BAILEY, THOMAS A. America Faces Russia : Russian-American Relations From Early Times to Our Day. Pp. xi, 375. Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1950. $4.00

• Author: Samuel Flagg Bemis
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625127400138
• Subject Matter: Articles

214

most

exacting

method

of

logic

and

grammar

concerning

the

normative

verbal

expression

of

such

social

ends

as

may

have

been

politically

chosen.

In

this

sense

the

book

is

essentially

a

seminar

on

legal

methodol-

ogy,

conducted

by

Professor

Kelsen

for

the

benefit

of

statesmen

and

prominent

jurists.

Its

strict

concentration

on

prob-

lems

of

method,

however,

is

deceptive.

Professor

Kelsen’s

&dquo;legal

technique&dquo;

implies

a

philosophy

of

law

and

even

a

metaphysics

on

which

it

must

be

judged

no

less

than

on

its

practical

merits.

The

latter

are

undoubtedly

great.

A

clear

distinction

between

the

contents

of

norms

and

the

method

of

legislation

is

valid

and

should

become

an

integral

part

of

the

mental

discipline

of

lawmakers.

Other

fields

of

applied

social

knowledge

are

sim-

ilarly

becoming

aware

of

the

requisites

of

methodology

as

such.

This

book

demon-

strates

vividly

how

incisive

a

consistent

method

can

be

in

uncovering

real

problems,

posing

important

questions,

and

revealing

inherent

contradictions.

It

must

command

the

greatest

respect

as

an

intellectual

ex-

ercise

which

one

feels

should

be

a

&dquo;required

course&dquo;

for

all

who

are

responsible

for mak-

ing

and

applying

the

law

of

the

United

Nations.

The

philosophical

implications

of

Pro-

fessor

Kelsen’s

method,

on

the

other

hand,

are

open

to

serious

objections

both

because

they

represent

an

unacceptable

view

of

life

and

because

they

are

not

overtly

presented

by

the

author.

The

method

on

which

he

insists

is

that

of

a

logico-grammatical

interpretation

of

the

text.

No

legal,

moral,

or

political

principle,

no

reflection

of

con-

sensus

must

be

taken

into

account.

The

historical

&dquo;will

of

the

legislator&dquo;

as

such

is

not

ascertainable

and

is

irrelevant.

Legal

obligation

therefore

springs

solely

from

the

document

itself,

as

reflecting

a

political

intention.

This

political

intention

is

in

the

nature

of

a

mere

preference,

a

desire

or

will,

which

for

the

purposes

of

legal

tech-

nique

is

a

datum.

Interpretation

must

not

criticize

this

will in

the

light

of

substantive

principles,

must

not

attempt

to

correct,

im-

prove,

or

develop

the

political

end,

but

should

confine

itself

to

logic

and

grammar

in

order

to

read

its

meaning

in

the

chosen

verbal

expression.

All

else

is

a

matter

of

political

decision.

The

law

is

thus

but

an

instrument

of

the

ruling

will.

Moral

principles

have

no

relevance

except

as

&dquo;desired

social

ends.&dquo;

Neither

they

nor

principles

of

law

can

serve

as

guides

of

lawful

behavior.

Among

the

many

mean-

ings

which

a

legal

text

may

admit

none

is

&dquo;true,&dquo;

and

the

one

which

actually

prevails,

the

&dquo;authentic&dquo;

meaning,

is

neither

true

nor

correct,

but

simply

the

one

which

happens

to

be

enforced.

Thus

between

a

&dquo;social

end&dquo;

representing

no

transcending

principle

on

the

one

side,

and

the

logico-grammatical

method

of

reading

the

documents

on

the

other,

there

is

nothing

in

the

law

which

be-

speaks

a

higher

order,

and

consequently

nothing

which

could

really

bind

the

hearts

and

minds

of

men.

What

remains

is

an

arbitrary

political

will,

and

formal

methods

of

exegesis,

the

latter

instructing

not

even

the

law-abiding

public

but

solely

the

rulers

about

how

to

make

their

commands

more

effective.

It

must

be

hoped

that

Professor

Kelsen

will

soon

find

imitators.

who,

in

keeping

normative

method

apart

from

normative

contents,

will

give

us

a

legal

methodology

reflecting

a

sounder

meta-

physics

and

truer

social

philosophy

than

Professor

Kelsen

has

been

able

to

muster.

GERHART

NIEMEYER

Oglethorpe

University

BAILEY,

THOMAS

A.

America

Faces

Rus-

sia :

Russian-American

Relations

From

Early

Times

to

Our

Day.

Pp.

xi,

375.

Ithaca,

N.

Y.:

Cornell

University

Press,

1950.

$4.00.

During

the

last

forty

years

a

series

of

scholarly

dissertations

has

ventilated

var-

ious

and

successive

chapters

of

Russian-

American

relations,

mostly

from

the

ar-

chives

of

the

United

State

Department

of

State.

The

late

Professor

Frank

A.

Golder

actually

used

the

Russian

foreign-office,

archives

too,

in

his

studies

of

affairs

be-

tween

the

two

countries

at

the

time

of

Catherine

the

Great

and

during

the

Amer-

ican

Civil

War

and

the

purchase

of

Alaska

following

that

conflict.

These

monographs,

some

of

them

by

Professor

Bailey

himself,

have

debunked

a

good

many

myths

and

legends

in

the

diplomatic

history

of

the

expanding

continental

republic

of

the

West

and

the

overreaching

bicontinental

em-