But it is quite possible to imagine an international question regarding a frontier which is not in any way justiciable; such, for example, was the question as to where the frontier between Poland and Russia should be drawn after the World War.[[4]] That some frontier had to be drawn was obvious; but there was no possible legal basis for determining where it should be drawn. The question was one of judgment, to be settled by agreement between the parties, if possible; or otherwise, if it was to be peacefully settled, by reference to some sort of tribunal which would decide according to principles[[5]] of equity, impossible to express in any precise legal formula. In other words, the question was an international political one.
Again, suppose that the frontier between the two States has been settled by agreement and that there is no doubt whatever where it is. One of the two States desires to have that frontier changed; in other words, desires that there shall be a cession of territory. Here is a question of the status quo. In a sense it may be called international, because it relates to an international frontier; but it not only falls wholly outside any idea of justiciable questions in the international sense, but also outside any idea of being a political question which any tribunal whatever could decide on any basis. In other words, it is within that class of cases of an international nature in regard to which two States may, if they choose, negotiate, but in regard to which either one of them may at its pleasure refuse even to consider negotiations.
In any condition of international affairs which it is possible to visualize under the present State system, this must continue to be so. The State system presupposes necessarily the existence of States. One of the inherent conditions of the existence of a State is its right to the possession of its own undisputed territory as against any other State,[[6]] which does not mean, I mention in passing, as against a revolutionary movement within the State; that is another story. The putting in question of this undisputed right of one State to hold its own territory as against another State would mean the putting in question of the existing State order as a whole.
Further, while I have included domestic questions as a separate class of questions in the above list, I think that logically many of them fall within the thought of questions which concern the status quo. I do not dispute that these domestic questions may at times have an international aspect; but they are questions which each State has an absolute right under law to regulate according to its own pleasure, and it is for this reason that they fall within the class of cases which are, in theory, not to be questioned internationally. Of course a State may, if it chooses, negotiate regarding them, just as it may, if it chooses, negotiate about the cession of part of its territory. But it may also, if it chooses, so to speak end the negotiations by refusing to commence them at all.
However, it is proper, none the less, to consider these domestic questions as a separate group, for the reason that there is a possibility of development toward their international consideration within the present State system. I shall pursue that thought further a little later.