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 The Green Bag Volume XXIV

April, 1912

Number 4

James Brown Scott1 BY ROBERT LANSING 2

THE future student of history will doubtless look back upon the early years of the twentieth century as a period momentous in the social development of the human race. Men who live in the time of crises, whether political or social, seldom appreciate the full sig nificance of the movements which are taking place; much less are they able to draw accurate conclusions as to what the outcome will be. Yet we, who live at this time, though our sense of propor tion may distort events, cannot but realize the gravity of the problems which the present generation is called upon to solve. The period is one in which society is seeking to adjust its highly developed institutions, the slow growth of centuries, to new ideas which have all at once become dominant in the world. It is a period of transition, in which the customs and usages of peoples are break-

ing down before a new sense of obligation and a new conception of duty. Mankind has suddenly awakened to the fact that the methods which have been employed for ages are at variance with the motives which should inspire human actions, and that these must undergo radical change. To work out a social organi zation which will harmonize with these motives is engaging the thought of those who are students of politics and society. The fundamental idea which has be come dominant and has given impulse to the movement for a change in the very structure of society is in a broad sense altruistic. It seems to have its origin in an appreciation of the interdependence of nations, classes, and individuals com prising the entire human race from the most civilized to the most savage, from the richest to the poorest, from the

1 [This is the fourth of a series of articles on some of the most eminent jurists now living in this country. We have already published sketches of John Forrest Dillon, by George S. Clay (23 G. B. 447); Samuel Williston. by Bruce Wyman (23 G. B. 613); and John Henry Wigmore, by Albert Kocourek (24 C. B. 1). —Ed.] 1 Mr. Lansing, at present Counsel for the United States in the American and British Claims Arbitra tion has had more practical experience in the actual preparation and trial of cases before Inter national Commissions and Tribunals than any other

American lawyer. He was Associate Counsel in the Behring Sea Arbitration, 1892-3; U. S. Counsel in the Behring Sea Claims Commission, 1896-7; Soli citor for the United States before the Alaskan Boundary Commission, 1903; Solicitor and Counsel in the North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration at the Hague, 1910. Mr. Lansing was one of the founders of the Amer ican Society of International Law, and is an associ ate editor of and frequent contributor to the American Journal of International Law.

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