Book Reviews and Notices : Retaliation in International Law. By EVELYN SPEYER COLBERT. (New York: King's Crown Press. 1948. Pp. x, 228. $3.00.)

• Date: 01 September 1949
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200312
• Author: Charles P. Schleicher
• Published date: 01 September 1949
• Subject Matter: Articles

428

It

appears

that

in

recent

years

the

British

Government

has

been

mak-

ing

efforts

to

improve

the

quality

of

official

writing.

A

Foreign

Office

memorandum

on

draft-writing

urges

simplicity:

It

is

a

commonplace

that

this

simplicity

does

not

always

come

in

a

first

draft

even

to

the

greatest

stylists.

Redrafting

takes time,

and

I

know

that

members

of

departments

have

little

enough

time

to

spend

on

it

in

these

days.

But

it

is

up

to

them,

for

heads

of

departments

and

under-secretaries

have

still

less

time

to

spare....

Prime

Minister

Churchill

gave

this

advice

in

a

memorandum

on

brevity:

Let

us

have

an

end

of

such

phrases

as

these:

&dquo;It

is

also

of

importance

to

bear

in

mind

the

following

considerations

...

&dquo; or

&dquo;consideration

should be

given

to

the

possi-

bility

of

carrying

into

effect ...

&dquo;

Most

of

these

woolly

phrases

are

mere

padding,

which

can

be

left

out

altogether,

or

replaced

by

a

single

word.

Let

us

not

shrink

from

using

the

short

expressive

phrase

even

if

it

is

conversational.

The

chapter

on

punctuation

concludes

with

this

demonstration

of

the

importance

of

that

subject:

Around

a

comma

in

the

Prayer

Book

now

rages

the

argument

whether

the

decision

in

Baxter

v.

Baxter

1 is

or

is

not

consistent

with

the

views

of

the

Church

about

the

causes

for

which

matrimony

was

ordained.

Sir

Roger

Casement

might

have

escaped

hanging

but

for

a

comma

in

a

statute

of

Edward

III.

The

American

reader-to

whom

this

guide

was

not

addressed-will

learn

on

several

pages

that

the

English

language

is

now

endangered

by

an

&dquo;infection

...

spreading

across

the

Atlantic.&dquo;

The

author,

without

rancor,

observes

that

certain

&dquo;words

exported

under

lend,lease&dquo;

have

become

cur-

rent

within

the

realm.

Among

these

is

the

verb

&dquo;to

contact,&dquo;

which

A.

P.

Herbert

has

pronounced

to

be

&dquo;loathsome.&dquo;

Another

is

the

verb

&dquo;to

finalize.&dquo;

(As

to

the

first

I

would

interject,

in

the

British

idiom,

&dquo;I

could

not

agree

with

you

more&dquo;;

the

second

I

first

heard

in

the

speech

of

British

comrades.)

While

no

doubt

we

need

to

be

kept

after

school

for

special

lessons

in

correcting

American

defects,

yet

if

we

attentively

pursue

the

course

in

Plain

Words

prepared

for

our

British

brethren

each

of

us

may

feel

that

he

has

made

substantial

progress.

Happily

it is

true

that

what

is

good

English

on

one

side

of

the

Atlantic-e.g.,

the

language

of

Mr.

Churchill-remains

our

aspiration

on

the

other.

Stanford

University

.

CHARLES

FAIRMAN.

Retaliation

in

International

Law.

By

EVELYN

SPEYER

COLBERT.

(New

York:

King’s

Crown

Press.

1948.

Pp.

x,

228. $3.00.)

The

central

object

of

this

brief

and

very

scholarly

study

is

the

prac-

tice,

and

to

a

lesser

degree

the

law,

of

international

reprisal

and

retalia-

tion,

public

and

private,

in

peace

and

war.

Since

eminent

authorities

1

[1947]

2

All.

Eng.

Reports

886.

2 The

King

v.

Casement

[1917]

1

K.B.

98,

construing

the

Treason

Act

of

1351.