verbal to that effect shall be drawn up by the Secretariat.

After the said procès-verbal has been drawn up, the Protocol shall come into force as soon as the plan for the reduction of armaments has been adopted by the Conference provided for in Article 17.

If within such period after the adoption of the plan for the reduction of armaments as shall be fixed by the said Conference, the plan has not been carried out, the Council shall make a declaration to that effect; this declaration shall render the present Protocol null and void.

The grounds on which the Council may declare that the plan drawn up by the International Conference for the Reduction of Armaments has not been carried out, and that in consequence the present Protocol has been rendered null and void, shall be laid down by the Conference itself.

A signatory State which, after the expiration of the period fixed by the Conference, fails to comply with the plan adopted by the Conference, shall not be admitted to benefit by the provisions of the present Protocol.

In faith whereof the undersigned, duly authorised for this purpose, have signed the present Protocol.

day of October,

DONE at Geneva, on the nineteen hundred and twenty-four, in a single copy, which will be kept in the archives of the Secretariat of the League and registered by it on the date of its coming into force.

ANALYSIS OF THE PROTOCOL1

WORK OF THE FIRST COMMITTEE

(Report by M. POLITIS)

DRAFT PROTOCOL FOR THE PACIFIC SETTLEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES

Preamble.

The object of the Protocol, which is based upon the resolution of September 6th, 1924, is to facilitate the reduction and limitation of armaments provided for in Article 8 of the Covenant of the League of Nations by guaranteeing the security of States through the development of methods for the pacific settlement of all international disputes and the effective condemnation of aggressive

war.

These general ideas are summarised in the preamble of the Protocol.

COMPULSORY ARBITRATION

(Articles 1 to 7, 10, 16, 18 and 19 of the Protocol)

I. INTRODUCTION

Compulsory arbitration is the fundamental basis of the proposed system. It has seemed to be the only means of attaining the ultimate aim pursued by the League of Nations, viz. the establishment of a pacific and legal order in the relations between peoples.

The realisation of this great ideal, to which humanity aspires with a will which has never been more strongly affirmed, pre-supposes, as an indispensable condition, the elimination of war, the extension of the rule of law and the strengthening of the sentiment of justice.

'Reprinted from League of Nations official publication A. 135, 1924.

The Covenant of the League of Nations erected a wall of protection around the peace of the world, but it was a first attempt at international organisation and it did not succeed in closing the circle sufficiently thoroughly to leave no opening for war. It reduced the number of possible wars. It did not condemn them all. There were some which it was forced to tolerate. Consequently, there remained, in the system which it established, numerous fissures, which constituted a grave danger to peace.

The new system of the Protocol goes further. It closes the circle drawn by the Covenant; it prohibits all wars of aggression. Henceforth no purely private war between nations will be tolerated.

This result is obtained by strengthening the pacific methods of procedure laid down in the Covenant. The Protocol completes them and extends them to all international disputes without exception, by making arbitration compulsory.

In reality, the word "arbitration" is used here in a somewhat different sense from that which it has generally had up to now. It does not exactly correspond with the definition given by the Hague Conferences which, codifying a century-old custom, saw in it "the settlement of disputes between States by judges of their own choice and on the basis of respect for law" (Article 37 of the Convention of October 18th, 1907, for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes).

The arbitration which is now contemplated differs from this classic arbitration in various respects:

(a) It is only part of a great machinery of pacific settlement. It is set up under the auspices and direction of the Council of the League of Nations.

(b) It is not only an instrument for the administration of justice. It is, in addition and above all, an instrument of peace. The arbitrators must no doubt seek in the first place to apply the rules and principles of international law. This is the reason why, as will be seen below, they are bound to

consult the Permanent Court of International Justice if one of the parties so requests. But if international law furnishes no rule or principle applicable to the particular case, they cannot, like ordinary arbitrators, refuse to give a decision. They are bound to proceed on grounds of equity, for in our system arbitration is always of necessity to lead to a definitive solution of the dispute. This is not to be regretted, for to ensure the respect of law by nations it is necessary first that they should be assured of peace.

(c) It does not rest solely upon the loyalty and good faith of the parties. To the moral and legal force of an ordinary arbitration is added the actual force derived from the international organisation of which the kind of arbitration question forms one of the principal elements; the absence of a sanction which has impeded the development of compulsory arbitration is done away with under our system.

In the system of the Protocol, the obligation to submit disputes to arbitration is sound and practical because it has always a sanction. Thanks to the intervention of the Council, its application is automatically ensured; in no case can it be thrown on one side through the ill-will of one of the disputant States. The awards to which it leads are always accompanied by a sanction, adapted to the circumstances of the case and more or less severe according to the degree of resistance offered to the execution of the sentence.

2. NATURE OF THE RULES OF THE PROTOCOL

Article 19.

The rules laid down in the Protocol do not all have the same scope or value for the future.

As soon as the Protocol comes into force, its provisions will become compulsory as between the signatory States, and in its dealings with them the Council of the League of Nations will at once be able to exercise all the rights and fulfil all the duties conferred upon it.

As between the States Members of the League of Nations, the Protocol may in the first instance create a dual régime,

for, if it is not immediately accepted by them all, the relations between signatories and non-signatories will still be governed by the Covenant alone while the relations between signatories will be governed by the Protocol as well.

But this situation cannot last. Apart from the fact that it may be hoped that all Members of the League will adhere to it, the Protocol is in no sense designed to create among the States which accept it a restricted League susceptible of competing with or opposing in any way the existing League. On the contrary, such of its provisions as relate to articles of the Covenant will, as soon as possible, be made part of the general law by amendment of the Covenant effected in accordance with the procedure for revision laid down in Article 26 thereof. The signatory States which are Members of the League of Nations undertake to make every effort to this end.

When the Covenant has been amended in this way, some parts of the Protocol will lose their value as between the said States: some of them will have enriched the Covenant, while others, being temporary in character, will have lost their object.

The whole Protocol will remain applicable to relations between signatory States which are Members of the League of Nations and signatory States outside the League, or between States coming within the latter category.

It should be added that, as the League realises its aim of universality, the amended Covenant will take the place, as regards all States, of the separate régime of the Protocol.

Article 2.

3. CONDEMNATION OF AGGRESSIVE WAR

The general principle of the Protocol is the prohibition of aggressive war.

Under the Covenant, while the old unlimited right of States to make war is restricted, it is not abolished. There are cases in which the exercise of this right is tolerated. some wars are prohibited and others are legitimate.