APPENDIX D

THE PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNA

TIONAL JUSTICE

Revised Text of the World Court Plan as Amended by the League of Nations Assembly at Geneva

Inasmuch as President-elect Harding is laying stress upon the World Court, or a World Court, it is important to know exactly what the Assembly of the League of Nations did at Geneva when it voted to set up the Permanent Court of International Justice. The approval of twenty-two member nations, a majority at the time the project was adopted, is needed before the tribunal is actually established, but there is no doubt that more than that number of powers will approve it.

The all-important question at Geneva was the same as the overshadowing issue at all conferences or assemblies which have considered the establishment of an international tribunal-namely, the competence of the court or the limits of its jurisdiction. The ideal of a World Court is naturally a tribunal where a wronged nation may go to have its wrongs righted. In other words, such a court would have compulsory jurisdiction.

When the Assembly of the League of Nations recently took up the question at Geneva it found before it a draft of a World Court prepared by a committee of ten jurists, of whom Mr. Root was one, which had met at The Hague some months before. The plan gave to the court compulsory jurisdiction; provided that whenever a dispute arose between nations which could not be settled by

ordinary diplomatic methods it could be brought before the court by either or both of the parties. But the Assembly also found a decision of the Council of the League taken in October at Brussels, providing that the compulsory jurisdiction provision should be eliminated from the plan, and that the court should have jurisdiction only when all the parties to a dispute agreed to go into court. This amendment was proposed by England and backed by France, Italy and Japan in the Council.

It was a difficult position for the Assembly. There were forty-one members present. Thirty-five of them favored compulsory jurisdiction. The charge was made that the four big powers were not sincere, since they did not want the court so long as they had armies and navies to settle their disputes. The big powers replied that, in their judgment, the court should grow by degrees, and too much should not be undertaken at once. The fight in committee lasted three weeks, and it was only when the four big powers made it plain that the Assembly must vote for a court without compulsory jurisdiction, or there would be no court set up, that the smaller powers gave way.

The provision evading compulsory jurisdiction will be found in Article 36 of the revised statute, published herewith. It is worded with a certain degree of diplomatic obscurity, but the reader will note that it says merely that the nations may give the court compulsory jurisdiction in certain classes of disputes-by means of conventions signed and deposited with the Secretariat of the League.

The attitude of the United States naturally entered into the discussion of the World Court, and the attitude of Mr. Root was cited as showing what sort of court the United States would favor. While not making such statements in public speeches, the observation of some of the opponents of compulsory jurisdiction was that they did not believe that the United States would like to be brought into court unwillingly by Mexico over oil questions or by Santo Domingo over the presence of United States marines there. The proponents of compulsory jurisdiction simply asked "Why not?" question was not answered.

This

Full Text of World Court Plan as Amended

Following is the World Court plan adopted at Geneva and now before the nations of the world, including the United States, for ratification:

ARTICLE 1.—A Permanent Court of International Justice is hereby established in accordance with Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. This court shall be in addition to the Court of Arbitration organized by the Conventions of The Hague of 1899 and 1907, and to the special Tribunals of Arbitration to which States are always at liberty to submit their disputes for settle

ment.

Chapter I.-Organization of the Court

ARTICLE 2.-The Permanent Court of International Justice shall be composed of a body of independent judges, elected regardless of their nationality from among persons of high moral character who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or who are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law.

ARTICLE 3.-The court shall consist of fifteen members-eleven Judges and four Deputy Judges. The number of Judges and Deputy Judges may hereafter be increased by the Assembly upon the proposal of the Council of the League of Nations to a total of fifteen Judges and six Deputy Judges.

ARTICLE 4.—The members of the court shall be elected by the Assembly and by the Council from a list of persons nominated by the national groups in the Court of Arbitration in accordance with the following provisions:

In the case of members of the League of Nations not represented in the Permanent Court of Arbitration the lists of candidates shall be drawn up by national groups appointed for this purpose by their Governments under the same conditions as those prescribed for members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration by Article 44 of the Convention of The Hague of 1907 for the pacific settlement of international disputes.

ARTICLE 5.-At least three months before the date of the election the Secretary General of the League of Na

tions_shall address a written request to the members of the Court of Arbitration belonging to the States mentioned in the annex to the covenant or to the States which join the League subsequently, and to the persons appointed under Paragraph 2 of Article 4, inviting them to undertake, within a given time, by national groups, the nomination of persons in a position to accept the luties of a member of the court.

ARTICLE 6. Before making these nominations each national group is recommended to consult its highest court of justice, its legal faculties and schools of law and its national academies and national sections of international academies devoted to the study of law.

No group may nominate more than four persons, not more than two of whom shall be of their own nationality. In no case must the number of candidates nominated be more than double the number of seats to be filled.

ARTICLE 7.—The Secretary General of the League of Nations shall prepare a list in alphabetical order of all the persons thus nominated. Save as provided in Article 12, Paragraph 2, these shall be the only persons eligible for appointment. The Secretary General shall submit this list to the Assembly and to the Council.

ARTICLE 8.-The Assembly and the Council shall proceed independently of one another to elect, firstly, the Judges, then the Deputy Judges.

ARTICLE 9.-At every election the electors shall bear in mind that not only should all the persons appointed as members of the court possess the qualifications required, but the whole body also should represent the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world.

ARTICLE 10.-Those candidates who obtain an absolute majority of votes in the Assembly and in the Council shall be considered as elected. In the event of more than one national of the same member of the League being elected by the votes of both the Assembly and the Council, the eldest of these only shall be considered as elected.

ARTICLE 11.-If after the first meeting held for the purpose of the election one or more seats remain to be filled, a second, and, if necessary, a third, meeting shall take place.

ARTICLE 12.-If after the third meeting one or more seats still remain unfilled, a joint conference, consisting of six members, three appointed by the Assembly and three by the Council, may be formed at any time at the request of either the Assembly or the Council for the purpose of choosing one name for each seat still vacant, to submit to the Assembly and the Council for their respective acceptance.

If the committee is unanimously agreed upon any person who fulfills the required conditions, he may be included in its list, even though he was not included in the list of nominations referred to in Articles 4 and 5.

If the joint conference is satisfied that it will not be successful in procuring an election, those members of the court who have already been appointed shall, within a period to be fixed by the Council, proceed to fill the vacant seats by selection from among those candidates who have obtained votes either in the Assembly or in the Council.

In the event of an equality of votes among the Judges, the eldest Judge shall have a casting vote.

ARTICLE 13.-The members of the court shall be elected for nine years. They may be re-elected. They shall continue to discharge their duties until their places have been filled. Though replaced, they shall finish any cases which they may have begun.

ARTICLE 14.-Vacancies which may occur shall be filled by the same method as that laid down for the first election. A member of the court elected to replace a member whose period of appointment had not expired will hold the appointment for the remainder of his predecessor's term.

ARTICLE 15.-Deputy Judges shall be called upon to sit in the order laid down in a list. This list shall be prepared by the court, and shall have regard, firstly, to priority of election, and, secondly, to age.