[Footnote 23: This ought to be generally recognised, but, in fact, is not; says, for instance, Kohler in Z.V. II.(1908), p. 210:--"_... das Völkerrecht ist ein überstaatliches Recht, das der Gesetzgebung des einzelnen Staates nicht unterworfen ist und von den Richtern ohne weiteres respectirt werden muss: das Völkerrecht steht über dem staatlichen Recht_."]
[Sidenote: Certain Rules of Municipal Law necessitated or interdicted.]
§ 22. If Municipal Courts cannot apply unadopted rules of the Law of Nations, and must apply even such rules of Municipal Law as conflict with the Law of Nations, it is evident that the several States, in order to fulfil their international obligations, are compelled to possess certain rules, and are prevented from having certain other rules as part of their Municipal Law. It is not necessary to enumerate all the rules of Municipal Law which a State must possess, and all those rules it is prevented from having. It suffices to give some illustrative examples. Thus, on the one hand, the Municipal Law of every State, for instance, is compelled to possess rules granting the necessary privileges to foreign diplomatic envoys, protecting the life and liberty of foreign citizens residing on its territory, threatening punishment for certain acts committed on its territory in violation of a foreign State. On the other hand, the Municipal Law of every State is prevented by the Law of Nations from having rules, for instance, conflicting with the freedom of the high seas, or prohibiting the innocent passage of foreign merchantmen through its maritime belt, or refusing justice to foreign residents with regard to injuries committed on its territory to their lives, liberty, and property by its own citizens. If a State does nevertheless possess such rules of Municipal Law as it is prevented from having by the Law of Nations, or if it does not possess such Municipal rules as it is compelled to have by the Law of Nations, it violates an international legal duty, but its courts[24] cannot by themselves alter the Municipal Law to meet the requirements of the Law of Nations.
[Footnote 24: This became quite apparent in the Moray Firth case (Mortensen _v._ Peters)--see below, § 192--in which the Court had to apply British Municipal Law.]