Reviews of International Law Books in American Journal of International Law

758
THE AMERICAN JOtJBNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
be found. An alphabetical index adds to the utility of the volume. While
the nature of the agreements listed is for the most part adequately indicated
by the titles, in a few instances where these are vague an additional descriptive note would have been helpful. The volume will be of value to those
who are interested in Italy's foreign relations.
A. T. HUBD
The Doctrine of Rebus Sic Stantibus in International Law. By T. Young
Huang. (Shanghai: The Comacrib Press, 1935. pp. xiii, 201. Index.
$5.00.)
La Clausola "Rebus Sic Stantibus" nel Diritto Internazionale. By
Giovanni Scalfati Fusco. (Naples: Lorenzo Alvano, 1936. pp. iv, 98.
L. 20.)
Two new studies on the clause rebus sic stantibus. The Chinese author
approaches the problem from a dynamic point of view, in the conviction
"that it is practically impossible to uphold the sanctity of treaties without
considering the principle of change." His questions are: Is the clause a rule
of positive international law? If so, what is its scope? Under what conditions and in which way may it be properly applied? From these viewpoints
he studies the publicists, the diplomatic precedents and the jurisprudence
of the clause in cases decided by courts. The study is based on a very
extensive and valuable bibliography. His result may be formulated in
the sense that the clause is a positive rule of international law, recognized
by the practice of States and the opinion of writers; but the proper procedure of its application is not unilateral denunciation, but the demand
addressed to the other party to abrogate the treaty. Particular emphasis
is laid upon treaties of peace; the problem of treaties concluded under duress
plays an important role. On the other hand, theoretically, there is some
confusion with completely different problems, such as non-performance by
the other party, or impossibility of performance. This reviewer further
considers the identification of the clause with Article XIX of the Covenant
of the League of Nations as basically unsound.
The Italian study, equally based on an extensive bibliography, reviews
also the opinion of writers and the diplomatic precedents. But its principal
aim is that of theoretical clarification. The author clearly recognizes that
the clause has its place among the reasons for the termination of treaties.
It must therefore be well distinguished, on the one hand, from reasons which
render a treaty void ab initio, and on the other hand, from other reasons
for the termination of treaties: impossibility of performance, doctrine of
necessity, the "condition" in the technical sense, the agreed possibility of
denunciation, particular clauses of the treaty itself; as, e.g., in the Young
Plan, or the escalator clause in the Naval Disarmament Treaties. The
clause is finally correctly held as being entirely different from Article XIX
of the Covenant, which, apart from many other things, is not a rule for the
extinction of treaties, but a procedure of a legislative change of a treaty
which, by both the parties, is recognized as being valid and binding in law.
It is a fine study, characterized by clear thinking and the strictly juridical
and theoretical treatment of the Italian school of international law.
JOSEF L. KUNZ
The Balkan Conferences and the Balkan Entente, 1980-1985. A Study in
the Recent History of the Balkan and Near Eastern Peoples. By Robert
Joseph Kerner and Harry Nicholas Howard. (Berkeley: University of Cali-