Description - James Wilford Garner has given us a profound, detailed and highly valuable Report on The Law of Treaties.'This report contains, it is true, a rule concerning the validity of a treaty which is in conflict with an earlier treaty. 2 On the other hand, there is no consideration, as far as this writer can see, of treaties which are in conflict with general international law, a problem which has been discussed many times But as there is no settled opinion on this problem, it is necessary, in this writer's view, to unroll this problem once more. Our starting-point is the uncontested rule that, as a matter of principle, states are free to conclude treaties on any subject whatsoever. All we have to investigate, therefore, is whether this rule does or does not admit certain exceptions. The answer to this question depends on the preliminary question, whether general international law contains rules which have the character of jus cogens