The International Responsibility of a State for Injuries to Aliens arising from Mob Violence

The present study is limited strictly to the subject matter of its title,-the international responsibility of a State for injuries to aliens arising from mob violence. The rules laid down herein are believed to be in conformity with the principles of international law as formulated by the writers. No exhaustive study has been made which has concerned itself exclusively with this subject. But the principles which have been developed in various studies upon the entire subject of the responsibility of States for acts of individuals, mob violence, riots and insurrections do not controvert the general propositions advanced by the present investigation. These studies have failed to distinguish a rule herein advanced, that the State is responsible for a failure of the prosecution to convict the guilty caused by the public nature of the mob outbreak. Discussion of the implications of this rule will be reserved for its proper place in this paper.