“Writers on international law... cannot make the law … it must have received the assent of the nations who are to be bound by it. This assent may be express … or may be implied from established usage.”

The Queen v. Keyn; "The Franconia" (1876), 2 L. R. Ex. D. 202.

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Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet 13
Lord Chief Justice 1802–1880

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