VIII
EXHAUSTION OF LOGICAL REMEDIES
After the cases involving responsibility have been established, it should
be stipulated, as hereinbefore suggested, that the prosecution of them should
not always depend upon diplomatic claims procedure or interposition on
the part of the governments. Responsibility is an obligation imposed by the
principles of justice. The enforcement of responsibility is a function that
may be either national or international. It is primarily a national function.
Civilized nations have established administrative and judicial organizations
for the purpose of preventing injury, repressing illicit acts, and providing
due reparation for the damages sustained. In the international community
there is, or should be, among the States, an agreement to set up a similar
organization to exercise these functions in the international sphere, in order
to restore cordial relations whenever impaired by a violation of the rights
of any one of the States. This would be an excellent way of reconciling
national autonomy with international cooperation. Moreover, this system
is necessary in order to raise the standard of good will in the international
relations of the States, and to avoid friction between their governments.
Their intervention, after all, is only justified in cases of necessity. If there
is no need for intervention, because of other expedient means available,
diplomatic intervention would imply an exercise of undue pressure as re-
gards questions of juridical nature. In this regard all the scientific views
are in perfect accord! both in the practice followed by the States, as well
as in international jurisprudence. There is also the very important part
*The work by Edwin Borchard, Diplomatic Relations, and The Responsibility of
States in International Law by Clyde Eagleton, contain convincing data on this point.
* This practice is evidenced by the diplomatic correspondence of many of the States
and by other documents of their governments. The note of the British Foreign Office
of April 24, 1916, may be cited. This note sets forth that the Government of Great
Britain attributes considerable importance to the rule that all national remedies should
be exhausted before any diplomatic action is taken.
' Among the large number of cases cited by Borchard, Eagleton and Ralston on this
point, the following may be mentioned: Burn Case, Moore's Arbitrations, p. 3140;
Bensley Cases, ibid., pages 3016-3018; Lagueruene, ibid. 3027; Baldwin, ibid. 3126; Sel-
kirk, ibid. 3130; Leichardt, ibid. 3133; Jennings, Laughland and Co., ibid. 3135; Slocum,
ibid. 3140; Ada, ibid. 3143; Smith, ibid. 3146; La Guaira, Ralston’s Venezuelan Arbitra-
tions, p. 182; De Caro, ibid. 819; Poggioli, ibid. 867: Canadian Claims for Refund of
