This book deals with the history of the relations between the United States and the Permanent Court of International Justice - the former World Court. Its central theme is why, how and when the US government proposed to join the Court and, ultimately, drew back.

Integrating legal and historical materials and insights, Professor Pomerance examines in this volume the troubled saga of the U.S. pursuit of the `Supreme Court of the Nations' idea, from its early pre-World War I origins through the present post-Nicaragua period of U.S. reserve, disillusionment and reassessment.