18. Every Treaty or international engagement entered into hereafter by any Member of the League shall be forthwith registered with the Secretariat, and shall, as soon as possible, be published by it. No such Treaty or international engagement shall be binding until so registered.

19. The Assembly may from time to time advise the reconsideration by Members of the League of Treaties which have become inapplicable, and the consideration of international conditions whose continuance might endanger the peace of the world.

20. The Members of the League severally agree that this Covenant is accepted as abrogating all obligations or understandings inter se which are inconsistent with the terms thereof, and solemnly undertake that they will not hereafter enter into any engagements inconsistent with the terms thereof.

In case any Member of the League shall, before becoming a Member of the League, have undertaken any obligations inconsistent with the terms of this Covenant, it shall be the duty of such member to take immediate steps to procure its release from such obligations.

21. Nothing in this Covenant shall be deemed to affect the validity of international engagements, such as Treaties of Arbitration, or regional understandings like the Monroe doctrine, for securing the maintenance of peace.

22. To those colonies and territories, which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them, and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation, and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant.

The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the tutelage of such peoples should be entrusted to advanced nations who, by reason of their resources, their experience, or their geographical position, can best undertake this responsibility, and who are willing to accept it, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as Mandatories on behalf of the League.

The character of the Mandate must differ according to the stage of the development of the people, the geographical situation of the territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances.

Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised subject to the rendering of administrative advice and

assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory.

Other peoples, especially those of Central Africa, are at such a stage that the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience and religion, subject only to the maintenance of public order and morals, the prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms traffic and the liquor traffic, and the prevention of the establishment of fortifications or military and naval bases, and of military training of the natives for other than police purposes and the defence of territory, and will also secure equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of other Members of the League.

There are territories, such as South-West Africa and certain of the South Pacific islands, which, owing to the sparseness of their population, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilisation, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the Mandatory, and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory, subject to the safeguards above mentioned in the interests of the indigenous population.

In every case of Mandate, the Mandatory shall render to the Council an annual report in reference to the territory committed to its charge.

The degree of authority, control, or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory shall, if not previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, be explicitly defined in each case by the Council.

A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the Mandates.

23. Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international Conventions existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the Members of the League

(a.) Will endeavour to secure and maintain fair and humane conditions of labour for men, women and children, both in their own countries and in all countries to which their commercial and industrial relations extend, and for that purpose will establish and maintain the necessary international organisations.

(b.) Undertake to secure just treatment of the native inhabitants of territories under their control.

(c.) Will entrust the League with the general supervision over the execution of agreements with regard to the traffic in women and children, and the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs.

(d.) Will entrust the League with the general supervision of the trade in arms and ammunition with the countries in which the control of this traffic is necessary in the common interest.

(e.) Will make provision to secure and maintain freedom of communications and of transit and equitable treatment for the commerce of all Members of the League. In this connection, the special necessities of the regions devastated during the war of 1914-18 shall be borne in mind.

(f.) Will endeavour to take steps in matters of international concern for the prevention and control of disease.

24. There shall be placed under the direction of the League all international bureaux already established by general Treaties if the parties to such Treaties consent. All such international bureaux and all Commissions for the regulation of matters of international interest hereafter constituted shall be placed under the direction of the League.

In all matters of international interest which are regulated by general Conventions, but which are not placed under the control of international bureaux or Commissions, the Secretariat of the League shall, subject to the consent of the Council, and if desired by the parties, collect and distribute all relevant information, and shall render any other assistance which may be necessary or desirable.

The Council may include as part of the expenses of the Secretariat the expenses of any bureau or Commission which is placed under the direction of the League.

25. The Members of the League agree to encourage and promote the establishment and co-operation of duly authorised voluntary national Red Cross organisations having as purposes the improvement of health, the prevention of disease and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world.

26. Amendments to this Covenant will take effect when ratified by the Members of the League whose representatives compose the Council, and by a majority of the Members of the League whose representatives compose the Assembly.

No such amendments shall bind any Member of the League which signifies its dissent therefrom, but in that case it shall cease to be a Member of the League.

ANNEX.

I.-Original Members of the League of Nations, Signatories of the

Treaty of Peace.

II. First Secretary-General of the League of Nations.
The Hon. Sir James Eric Drummond, K.C.M.G., C.B.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW of the Republic of Lithuania.August 1, 1922.(1)

Au nom de Dieu tout-puissant, la nation lithuanienne, évoquant avec reconnaissance les efforts mémorables et les sacrifices élevés de ses fils, accomplis pour la libération de la patrie, et voulant, après la reconstitution de l'Etat lithuanier, donner à son existence indépendante des bases démocratiques stables, créer des conditions propices au règne de la justice et du droit, assurer à tous les citoyens l'égalité, la liberté et la prospérité, et au labeur et aux vertus de chacun la protection efficace de l'Etat, a, par l'organe de ses Représentants autorisés réunis en Seimas constituant, adopté le 1er août 1922 la présente Loi constitutionnelle de l'Etat lithuanien.

I.-Dispositions générales.

ART. 1er. L'Etat lithuanien est une république démocratique indépendante.

Le pouvoir souverain de l'Etat appartient à la nation. 2. Les pouvoirs de l'Etat sont exercés par le Seïmas, le Gouvernement et les tribunaux.

3. Aucune loi n'est valable dans l'Etat lithuanien si elle est contraire à la Constitution.

4. Les frontières du territoire de la Lithuanie ne peuvent être modifiées que par une loi.

5. La division administrative du territoire de la Lithuanie est fixée par la loi. Si les intérêts particuliers des populations l'exigent, certaines régions de la Lithuanie peuvent être constituées en unités autonomes dont les limites et les droits sont fixés par la loi.

6. La langue officielle est le lithuanien. L'emploi des langues locales est réglé par la loi.

7. Les couleurs de l'Etat sont: jaune, vert, rouge; les armoiries de l'Etat : cavalier blanc sur champ écarlate.

II.-Citoyens lithuaniens et leurs Droits.

8. L'acquisition et la perte de la nationalité lithuanienne ont lieu conformément à la loi sur la nationalité. Un étranger peut obtenir la naturalisation lithuanienne s'il a été domicilié en Lithuanie pendant dix ans au moins.

9. Nul ne peut, à la fois, être citoyen lithuanien et conserver la nationalité d'un autre Etat.

10. Tous les citoyens lithuaniens, hommes et femmes, sont égaux devant la loi.

Il ne peut être octroyé aucun privilège à un citoyen ni (1) Translation published by the Lithuanian Minister for Foreign Affairs.