gularly operate so strongly that the
rules of conduct laid down are in fact observed. On the Manchester
Exchange thousands of agreements involving millions of money are made,
the breach of which could not be made the ground of a successful action
at law. The number of cases of repudiation of such agreements is almost
negligible. To plead the Statute of Frauds in an action for non-delivery
or non-acceptance of goods under such informal agreements might be a
defence in the law courts, but would not save the defendant from the
indeterminate but effective penalties due to the feeling of his fellows
that he was acting dishonourably. It is instructive to notice that in
dealing with the question of industrial disputes, which are in many ways
analogous to international, at least where they arise between organised
bodies of employers and of workpeople, the Whitley Committee, in a
supplemental report issued in January, 1918, expressed the opinion: (1)
that no attempt should be made to establish compulsory arbitration or
compulsory legislation to prevent strikes and lock-outs; (2) that there
should be standing arbitration councils or panels of arbitrators to whom
disputes arising could be voluntarily referred; (3) that provision
should be made for independent inquiry and report as to the merits of
trade disputes; (4) that legal penalties for breach of an award or of an
agreement made to settle a trade dispute should not be imposed; (5) that
the decisions of industrial tribunals and arbitrators should be
co-ordinated as far as possible, and that there should be opportunity
for interchange of opinion between the arbitrators whose awards should
be circulated. A body of customary law on the subject would thus grow up
without legal sanction, but of great value in promoting uniformity and
preventing the ill-feeling which would arise from conflicting decisions
in different cases involving similar questions. Those who have taken any
part in deciding questions affecting wages or trade conditions have
found the need of some standard to appeal to, and felt the danger likely
to arise from giving decisions either less or more favourable to either
party than had been given in other districts in similar circumstances.
In an analogous way, decisions of the prize court of one country are
quoted in the courts of other countries, although they are not binding
on them. International Law did exist, and had an important practical
influence. Diplomatists