Engagements and Sannuds relating to India and Neighbouring Countries, by C. V. Aitchison. This work, with the index, extends to eight volumes, which appeared at Calcutta in 1862–1866. A continuation by A. C. Talbot was published in 1876, and it was brought up to date by the government of India in 1909. Useful lists of national collections of treaties will be found in the Revue de droit international for 1886, pp. 169–187, and in the Marquis Olivart's Catalogue de ma bibtiothéque (1899–1910).
It may be worth while to add a list of some of the more important
treaties, now wholly or partially in force, some of which are
discussed under separate headings, especially those
to which Great Britain is a party, classified according
to their objects, in the order suggested above.List of
Important Treaties.
i. The principal treaties affecting the distribution of territory
between the various states of Central Europe are those of
Westphalia (Osnabrück and Münster), 1648; Utrecht, 1713;
Paris and Hubertusburg, 1763;for the partition of Poland, 1772,
1793; Vienna, 1815; London, for the separation of Belgium
from the Netherlands, 1831, 1839; Zürich, for the cession of a
portion of Lombardy to Sardinia, 1859; Vienna, as to Schleswig-Holstein,
1864; Prague, whereby the German Confederation
was dissolved, Austria recognizing the new North German Confederation,
transferring to Prussia her rights over Schleswig-Holstein,
and ceding the remainder of Lombardy to Italy, 1866;
Frankfort, between France and the new German Empire, 1871.
The disintegration of the Ottoman Empire has been regulated
by the Great Powers, or some of them, in the trmties of London,
1832, 1863, 1864, and of Constantinople, 1881, with reference
to Greece; and by the treaties of Paris, 1856; London, 1871;
Berlin, 1878; London, 1883, with reference to Montenegro,
Rumania, Servia, Bulgaria and the navigation of the Danube.
The encroachments of Russia upon Turkey, previous to the
Crimean War, are registered in a series of treaties beginning
with that of Kuchuk-Kainarji, 1774, and ending with that of
Adrianople in 1829. The independence of the United States of
America was acknowledged by Great Britain in the treaty of
peace signed at Parisin 1783. The boundary between the United
States and the British possessions is regulated in detail by the
treaties of Washington of 1842, 1846, 1871, 1903 and 1908.
The territorial results of the war of 1898 between the United
States and Spain are registered in the treaty of 1899, and those
of the Russo-Japanese War in the treaty of Portsmouth of 1905.
Various causes of possible misunderstanding between Great
Britain and France were removed by the convention of 1904;
and a similar treaty was concluded with Russia in 1908. The
navigation of the Suez Canal is regulated by a treaty of 1888,
and that of the future Panama Canal by one of 1901. The boundaries
of the territories, protectorates and spheres of influence
in Africa of Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and
Portugal have been readjusted by a series of treaties, especially
between the years 1885 and 1894. Switzerland, Belgium, Corfu
and Paxo and Luxemburg are respectively neutralized by the
treaties of Vienna, 1815, and of London, 1839, 1864, 1867. A
list of treaties of guarantee supposed to be then in force, to
which Great Britain is a party, beginning with a treaty made
with Portugal in 1373, was presented to parliament in 1859.
Treaties of alliance were made between Great Britain and
japan in 1902 and 1905.
ii. For the innumerable conventions, to which Great Britain is a party, as to commerce, consular jurisdiction, fisheries and the slave trade, it must suffice to refer to the exhaustive and skilfully devised index to vols. I-21 of Hertslet's Commercial Treaties, published in 1905 as vol. 22 of the series.
iii. The social intercourse of the world is facilitated by conventions, such as those establishing the Latin monetary union, 1865; the international telegraphic union, 1865; the universal postal union, 1874; the international bureau of weights and measures, 1875; providing for the protection of submarine cables in time of peace, 1884; the railway traffic union, 1890. Such treaties, now very numerous, are somewhat misleadingly spoken of by recent writers (L. von Stein and F. de Martens) as constituting a “ droit administratif international.”
iv. For the now operative treaties of extradition to which Great Britain is a party, it will be sufficient to refer to the article Extradition. It may be observed that all of them, except the treaty of 1842, now, however, varied by one of 1889, with the United States, are subsequent to, and governed by, the provisions of 33 & 34 Vict. c. 52, The Extradition Act 1870. Before the passing of this general act it had been necessary to pass a special act for giving effect to each treaty of extradition. The most complete collection of treaties of extradition is that of F. J. Kirchner, L'Extradition, Recueil, &c. (London, 1883).
v. General conventions, to which most of the European states are parties, were signed in 1883 at Paris for the protection of industrial, and in 1886 at Bern for the protection of literary and artistic, property, and, from 1899 onwards, a series of general treaties, to none of which is Great Britain a party, have been signed at the Hague, as the result of conferences, invited by the government of the Netherlands, for solving some of the more pressing questions arising out of “ the conflict of laws.” vi. Quasi-legislation by treaty has been directed mainly to encouraging the settlement of international disputes by peaceful methods, and to regulating the conduct of warfare. The first peace conference, held at the Hague in 1899, devoted much time to producing the generally accepted “Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.” An important achievement of this convention was the establishment at the Hague of an international tribunal, always ready to arbitrate upon cases submitted t.o it; and the convention recommended recourse not only to arbitration, but also to good offices and mediation, and to international commissions of inquiry. This convention has now been superseded by the revised and amplified edition of it adopted by the second peace conference in 1907. The provisions of neither convention are obligatory, but merely “facultative,” amounting only to recommendations. Great efforts were made, especially in 1907, but without success, to draft a generally acceptable convention, making resort to arbitration compulsory, at any rate with reference to certain classes of questions. In the meantime, however, agreements of this nature between one power and another have multiplied rapidly within the last few years (see Arbitration).
Certain bodies of rules intended to mitigate the horrors of war have received the adhesion of most civilized states. Thus the declaration of Paris, 1856 (to which, however, the-United States, Venezuela and Bolivia have not yet formally acceded), prohibits the use of privateers and protects the commerce of neutrals; the Geneva conventions, 1864 and 1906, give protection to the wounded and to those in attendance upon them; the St Petersburg declaration, 1868, prohibits the employment of explosive bullets weighing less than 400 grammes; and the three Hague declarations of 1899 prohibit respectively (1) the launching of projectiles from balloons, (2) the use of projectiles for spreading harmful gases, and (3) the use of expanding bullets. The second Hague conference, of 1907, besides revising the convention made by the first conference, of 1899, as to the laws of war on land, produced new conventions, dealing respectively with the opening of hostilities; neutral rights and duties in land warfare; the status of enemy merchant ships at the outbreak of war; the conversion of merchant ships into ships of war; submarine mines; bombardment by naval forces; the application of the Geneva principles to naval warfare; the rights of maritime capture; the establishment of an international prize court; and neutral rights and duties in maritime warfare. These conventions, as well as a republication of the first Hague declaration, which had in 1907 expired by efflux of time, have been already largely ratified.
It were greatly to be wished that the official publication of treaties could be rendered more speedy and more methodical than it now is. The labours of the publicist would also be much lightened were it possible to consolidate the various general collections of diplomatic acts into a new Corps diplomatique universel, well furnished with cross references, and with brief annotations showing how far each treaty is supposed to be still in force.
Literature.—In addition to the works already cited in the course of this article the following are for various reasons important
