Now the practice of the Courts[3] of the United States neither agrees with the doctrine of the former nor with the doctrine of the latter school of publicists, but takes a middle line between them. Indeed it considers International Law to be part and parcel of the Municipal Law of the United States. It is, however, far from accepting the maxim that International Law overrules Municipal Law, it accepts rather two maxims, namely, first, that _International Law overrules previous Municipal Law_, and, secondly, that _Municipal Law overrules previous International Law_. In the administration of the law American Courts hold themselves bound to apply the Acts of their legislature even in the case in which the rules of these enactments are not in conformity with rules of previous International Law. It is true that, according to Article VI of the American Constitution, all international treaties of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land, but in case an Act of Congress contains rules not in agreement with stipulations of a previous international treaty, the American Courts consider themselves bound by the Act of Congress, and not by the stipulations of the previous treaty. It is obvious that, according to the practice of the Courts of the United States, International Law and Municipal Law are of _equal_ force, so that on the one hand new rules of International Law supersede rules of previous Municipal Law, and, on the other hand, new rules of Municipal Law supersede rules of previous International Law. For this reason, the American Courts cannot be resorted to in order to have the question decided whether or no the enactments of Section 5 of the Panama Canal Act are in conformity with Article III, No. 1, of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. [3] See the account of the practice of the American Court in Scott's learned article in the _American Journal of International Law_, Vol. I (1908), pp. 856-861. It is a proof of the _bona fides_ of President Taft that he desired that the American Courts might be enabled to decide this question. In a message to Congress, dated August 19, 1912, in which the President stated his conviction that the Panama Canal Act under consideration did not violate the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, he _inter alia_ suggested that Congress should pass the following resolution:--