THE CONCEPT OF "DENIAL OF JUSTICE" IN LATIN AMERICA

Much of the credit for the present state of development of the concept of "denial of justice" must go to Latin America. Step by step the efforts of her statesmen, lawmakers and publicists in the spheres of diplomacy, legislation and doctrine, have given the concept a more definite juridical form, and outlined more clearly its frontiers of legitimate action. The concept, far from being now the occasion for diplomatic coercion which it formerly was, is narrowed down to a judicial connotation; and, in this sense, it means that justice has not been done where it should have been. Its evolution is not yet complete.

It has not attained that degree of maturity which would satisfy the ends of political equation and social justice. It is still in transition, in flux, as are all the historical principles of international law, from the nebula of the political and legal theories which has been its traditional dwelling-place, to a greater measure of conformance with the realities of international life.