He who hungers for an easy formula, resolving all doubts as to “What is law?,” is advised to lay aside this article. I deal in no such magic. For law, even though it is the great principle of order in life, must inevitably share in the uncertainties and paradoxes of the fluid reality it partially canalizes. Indeed—and perhaps better stated—law is merely a specially differentiated phase of life, a type of group activity. The problem of law's nature is tremendously complex, and if a few categories and definitions are here hesitatingly advanced, that is because no analysis is possible otherwise. They are not improvised to avoid examination of the tangled tissue of relationships they attempt to describe. Law I define as those rules of conduct which are generally obeyed. General obedience is a consensus within a given community in support of its rules. In Bentley's terms, the phrase “general obedience” looks at the phenomena as group activity, the phrase “consensus” as opinion activity. Despite the obvious ambiguity of these terms, the reader is requested to quiet his impatience. I may succeed in partially elucidating their meaning.

When Congress convened in January, 1939, the neutrality legislation of 1935, 1936, and 1937 had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Ethiopia, Spain, and China had proved unsatisfactory testing grounds, and the President, in his annual message to Congress, hinted that certain changes would be designed (1) to enable the United States to act less favorably vis-à-vis aggressor nations, (2) by means of giving the executive more discretion in the conduct of foreign affairs under the neutrality laws.

The most significant development of recent years in the field of public personnel administration in the United States is the rapid spread of the merit system. After receiving lip service for decades, the merit system has made more gains in the last three years than at any previous time since the passage of the Pendleton Act by Congress in 1883. Tangible proofs of this progress are to be found in the state and municipal civil service systems which have been established and in the personnel developments of 1938 and 1939 in the federal government.

The term “administration,” as used in a federal government bureau, may have either of two definitions. It may refer to the activities of bureau chiefs, division chiefs, and regional directors. Or it may mean the work of the bureau executive officer and employees with similar duties in the bureau. When the term is used by the employees of the bureau or by the personnel classification division of the Civil Service Commission, nine times out of ten it is the latter connotation that is given it.

Proportional representation was regarded favorably for use in New York City elections at least 40 years before it was finally adopted. The legislative commission which drafted the so-called first charter for the city of Greater New York in 1896 expressed regret that “under the constitution of the state as it now stands, it has appeared to be impossible to provide for minority or proportional representation in the charter of Greater New York without making a vital part of the charter depend upon a provision of uncertain constitutionality.”

Until recently, despite repeated intimations from official sources that a definitive Reichsreform was in preparation, little has actually been accomplished in the direction of reorganizing administrative areas in Germany. A few consolidations of territory have been effected, a Greater Hamburg created, and the Prussian provinces4 and districts (Bezirke) made units of intermediate national administration. But thus far the traditional forces of German separatism and the opposition of powerful local party bosses have prevented the redistricting of Germany along more rational economic and geographic lines.

Nineteen thirty-eight marked the completion of the first year of successful operation of the new international sugar régime and the beginning of its second year. This régime constitutes a new effort at international administration and planning of an important industry. It is now possible to make a first examination of the practical working of the International Sugar Agreement of May 6, 1937, on which the present régime is based, and to compare its operation with that of preceding systems.