Zurich the author received sound and thorough training in public and private international law and in comparative law. Zurich also offered the opportunity to observe the difference in method between the American system of instruction and the European system which places a much greater stress upon legislation rather than upon "jurisprudence" (decisional law). 5 By virtue of an extremely interesting law practice Mr. Kuhn played a part in many fascinating and extremely important cases. A reading of Pathways in International Law will present an array of outstanding jurists, great statesmen and distinguished teachers and lawyers. A reading of the many interesting incidents, conferences, symposia and projects in which the author was privileged to participate will cause the reader to appreciate how much can be done in the cause of law and peace by a lawyer of industry and ability. With remarkable accuracy of statement the author refers to the part that he has played in the trial and appeal of many leading cases. For example, the important New York case of Johnston v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique6 was finally argued before the Court of Appeals upon the brief written by the author and resulted in the unanimous opinion of the Court of Appeals which reversed the holding of the Appellate Division and of the Supreme Court. Judge Pound, who wrote the opinion in that famous case, refused to follow the reasoning of the leading case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States.7 The New York court, unlike the Supreme Court of the United States, reasoned that comity did not rest upon reciprocity but rather upon the persuasiveness of the foreign judgment. Commenting upon the decision in the Johnston case, the author states, "In other words, the New York Court of Appeals decided to follow the rule of the English common law rather than the judicial legislation represented in the opinion of the United States Supreme Court which Judge Pound said might be regarded as 'magnificent dictum."' 8 Shortly after the decision was rendered by the Court of Appeals, the author received a congratulatory letter from Judge John Bassett Moore who was then sitting as a judge on the World Court at The Hague. In this letter, dated June 17, 1926 and written in Judge Moore's own handwriting, he expressed satisfaction that the State of New York had finally recovered ". . from the thraldom or menace of the decision thirty years ago in Hilton vs. Guyot." 9 4 P. 10. 5P. 11. 6 242 N. Y. 381, 152 N. E. 121 (1926). 7 Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U. S. 113 (1895). 8 P. 62. 9 Ibid. BOOK REVIEWS 1953] This letter contains a statement that sheds an interesting sidelight upon the decision of the Hilton case. Judge Moore, who, like the author, had also taught the conflict of laws at the Columbia Law School, wrote as follows in this letter: "In my lectures I usually adverted to the circumstance that the opinion in that' case was not filed until five months or mo (...truncated)