less employment of the method;
the latter must always be avoided, otherwise we arrive at contradictions
of interpretation, and these are insuperable.

[Sidenote: Article 23 (_h_) of the Hague Regulations of land war is an
example.]

An example of such carelessness is afforded by the incorporation--at the
second Hague Conference--of a new provision in the former Article 23 of
the 'Regulations respecting the laws of land warfare'. I am referring to
the provision added under the letter (_h_), which runs as follows: [It
is forbidden] 'to declare extinguished, suspended, or unenforceable in a
court of law, the rights and rights of action of the nationals of the
adverse party'.

[Sidenote: The German and the English interpretation of Article 23
(_h_).]

36. From the German memorandum on the second Peace Conference it is
quite clear that this additional rule, which was proposed by Germany and
adopted by the Conference, was directed to the alteration of the rule,
prevailing in several states, whereby during a war the subjects of one
belligerent lose in the country of the other belligerent their _persona
standi in judicio_, and the like. It is in this sense, then, that the
addition has been unanimously interpreted by German literature, with the
agreement of many foreign writers. The official standpoint of England,
on the contrary, is that Article 23 (_h_) has nothing whatever to do
with the municipal law of the belligerent countries. Article 23 (_h_),
so the English Foreign Office explains, forms a subdivision of Article
23, which itself comes under the second section (headed 'Hostilities')
of the Regulations, and forbids a series of acts which otherwise might
be resorted to in the exercise of hostilities by the members of the
contending armies, and by their commanding officers. That this
interpretation is the right one--so it is further explained by the
English side--is shown by the fact that Article 1 of the Convention
expressly says, with reference to the 'Regulations respecting the laws
of land warfare', that the contracting parties shall issue to their
armed land forces instructions which shall be in conformity with the
'Regulations respecting the laws of land warfare' annexed to the
Convention. It would therefore be the duty of every contracting power to
instruct the commanders of its forces in an enemy's country (among other
things) not 'to declare extinguished, suspended, or unenforceable in a
court of law, the ri