Book Reviews and Notices : Alabama's Heritage. BY JOSEPH M. RAY AND LILLIAN WORLEY. (University, Ala.: University of Alabama. Pp. x, 186.) Safeguarding Kentucky's Natural Resources. BY VERA BRISCOE, JAMES M. MARTIN, AND J. E. REEVES. (Lexington, Ky.: University of Kentucky. Pp. x, 224.)

• Author: Paul Kelso
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Date: 01 December 1949
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591294900200465
• Subject Matter: Articles

681

accepts

that

the

Nuremberg

Tribunal

administered

international

law

this

difficulty

disappears

for,

by

Article

38

of

its

Statute

the

International

Court

of

Justice

applies

&dquo;the

general

principles

of

law

recognized

by

civi-

lized

nations,&dquo;

and

there

is

no

reason

why

this

provision

of

the

Statute

should

not

apply

to

criminal

law

as

well

as

any

other

branch

of

law,

especially

as

all

civilized

nations

regard

experiments

upon

human

beings

or

mass

murder,

now

described

as

genocide,

as

a

crime.

Another

crime,

the

definition

of

which

disquiets

Professor

Morgan,

is

that

of

&dquo;aggressive

war.&dquo;

In

the

first

place,

he

says

that

aggression

is

a

political

question

and

not

legal.

That

may

be

true,

but

even

political

decisions

may

have

legal

consequences,

as,

for

example,

when

a

state

de-

cides

to

recognize

a

new

government

or

a

new

state.

There

is

no

reason,

therefore,

why

the

political

decision that

aggression

has

taken

place

should

not

constitute

the

finding

on

facts

which,

when

established,

constitute

a

crime.

Secondly,

he

argues

that

aggression

had

not

been

defined,

and

charging

the

accused

with

&dquo;waging

an

aggressive

war&dquo;

was

charging

them

with

an

undefined

crime.

But

is

this

so

strange?

Until

Coke

saw

fit

to

de-

fine

murder,

people

were

being

tried

in

England

for

a

crime

that

had

not

been

defined,

and

without

showing

any

lack

of

respect

for

Coke

it is

sug-

gested

that

equally

acceptable

definitions

of

aggression

are

to

be

found

in

the

various

textbooks

of

international

law.

When

writing

of

aggressive

war,

Professor

Morgan

makes

the

common

mistake

of

thinking

that

it

is

the

belligerents

who

decide

whether

a

war

exists

or

not.

War

is

a

legal

concept

which,

like

every

other

concept

of

international

law,

depends

for

its

validity

on

recognition

and

exists

only

when

the

rest

of

the

world

or

the

United

Nations

declares

that

it

so

exists.

The

history

of

the

League

of

Nations

between

the

wars

shows

numerous

examples

of

this

fact.

Despite

these

criticisms,

The

Great

Assize

constitutes

a

stimulating

and

provocative

criticism

of

the

law

of

the

Nuremberg

trial,

and

however

much

one

may

disagree

with

Professor

Morgan

on

specific

points,

one

can

only

be

grateful

to

him

for

the

clear

and

controversial

way

in

which

he

has

presented

his

arguments.

The

pamphlet

will

certainly

constitute

one

of

those

commentaries

on

Nuremberg

that

serious

students

cannot

afford

to

fnraPt

nr

ignore.

L.C. GREEN.

University

College,

London.

L.

C.

GREEN.

Alabama’s

Heritage.

BY

JOSEPH

M.

RAY

AND

LILLIAN

WORLEY.

(Univer-

sity,

Ala.:

University

of

Alabama.

Pp.

x,

186.)

Safeguarding

Kentucky’s

Natural

Resources.

BY

VERA

BRISCOE,

JAMES

M.

MARTIN,

AND

J.

E.

REEVES.

(Lexington,

Ky.:

University

of

Kentucky.

Pp.

x,

224.)