Sec.8.  It has been observed, also, that the law of nature is a perfect rule for all moral and social beings, and ought to be universally obeyed.  Equally binding is this law upon nations.  It requires each nation to respect the rights of all others, and to do for them what their necessities demand, and what it is capable of doing, consistently with the duties it owes to itself.  And the general good of mankind is as really promoted by the application of this law to the affairs of nations, as by its application to the affairs of individuals.

Sec.9.  The law of nature applied to nations or states as moral persons, is called the natural law of nations.  It is also called the necessary law of nations, because nations are morally bound to observe it; and sometimes the internal law of nations, from its being binding on the conscience.

Sec.10.  Although the law of nature, as expressed in the law of revelation, is a correct rule of human conduct; yet, as much of this law consists of general principles from which particular duties can not always be deduced, positive human enactments are necessary to define the law of nature and revelation.  So an important part of the law of nations necessarily consists of positive institutions.  Hence some writers have divided international law under these two principal heads:  the natural law of nations, and the positive.

Sec.11.  The positive law of nations is founded on usage or custom and agreement, and may be considered as properly divided into the customary law of nations, and the conventional.  The customary law of nations consists of certain maxims, or is founded on customs and usages which have been long observed and tacitly consented to by nations, and have thereby become binding upon all who have adopted them, so far as their observance does not require a violation of the law of nature.

Sec.12.  A conventional law of nations is one that has been established by a treaty or league.  The word convention usually signifies an assembly of persons met for some benevolent, political, or ecclesiastical purpose.  It also signifies a treaty, or agreement between nations; and such agreement or contract, though made without a formal meeting, is deemed conventional.

Sec.13.  As the law of nature is liable to misconstruction, and as the law of usage or custom is vague and uncertain, conventional law, because more definite, has been found to afford greater security to the rights of commerce.  Hence the practice, now so common among nations, of regulating their intercourse by negotiation.  By treaties, the rights of the contracting parties are placed beyond dispute.

Sec.14.  But it may be said, if each nation is independent of every other, and if there is no constituted authority to enforce the fulfillment of treaty stipulations, the rights guarantied by treaties are still insecure.  But few governments are so devoid of a sense of honor as, by a palpable violation of treaty obligations, to incur the odium and condemnation of all mankind.  Self-respect and the fear of provoking a war, have generally proved sufficient incentives to the observance of treaties.