Written from the perspective of a professional, this study is notable for its deep understanding of history and the nature of international arbitration. Originally published: Stanford University Press, 1929. xvi, 417 pp. The book is divided into five parts. Part I: General Principles of Judicial Settlement between Nations. Part II: Influences working toward Judicial Settlement. Part III: History of Arbitral Tribunals. Part IV: Hague Peace Conferences and their Results. Part V: The Permanent Court of International Justice.
"The field of international arbitration, either in its historical or in its analytical aspects, is rather broad. To deal thoroughly with either of them is a serious task; to undertake both at once-to line up, within the limits of a volume of some 400 odd pages, the substantive and procedural rules governing the judicial settlements between nations, as well as to point out the historical growth of these rules, together with the influences, political, social and ethical, under which this growth took place-to accomplish this satisfactorily is almost inconceivable. That the author nevertheless has succeeded in producing a work which gives the reader the great contours of the history of international arbitration and makes him slightly acquainted with the innumerable problems connected with its development, speaks for the high ability of Judge Ralston and should certainly be acknowledged as an accomplishment."-- Francis Deak, 29 Columbia Law Review (1929) 1173
JACKSON H. RALSTON 1857-1945] was an American diplomat and scholar of international law. He lectured at Stanford University from 1929-1933 and represented the United States as agent and counsel in the first dispute submitted to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague under the Hague Convention of 1899. He secured a significant victory and large financial award in the Pious Fund case. Settlement of this dispute gave authority to The Hague's new court for international dispute resolution, with Ralston's victory clearly establishing his reputation. He was the author of The Law and Procedure of International Tribunals (1926) and A Quest for International Order (1941). The Jackson H. Ralston Prize in International Law was established at Stanford Law School in 1972."