guage, the same civilisation, the same religion,
the same general ideas, and by constant commercial and other
intercourse. On the other hand, the Roman Empire was a world empire, it
gradually absorbed all the independent nations in the West. And when the
Roman Empire fell to pieces in consequence of the migration of the
peoples, the old civilisation came to an end, international commerce and
intercourse ceased almost entirely, and it was not till towards the end
of the Middle Ages that matters began to change.

IV. During the second part of the Middle Ages more and more independent
States arose on the European continent, and during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries the necessity for a Law of Nations made itself felt.
A multitude of Sovereign States had now established themselves which,
although they were absolutely independent of one another, were knitted
together by constant commercial and other intercourse, by a common
religion, and by the same moral principles. Gradually and almost
unconsciously the conviction had grown upon these independent States
that, in spite of everything which separated them, they formed a
Community the intercourse of which was ruled by certain legal
principles. International Law grew out of custom because it was a
necessity according to the well-known rule _ubi societas ibi jus_, where
there is a community of interests there must be law. The several
independent States had thus gradually and unconsciously formed
themselves into a Society, the afterwards so-called Family of Nations,
or, in other words, a League of Nations.

And no sooner had this League of Nations come into existence--and even
some time before that date--than a number of schemes for the
establishment of eternal peace made their appearance.

The first of these schemes was that of the French lawyer _Pierre
Dubois_, who, as early as 1305, in his work 'De recuperatione terre
sancte,' proposed an alliance between all Christian Powers for the
purpose of the maintenance of peace and the establishment of a permanent
Court of Arbitration for the settlement of differences between members
of the alliance.

Another was that of _Antoine Marini_, the Chancellor of Podiebrad, King
of Bohemia, who adopted the scheme in 1461. This scheme proposed the
foundation of a Federal State to comprise all the existing Christian
States and the establishment of a permanent Congress to be seated at
Basle in Switzerland, this Congress to be the highe