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<br />. <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />'. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />00Z407 <br /> <br />"The treaty provisions, now somewhat numer- <br />our, are all direoted towards the praotioal <br />objeot o~ seouring the most benefioial use o~ <br />the rivers with whioh they are conoerned, . . . <br /> <br />n. . . it is beyond dispute that no rule, <br />whatever may be its intrinsio merits, oan be <br />regarded as effeotive law until it is estab- <br />lished by the oonsent and praotioe of states. <br />As the problem of the eoonomio use of rivers <br />grows in praotioal importanoe it becomes more <br />and more desirable that it should be governed <br />by legal principles suffioiently definite to <br />afford some praotioal guidanoe in the decision <br />of particular oases, but the need for rules <br />does not justify any writer in asserting that <br />they actually exist, until they have been <br />enaoted by the only legislative prooess which <br />the law of nations in its present form will <br />reoognise. With this caution in mind it is <br />pennissible to suggest a few general conclu- <br />sions. They are based upon the evidence whioh <br />praotioe affords, and it is believed that the <br />general trend of praotice is now suffioiently <br />olear to enable s orne reasonable inferenoes to <br />be drawn from this evidenoe, but it would be <br />premature at present to claim them as positive <br />rules which the consent of states has incor- <br />porated into the aocepted body of international <br />law. <br /> <br />"The first principle is that every river <br />system is naturally an indivisible physioal <br />unit, and that as such it should be so developed <br />as to render the greatest possible service t, <br />the whole human oommunity which it serves; whether <br />or not that community is divided into two or more <br />political jurisdictions. It is the positive <br />duty "f every government conoerned to oooperate <br />to the extent o~ its power in promoting this <br />development, though it cannot be called upon <br />to imperil any vital interest or to &acrifioe <br />without full ccmpensation and provisions for <br />security any other particular interest of its <br />own, whether political, strategic, or economic." <br />Op. cit., pp. 104, 148, 150-151. <br /> <br />It is stated in Oppenheim's treatise on International Law that -- <br /> <br />tithe flow of not-national, boundary, and <br /> <br />-13- <br />