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From League of Nations to United Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Leland M. Goodrich
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Extract

On April 18, 1946, the League Assembly adjourned after taking the necessary steps to terminate the existence of the League of Nations and transfer its properties and assets to the United Nations. On August 1, this transfer took place at a simple ceremony in Geneva. Thus, an important and, at one time, promising experiment in international cooperation came formally to an end. Outside of Geneva, no important notice was taken of this fact. Within the counsels of the United Nations, there was an apparent readiness to write the old League off as a failure, and to regard the new organization as something unique, representing a fresh approach to the world problems of peace and security. Quite clearly there was a hesitancy in many quarters to call attention to the essential continuity of the old League and the new United Nations for fear of arousing latent hostilities or creating doubts which might seriously jeopardize the birth and early success of the new organization.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , February 1947 , pp. 3 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1947

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References

1 United Nations Conference on International Organization, Document 15, P/3, April 27, 1945.

2 For an authoritative description of the Conference, see Grayson Kirk and Lawrence H. Chamberlain, “The Organization of the San Francisco Conference,” in Political Science Quarterly, LX (1945), p. 321.

3 Zimmern, Alfred, The League of Nations and the Rule of Law, London, 1936, p. 4.Google Scholar

4 See, for example, Clyde Eagleton, “Covenant of the League of Nations and Charter of the United Nations: Points of Difference,” in Department of State, Bulletin, XIII, p. 263.

5 See, for example, Clyde Eagleton, “Covenant of the League of Nations and Charter of the United Nations: Points of Difference,” in Department of State, Bulletin, XIII, p. 264.

6 See, for example, the provision of the Treaty of Versailles relating to the administration of the Saar Basin and the protection of Danzig. Treaty of Peace with Germany, Part III, section IV, Annex, chapter II, and section XI.

7 Rappard, W. E., International Relations Viewed from Geneva, New Haven, 1925, p. 14–16.Google Scholar

8 Charter of the United Nations, Article 77.

9 Covenant of the League of Nations, Article 12, paragraph 1.

10 Ibid., Article 19.

11 Frederick S. Dunn, Peaceful Change, New York, 1937, p. 106–11.

12 See discussion in Goodrich, Leland M. and Hambro, Edvard, Charter of the United Nations: Commentary and Documents, Boston, 1946, p. 104–06.Google Scholar

13 See Goodrich and Hambro, op. cit., p. 152–53, 155–59.

14 Dolivet, Louis, The United Nations: A Handbook on the New World Organization, New York, 1946, p. 16.Google Scholar

15 See Margaret Burton, E., The Assembly of the League of Nations, Chicago, 1941, p. 175–205.Google Scholar

16 See Riches, C. A., Majority Rule in International Organization, Baltimore, 1940, p. 24.Google Scholar

17 League of Nations, Records of the Second Assembly, Plenary Meetings, p. 733–35. See also, Burton, op. cit., p. 187.

18 Article 1, paragraph 2.

19 For text, see UNCIO, Verbatim Minutes of the Ninth Plenary Session, June 25, 1945, Document 1210, P/20, p. 5–6; for text and comment, see Goodrich and Hambro, op. cit., p. 86–89.

20 Articles 10; 12, paragraph 1; 13, paragraphs 1 and 4; 15, paragraphs 1 and 6; 16, paragraphs 1 and 3; and 17.

21 See Burton, op. cit., p. 284–374.

22 League of Nations, Monthly Summary, August 1939, Special Supplement.

23 See Wright, Quincy, Mandates under the League of Nations, Chicago, 1930, p. 133–35.Google Scholar

24 See Report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, PC/20, 23 December 1945, p. 84–94; Walter H. C. Laves and Donald Stone, “The United Nations Secretariat,” Foreign Policy Reports, October 15, 1946.

25 Laves and Stone, op. cit., p. 183.

26 Ibid., p. 186 et seq.

27 UNCIO, Report of the Rapporteur of Committee IV/1, Document 913, IV/1/74 (1). See also Manley O. Hudson, “The Twenty-Fourth Year of the World Court,” in American Journal of International Law, LX (1946), p. 1–52.

28 For detailed analysis, see Leland M. Goodrich, “Pacific Settlement of Disputes,” in American Political Science Review, XXXIX (1945), p. 956–970.

29 See Manley O. Hudson, “The Twenty-Fourth Year of the World Court,” op. cit., p. 33.

30 See UNCIO, Report of the Rapporteur of Committee III/2, Document 1027 III/2/31(1), p. 4.

31 See Margaret E. Burton, The Assembly of the League of Nations, p. 284 et seq.

32 On the operation of the League system, see Rappard, William E., The Quest for Peace, Cambridge, 1940, p. 134–207Google Scholar; Burton, op. cit., p. 284–374; and Conwell-Evans, T. P., The League Council in Action, London, 1929.Google Scholar On the work of the Security Council to date, see Clyde Eagleton, “The Jurisdiction of the Security Council over Disputes,” in American Journal of International Law, XI (July, 1946), p. 513–33; and United Nations, Report of the Security Council to the General Assembly, A/93, October 3, 1946.

33 For analysis of the United Nations system for the enforcement of peace and security, see Grayson Kirk, “The Enforcement of Security,” in Yale Law Journal, LV (August 1946), p. 1081–1196.

34 League of Nations, Records of the Second Assembly, Plenary Meetings, p. 803.

35 For summary of this experience, see International Sanctions (A Report by a Group of Members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs), London, 1938, p. 204–213.

36 See Kirk, op. cit.; p. 1082.

37 See, for example, Lugard, Baron, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, 2nd ed., London, 1923.Google Scholar

38 For detailed analysis of the United Nations trusteeship system, see Ralph J. Bunche, “Trusteeship and Non-Self-Governing Territories in the Charter of the United Nations,” in Organizing the United Nations, Department of State Publication 2573.

39 See, for example, Myers, Denys P., Handbook of the League of Nations, Boston, 1935Google Scholar, for evidence of the relative importance on a quantitative basis, at least, of the League's economic and social activities during the first fifteen years of the League's existence.

40 See Finer, Herman, The United Nations Economic and Social Council, Boston, 1945, 121Google Scholar p.; also Report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, PC/20, December 23, 1945, p. 40–48.