It remains to be seen how the conception of "usufruct" is to be imported into the relations of sovereign States, and, more especially, what are to be the relations of the usufructuary to States other than the State under which he holds. It is, of course, quite possible to adapt the terms of Roman private law to international use. "Dominium," "Possessio," "Occupatio," have long been so adapted, but it has yet to be proved that "Usufructus" is equally malleable. I can recall no other use of the term in international discussions than the somewhat rhetorical statement that an invader should consider himself as merely the "usufructuary" of the resources of the country which he is invading; which is no more than to say that he should use them "en bon père de famille." It will be a very different matter to put a strict legal construction upon the grant of the "usufruct" of Port Arthur. By way of homage to the conception of such a grant, as presumably creating at the outside a life-interest, Russia seems to have taken it, in the first instance, only for twenty-five years. One may, however, be pardoned for sharing, with reference to this transaction, the scruples which were felt at Rome as to allowing the grant of a usufruct to a corporation--"periculum enim esse videbatur, ne perpetuus fieret."
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, T. E. HOLLAND. Oxford, March 30 (1898).
P.S.--It would seem from M. Lehr's _Éléments du droit civil Russe_ that "usufruct" is almost unknown to the law of Russia, though a restricted form of it figures in the code of the Baltic provinces.
It is certain that, apart from general conventions, international law imposes no liability on an invader to pay for requisitioned property or services, or to honour any receipts which he may have given for them.
The Hague Convention of 1899 made no change in this respect. Arts. 51 and 52 of the _Règlement_ annexed to the Convention direct, it is true, that receipts should be given for contributions ("un reçu sera délivré aux contribuables") also for requisitions in kind, if not paid for ("elles seront constatées par des reçus"), but these receipts were to be merely evidence that money or goods have been taken, and it was left an open question, by whom, if at all, compensation was to be made or the losses thus established.