Book Reviews: The Treaty as an Instrument of Legislation. By FLORENCE ELLINWOOD ALLEN. (New York: The Macmillan Company. 1952. Pp. xxi, 114. $1.75.)

• Author: Marvin A. Harder
• Published date: 01 December 1952
• Date: 01 December 1952
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295200500449
• Subject Matter: Articles

714
the justices. These latter chapters are weak, since they do nothing more
than paraphrase the decisions written by the justices. The author next
turns to a discussion of the three major issues before the court; the
question of citizenship (Chap. 8); the extent of Congressional power
over territories (Chap. 9); and the effect that residence in free territory
had upon a slave when he returned to a slave state (Chap. 10). In his
discussion, the author enters into a rather tedious and often superfluous
legal history of these three questions.
The remainder of the book (Chap. 11) is taken up chiefly with the
shenanigans which preceded the publication of the justices’ opinions; news-
paper reaction to the decision; and the speeches of Lincoln and Douglas
after the decision was announced. All of this has been ably done in
Beveridge’s Abraham Lincoln, Swisher’s Roger B. Taney, and Warren’s
The Supreme Court in United States History.
The book is notably deficient in several respects. Virtually no mention
is made of the significance of the decision or of the political setting in
which it occurred. Most of the work done by the author has been done
previously. Furthermore, Dred Scott’s personal life receives too much
attention.
It is unfortunate that the author spent so much time on trivia
and not enough on the significant aspects of the case. The chief contribu-
tion of the book is that it reiterates the fact that the meaning of several
provisions of the Constitution was still in dispute before the Civil War.
This is not a revelation.
PAUL G. AND GEORGE L. WILLIS.
Indiana University.

The Treaty as an Instrument of Legislation. By FLORENCE ELLINWOOD
ALLEN. (New York: The Macmillan Company. 1952. Pp. xxi, 114.
$1.75.)
It is the argument of the author that some of the conventions and
treaties drawn up by United Nations organizations and specialized agencies
contain provisions which invade the domestic jurisdiction of the member
nations. The author submits that this problem is a...