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Commissions of Conciliation and the Locarno Treaties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Charles Cheney Hyde
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Type
Editorial Comment
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 1926 , pp. 103 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1926

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References

1 According to Article IX of the Hague Convention of 1907, the function of an International Commission of Inquiry was “to facilitate a solution of these disputes by elucidating the facts by means of an impartial and conscientious investigation”. Malloys Treaties, II, 2230.See also Article III of the treaty between the United States and Russia for the Advancement of Peace, concluded October 1, 1914, Treaty Series, No. 616, Treaty Volume III>, 2816.

2 Thus, in Article I of the treaty between theUnited States and Russia of October 1, 1914, the parties agreed “not to resort,with respect to each other, to any acts of force during the examination to be made by theCommission and before its report is handed in.” See also Article I of treaty between Chile and Uruguay, February 27, 1915, Brit, and For. St. Pap., CIX, 885; Article I of treaty between Great Britain and Brazil, April 4, 1919, id., CXII,715; Article XI of treaty of conciliation between Austria and Switzerland, October 11, 1924, League of Nations Treaty Series, No. 862.

According to Article I of the treaty to avoid or to prevent conflicts between the American States, signed at Santiago, May 3, 1923, at the Fifth International Conference of American States, it was agreed: “In case of disputes, not to begin mobilisation or concentration of troops on the frontier of the other party, nor to engage in any hostile acts or preparations for hostilities, from the time steps are taken to convene the commission until the said commission has rendered its report or until the expiration of the time provided for in Article VII.” Id., No. 831, Vol. XXXIII, 36; Boletin del Minislerio de Reladones Exieriores, República del Ecuador, Dieiembre de 1923, 113, 114.

3 British Treaty Series, No. 3 (1920), Brit, and For. St. Pap., CXII, 718.

See also Article 29 of a preliminary draft of a proposed annex to the Covenant of the League of Nations, dealing with commissions of arbitration and conciliation, proposed by the Norwegian Government in 1920; also Article 10 of an annex to the Covenant submitted by the Swedish Government, amendatory of the Norwegian draft. League of Nations, First Assembly, First Committee Minutes, 80 and 86, respectively.

4 Id., 75 and 83, respectively.

5 Attention is called to the Swedish explanatory statement, id., 82.

6 Article XXVIII of Norwegian draft proposal, id., 80.

7 Article IX of Swedish draft proposal, id., 86.

8 League of Nations, Records of the Third Assembly, Plenary Meetings, 1922, 199-200. See also report of M. Adatci, Rapporteur of the First Committee, id., 196.

9 Article VII, id., 200. See also Article X IV of convention between Norway and Sweden, June 27,1924, League of Nations Treaty Series, No. 717; Article XIV of convention between Finland and Sweden, June 27, 1924, id., No. 731; Article XIV of convention between Denmark and Sweden, June 27, 1924, id., No. 840; Article XIV of convention between Denmark and Norway, June 27, 1924, id., No. 842; Article VI of treaty between Austria and Switzerland, October 11, 1924, id., No. 862.

10 Article V, id., No. 834.

11 Article V, U. S. Treaty Series, No. 717.

12 Codification of American International Law, Pan American Union, Washington, 1925, p. 104.

13 Article XVIII, League of Nations Treaty Series, No. 320.

14 U. S. Treaty Series, No. 717. This provision is substantially reproduced in Article XV of Project No. 27 submitted by the American Institute of International Law to the Governing Board of the Pan American Union, March 2, 1925. Codification of American International Law, Pan American Union, Washington, 1925, p. 103.

15 Article I. This provision was not to be applicable to disputes arising out of events prior to the convention and 7“belonging to the past”. It was also provided that disputes for the settlement of which a special procedure was laid down in other conventions between the contracting parties should be settled in conformity therewith.

16 Article II.

17 Article XVI. The tribunal to which recourse was to be had was either the Permanent Court of International Justice, or an arbitral tribunal under the conditions and according to the procedure laid down by the Hague Convention of October 18, 1907, for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. It was further provided that if the parties could not agree on the terms of the special agreement after a months notice, either of them might bring the dispute before the Permanent Court of International Justice by means of an application.

18 Article XVII.

19 Article XVIII.

20 The following excerpts from the German-Belgian treaty disclose the composition of the commission:

“Article IV. The Permanent Conciliation Commission mentioned in Article 2 shall be composed of five members, who shall be appointed as follows, that is to say: the German Government and the Belgian Government shall each nominate a commissioner chosen from among their respective nationals and shall appoint, by common agreement, the three other commissioners from among the nationals of third Powers: these three commissioners must be of different nationalities and the German and Belgian Governments shall appoint the president of the commission from among them.

“The commissioners are appointed for three years, and their mandate is renewable. Their appointment shall continue until their replacement, and in any case until the termination of the work in hand at the moment of the expiry of their mandate. Vacancies which may occur as a result of death, resignation, or any other cause shall be filled within the shortest possible time in the manner fixed for the nominations.

“Article V. The Permanent Conciliation Commission shall be constituted within three months from the entry into force of the present convention. If the nomination of the commissioners to be appointed by common agreement should not have taken place within the said period, or, in the case of the filling of a vacancy, within three months from the time when the seat falls vacant, the President of the Swiss Confederation shall, in the absence of other agreement, be requested to make the necessary appointments.”