Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2017
1 General Assembly Resolution 799 (VIII), Dec. 7, 1953. U.N. General Assembly, 8th Sess., Official Records, Supp. No. 17 (A/2630), p. 52.
2 U. N. Doc. A/CN.4/96, Jan. 20, 1956, Report on International Responsibility by F. V. Garcí a-Amador, Special Rapporteur (131 pp. mimeographed, followed by ten Annexes setting forth texts of earlier attempts to codify the subject).
At the request of Mr. Yuen-li Liang, Director of the Division for the Development and Codification of International Law, United Nations Secretariat, the Harvard Law School has undertaken a revision of the Draft Convention on The Law of Responsibility of States for Damage Done in Their Territory to the Person or Property of Foreigners (Edwin M. Borchard, Reporter), published in 23 A.J.I.L. Spec. Supp. 131 (1929). See also 50 A.J.I.L. 427 (1956).
3 U.N. Doc. A/CN.4/96, p. 131.
4 See Annuaire de l’lnstitut de Droit International, Vol. 45 (Session d’Aix-en-Provence, 1954), Tome I (1954), pp. 5–112, for the travaux préparatoires on La règie de l’épuisement des recours internes (J. H. W. Verzijl, Rapporteur).
5 50 A.J.I.L. 644 (1956). The discussions leading to the adoption of this text at the Session of Granada in 1956 are not yet available but will appear in Vol. 46 of the Annuaire.
6 See Edwin M. Borchard, “Theoretical Aspects of the International Responsibility of States,” Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, Bd. I, T. 1, p. 238 (1929); Eagleton, Clyde, “Une Théorie au Sujet du Commencement de la Responsabilité de l’État,” 11 Revue de Droit International et de législation Comparée (3rd Ser.) 643–659 (1930)Google Scholar; Herbert W. Briggs, The Law of Nations 632 ff. (2nd ed., 1952); Alwyn V. Freeman, The International Responsibility of States for Denial of Justice 403 ff. (1938).
7 P.C.I.J., Series A/B, No. 76, p. 18 (1939). Italics added.
8 P.C.I.J., Series A/B, No. 74, p. 28 (1938). See also the Finnish Ships Arbitration (1934), 3 Reports of International Arbitral Awards 1479.
9 23 A.J.I.L. Spec. Supp. 149 (1929). The Comment on Art. 6 is far from satisfactory to this writer.
10 Cf. the comment of Professor Maurice Bourquin, Annuaire, loc. cit. 49.
11 Annuaire, loc. cit. 20, 30, 85; and more fully, 5–33, 84–112.
12 Ibid. 19.
13 Exceptions here omitted. See Conference for the Codification of International Law, Minutes of the 3rd Committee, League of Nations Doc. 1930. V. 17, pp. 236, 63–81, 162–169.
14 This writer’s translation. The original text reads: “(I) Dans le cas oö la lésion de la personne ou des biens d’un Stranger n’engage pas par elle-même la responsabilité internationale de l'État sur le territoire duquel elle a été commise, aucune réclamation diplomatique ne peut avoir lieu avant que cette responsabilité internationale n'ait pris naissance par un déni de justice.” Annuaire 24.
15 This writer’s translation. The original text reads: “(IIA) Lorsque la lésion de la personne ou des biens d'un étranger engage par elle-même la responsabilité’ internationale de l'État sur le territoire duquel elle a été commise, il n'y a aucun motif valable de subordonner la réclamation diplomatique à l'épuisement préalable des voies de recours internes.” Ibid. 31.
An alternative reading of (II), under which Professor Verzijl wished to treat the local remedies rule not as a rule subject to exceptions but as itself an exception to the law of state responsibility, is not discussed here. See ibid. 24–30.
16 2 Reports of International Arbitral Awards 640 (this writer’s translation). See further, Frederick S. Dunn, The Protection of Nationals (1932), especially pp. 27 ff., for further discussion of the underlying conflicts of interest.
17 Edwin M. Borchard, The Diplomatic Protection of Citizens Abroad 817–818 (1915).
18 This writer’s translation. For French text see 50 A.J.I.L. 644 (1956).
19 See the Annuaire, 1954, loc. cit., passim, for discussion of this point.
20 See ibid. 51, for comments of Professor Maurice Bourquin on this point.
21 See Briggs, op. cit. 632–636.