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The First Conference for the Codification of International Law*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Manley O. Hudson
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Extract

The First Conference for the Codification of International Law met at The Hague on March 13, 1930, and closed its sessions after a month of hard work on April 13, 1930. The results achieved are somewhat meager, so far as they are embodied in signed instruments, but on the whole they need not be discouraging to those who see a need for the clarification an systematization of the customary international law through a process of codification. It is perhaps too early to attempt a thorough appraisal of the progress made by the Conference, but it is possible to review what it accomplished, to set out some of the Hmitations within which it functioned, and to sketch the prospect which has been opened for a continuation of its work at future conferences.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , July 1930 , pp. 447 - 466
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1930

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Footnotes

*

The Final Act, convention, protocols,and reports of the Conference are reprinted in the Supplement to this Journal.

References

1 Such insistence found expression in the United States in the Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, 69th Congress, 1st session, on H. J.Besolution 221, May 3, 4, 5, 21 and 22, 1926.

2 League of Nations Official Journal, Special Supplement No. 63, p. 9

3 A collection of the nationality laws of various countries, edited by Richard W.Flournoy-Jr., and Manley O. Hudson, had been published, in English only, by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; but it was not available for distribution among the delegates until shortly before the Conference convened. Such a collection in several languages might better have been published by the Secretariat of the League of Nations as part of the preparatory documentation of the Conference.

4 See Richard, W. Hale, “Territorial Waters as a Test of Codification,” this Journal ,Vol. 24, p. 65.Google Scholar

5 47 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 55.

6 In this connection, it is interesting to note the provision in Article 18 of the convention on treaties, signed at Havana, February 20, 1928; “ IVo or more states may agree that their relations are to be governed by rules other than those established in general conventions celebrated by them with other states. This precept applies not only to future treaties but also to those in effect at the time of concluding this convention.” Report of U. S. Delegates to the Sixth International Conference of American States, p. 200.

7 Document, Conf. C. D. I. 27.

8 27 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 213.

9 60 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 253. Article 8 of the Slavery Conventionreads as follows: “ The High Contracting Parties agree that disputes arising between them relating to the interpretation or application of this Convention shall, if they cannot be settled by direct negotiation, be referred for decision to the Permanent Court of International Justice. In case either or both of the States Parties to such a dispute should not be parties to the Protocol of December 16th, 1920, relating to the Permanent Court of International Justice,the dispute shall be referred, at the choice of the Parties and in accordance with the constitutional procedure of each State, either to the Permanent Court of International Justice or to a court of arbitration constituted in accordance with the Convention of October 18th, 1907, for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, or to some other court of arbitration.”

10 League of Nations Official Journal, Special Supplement No. 53, p. 9.

11 The Research in International Law, Harvard Law School, is now engaged in the preparation of draft conventions on four additional subjects which were selected by the League of Nations Committee of Experts as “ ripe ” for codification: (1) Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities, Jesse S. Iteeves, reporter; (2) Status of Consuls, Quincy Wright, reporter; (3) Position of States before Foreign Courts, Philip C. Jessup, reporter; (4) Piracy, Joseph W.Bingham, reporter.