711.60 f 12A/6: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Czechoslovakia (Einstein)
28. Your 42, June 11, 2 p.m. Department is gratified that the Minister of Foreign Affairs is prepared to sign the Treaty of Arbitration as it stands. The treaties already signed with France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Denmark27 contain the word “equity” used precisely as in the draft submitted to Czechoslovakia. It is not believed that differences in existing definitions of equity are ground for concern. Without undertaking to state a definition, it may be of interest to remark that Webster’s New International Dictionary uses such defining language as “equality of rights; natural justice or right”; and “any body of legal doctrines and rules” developed similarly to those of the English Chancery Courts “to enlarge, supplement or override a system of law which has become too narrow and rigid in its scope, especially that developed by the Roman praetors into the jus honorarium.” Thus, even in English the definition is by no means confined to the jurisprudence of the Chancery Courts.
I desire to sign all of the treaties of this group, and I much prefer that signature take place here. Exchange of ratifications might be at Prague.